Military dog tag returned to family of Navy veteran

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Everyone knows the saying, "You don't know what you have until it's gone." But sometimes it's also true that you don't realize what you're missing until it's found.

This was the case recently for Tullahoma residents and brothers Clyde and Kenneth Gore, who received the military ID tag, commonly referred to as a dog tag, which once belonged to their father Felix Edwin Gore, Seaman 2nd Class in the U.S. Navy.

Using a metal detector, Donovan King, sophomore at Tullahoma High School and a friend of Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Commander Col. Raymond Toth's son Daniel, found the veteran's dog tag in the yard of his home. Donovan gave the dog tag to Daniel to see if the Toth family would have a better chance of returning it to its rightful owner.

"We searched Google and put the word out among the AEDC Woman's Club to see if anyone knew the family," Toth said. "I also brought it into work with the intent of having Chris Rumley (AEDC historian) see what he could do."

In the meantime, the AEDC Woman's Club came through and found the family by putting a post on Facebook. Seeing the post, the Gore Family was elated and contacted the Woman's Club.

Donovan and the Toth family later met the Gores at the AEDC Visitor's Center to return the dog tag. Upon presenting the dog tag to the family, the Commander stated mementos mean a lot to the family of veterans, so it was a fortunate turn of events to have found the recipients.

"I think this says a lot of Donovan; it would've been easy not to have done anything with it," he said.

Toth added he's appreciative of efforts such as this because it's important to "remember our veterans and what they've done for our country."

Felix Gore joined the Navy on Jan. 6, 1945, and served for a while before being honorably discharged for medical reasons. Throughout his life, he continued to be a public servant, becoming deputy sheriff in Tullahoma and then working in Nashville as a guard.

Felix passed away Dec. 12, 1980, but the family mentioned he has remained a role model, even influencing younger generations.

"His grandson Johnny Gore and great-grandson Justin Gore have followed in his footsteps," said Ruth Gore, wife of Clyde.

Johnny works as a police officer in Tullahoma and Justin is currently a Navy recruiter in Franklin, Tenn.

Having the dog tag will now help serve as another lasting reminder of Felix's service to the nation. The Gores thank Donovan, the Toth family and all those involved in getting it returned to their family.