WWII dog tag returned to family in Hamlet

A research project that took over eight months reached its successful conclusion in Ellerbe last month.

Iain Walker and his organization, Get It Home United, returns lost pieces of military memorabilia to the United States of America. It was established after Walker made contact with Uwe Benkel in Germany, who has experience in recovering pieces of missing aircraft. Walker is an American liaison to Benkel, returning lost gear and mementos in Germany to America.

Since June of 2020, Walker has completed 93 projects. There have only been two projects where they were unsuccessful. Walker uses the Veteran’s Administration, the National Archives, ancestry platforms, and local social media to build a narrative in order to return artifacts to service members and their families.

“I definitely feel that family history is very important,” Walker said. “I always interested in what story will unfold from researching a piece of metal or property. Every person we research, there is a story there.They’re all just unique stories. That’s what motivates me the most. You never really know what you’re going to uncover.”

Last year, Manfred Vobelt, a metal detector enthusiast, found a single dog tag in Dechsendorf, Germany, bearing the name of Eligah McLaughlin. Evidence pointed to the conclusion that McLaughlin was born in Ellerbe. Despite encountering a series of confusing variables, alternate name spellings, and birth date discrepancies, a source at the Veterans Administration ultimately ensured that McLaughlin was from Ellerbe.

When the search turned cold, Walker reached out to the Richmond County Daily Journal to publicize his quest. Walker noted that the article sparked local interest and thanked former staff writer Matt Lamb, who after knocking on some doors in Ellerbe, was able to get some important contacts.

On January 22, Benkel and Walker completed return project #122 in Hamlet. The lost dog tag was reunited via the mail to a family member of the service member.

“Ultimately, we made contact with Eligah’s nephew Ray McLaughlin of Hamlet,” writes Walker on Facebook. “He is a nephew by way of Eligah’s sister Sarah. We returned the tag this week and it is now safe and sound with Ray for posterity. Unfortunately, we learned nothing about Eligah such as his family makeup, whether he had children, his profession, etc. and we never obtained a photograph. It’s unfortunate but sometimes this is how things go. We did learn that he served in the Army until about 1962 and that he passed away in February 1981, possibly in Arlington, Virginia.”

Walker said he thought this particular endeavor was going to be easy because the area was so small, but it took a long time to make contact. Walker said he’s currently busy on about 25 other projects at the moment.

“Contact us if there’s anything your holding onto that has a name or number on it,” Walker said, adding he loves recreating history and meeting new people. “We’ve returned items found on the bottoms of lakes and foxholes all over the place. We’re just happy to help if anybody has something that they looking to figure out more about.”

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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected] to suggest a correction.