[nextpage title=”Next Page” ]Facebook can divide people (What?! She unfriended me?), or bring people together. In this story, Facebook united two eras, two continents, two men and an item lost decades ago.[/nextpage]
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1. Italian Beach
During WWII, Bennie Howard lost his dog tags on a beach in Italy. 73 years later, a man with a metal detector found the tags and used Facebook to connect with Mr. Howard.
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2. WWII Scene
In 1943, Bennie Howard, Jr., was a soldier in the U.S. Army fighting in World War II. He was 19 years old.
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4. Treasure Hunting
Fast forward to 2015. Jury Galli, from Pisa, visited that same beach to scan the sands with a metal detector.
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5. Dog Tags
When he uncovered the dog tag, he read the name and North Carolina. He did a little research and found Bennie Howard, Jr., was alive and living in New Bern, NC.
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6. International Connection
Galli contacted the Town of Wendell on Facebook. He wrote, “I found this dog tag. It says Wendell, North Carolina on it. I started researching and found out Mr. Howard was still alive and living in New Bern.”
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7. Heading To America
Galli did not think mailing them would be enough. He bought roundtrip tickets and flew across the ocean to hand deliver them to Howard.
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8. 70+ Years Ago
Asked about getting back his dog tag, Howard said, “I was surprised because after the time span, it’s almost something impossible.”
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9. July 4 In The Town of Wendell
The Town of Wendell honored Galli and Howard during their Independence Day parade which brought out citizens of all ages.
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10. Worth The Flight
Galli does not speak much English. But he managed to say, “It’s a beautiful moment for me. I remember all my life this moment.”
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11. A Happy Moment 73 Years In The Making
Howard, wearing a patriotic red vest with American and Italian lapel flag pins, waxed poetic, saying that getting back the small piece of metal gives this year’s holiday even bigger meaning.
[Featured Image Credit: abc11.com]
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