Sept of last year I was detecting with my Fisher F-75LTD at a location I had detected many times. This time I slowed down in a somewhat trashy area in some old pecan trees and found a WWII dog tag at about 4 inches. The name was William A Craven, Jr. I did quite a bit of research off and on on the internet. I was able to find the veteran's obit from 2009 and some relatives. Though sad that he had passed away in 09, I attempted to find a relative with no success. I tried several other times over the months with no success. Then the other day I saw a site where the lady will research WWII tags for free for folks at http://ww2tags.org/ . I spoke with Francesca Cumero and by the next day she had found the surviving daughter in AZ. Here at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC is where I found the tag and now it is going home to AZ. She just received the tag last night. Very cool circle completed and a very happy daughter. Just thought I would share this cool story.
Here was my first contact email after she was contacted by Francesca: "Wow, what an amazing story! Bill Craven is my father -- Harding St in Maplewood was his childhood home. He did indeed pass away in 2009. Not sure which sister you found--both lived in CA but both pre-deceased him.
I would love to have the dogtag -- we don't have much from his war years--and to talk to you about how you found it. It's late your time now so I won't call--perhaps you will get some sleep at the fire station. I'll try to call in the next couple of days. "
I spoke with her and got the tag right in the mail. Here is the email I received this morning:
Just received this email from Doris, the daughter of William Craven, Jr, in reference to the dog tag : "We actually got it today. I have the perfect place to display it. My Dad was an engineer who spent his working life at Hughes Aircraft designing missiles. One of his proudest mementos was a fragment of the first Falcon missile, which hit the target on its first firing. He had it mounted with a plaque. I now have that fragment and have leaned the dogtag up against it. I'm attaching a photo.
I looked at Francesca Cumero's ww2tags.org web site and it suggested a way to show thanks for all the people who return dogtags would be to make a contribution to the Wounded Warriors Project. I will do that.
Thanks so much for sending this bit of my Dad's life to us.
Doris"
Great feeling to have helped. Bryan
Here was my first contact email after she was contacted by Francesca: "Wow, what an amazing story! Bill Craven is my father -- Harding St in Maplewood was his childhood home. He did indeed pass away in 2009. Not sure which sister you found--both lived in CA but both pre-deceased him.
I would love to have the dogtag -- we don't have much from his war years--and to talk to you about how you found it. It's late your time now so I won't call--perhaps you will get some sleep at the fire station. I'll try to call in the next couple of days. "
I spoke with her and got the tag right in the mail. Here is the email I received this morning:
Just received this email from Doris, the daughter of William Craven, Jr, in reference to the dog tag : "We actually got it today. I have the perfect place to display it. My Dad was an engineer who spent his working life at Hughes Aircraft designing missiles. One of his proudest mementos was a fragment of the first Falcon missile, which hit the target on its first firing. He had it mounted with a plaque. I now have that fragment and have leaned the dogtag up against it. I'm attaching a photo.
I looked at Francesca Cumero's ww2tags.org web site and it suggested a way to show thanks for all the people who return dogtags would be to make a contribution to the Wounded Warriors Project. I will do that.
Thanks so much for sending this bit of my Dad's life to us.
Doris"
Great feeling to have helped. Bryan
