Western Indiana native's WWII dog tags returned to family

Western Indiana native's WWII dog tags returned to family

(AP) — Terre Haute's Joe Browning had a mystery in an "old time fruit cake tin," with the only clue to the riddle coming from the word "Shelburn" printed on dog tags for a Claude H. Barnes.

[...] Sullivan County location, Browning reached out to the Sullivan Daily Times by email to find Barnes.

The only information he could find on the Internet was Barnes' Army enlistment records, which showed Barnes enlisted in Evansville on Feb. 20, 1943.

The ancestry website familytreenow.com provided a Fort Harrison Road address in Terre Haute and a phone number for Barnes.

Browning found the old fruit cake tin while I was going through some stuff here, cleaning out a China cabinet.

Since his own father served during WWII, it meant a lot to Browning to find any relatives connected to Barnes' dog tags.

Browning brought his fruit cake tin packed with metal objects.

"In the midst of all this stuff was your dad's dog tag, and I'd like you to have that back," he told Archer before turning over the item.

Browning and Archer also discovered they grew up in neighborhoods in the same Terre Haute area and currently live a few blocks from each other with the same zip code.