TRURO, N.S.
It’s not uncommon for Andrew Killen to churn up the odd piece of old scrap when he is rotor tilling his garden.
And normally, he will just remove whatever has been caught up in the tines and move on. But, one day, he noticed something entirely different – a set of aged, military dog tags.
“When I go through the garden we pick up all kinds of stuff, pieces of metal and glass and you name it,” the Masstown resident said. “I jammed my rotor tiller up with some wire and stuff like that and I was cleaning it out and I saw the chain and (thought) ‘well that’s interesting.’ I got it all out and the dog tags themselves were caked in mud. Once I cleaned them up: ‘oh dog tags.’’’
Killen’s house used to be a barracks residence at former Camp Debert but some decades ago was moved in sections and reassembled at its current location on Putnam Road.
He figures the dog tags got put aside or were lost and then likely got tossed out during a later renovation, or whatever.
The tags are numbered 79371, with the initials AJ and surname Myers. They are also stamped with the letters, PRES RH/P/O and CDN RCAF.
Thinking there may be family members of a former airman who would like to reclaim the tags, Killen took them to the Air Force Club in Truro where he left them in the care of club member Frank LeBlanc.
“Maybe there’s a little bit of history behind them and somebody would like to get them back. Maybe they’d like to see them,” Killen said. “To some people it’s nothing. To other people it’s a treasure, right.”
LeBlanc spent 25 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force between 1963 and 1988 as military policeman. When he received the dog tags from Killen, he too felt it would be good if they could find out who the tags belonged to.
“That would be really something if we could track this individual down,” LeBlanc said. “If I could find out, if perchance he is still alive, or his family. I think they are a little bit special.”
Anyone reading this who thinks they may know the AJ Myers that the tags belonged to is encouraged to call LeBlanc at 902 893-7938.
