Robert DeVito is an avid surf fisherman.
He had his gear and was making his way down the beach looking for just the right spot when he noticed an odd shaped piece of metal in the sand where the beach ends and the grass begins.
He picked it up, scrapped it off and realized it was a United States military dog tag.
“It is somewhat tarnished but for the most part it is readable,” he said.
He took it home and forgot about it for two years until a few days ago when he came across it again in a drawer where he had placed it and forgotten about it.
“If you look at the top of the tag, you will observe the soldier’s name, below his name is his serial number,” DeVito said.
The markings on the tag indicate that the soldier had a tetanus vaccination in 1943 and that his blood type was A.
The soldier’s name is P.S. Herbert and his next of kin is listed as P. Herbert of Ridgewood Road in South Orange. The soldier’s serial number is 12102501.
DeVito, 74, is himself a veteran and was in fact drafted into the Army on Veterans Day in 1971.
“I got out in November of 1973,” DeVito said. “They ended the draft the previous July.”
DeVito has done some research himself and learned that there had been military bases in nearby Greenport and Mattituck. During World War II, there were patrols along the beach in the area.
“They were looking out for German submarines,” DeVito said. “They would walk the beaches. It was manned 24/7. He might have been affiliated with that.”
DeVito found it in Southold on Long Island in New York. He knows that if he can’t find the soldier in question, he should return it to the Department of War, formerly the Department of Defense, but thought he would try to find P.S. Herbert and return it to him or his family first.
There is no listing for a P.S. Herbert so DeVito contacted this newspaper with the hope of finding Herbert or any surviving family member. Should anyone have any information, they can contact Joe Ungaro at jungaro@thelocalsource.com or at 908-686-7700.
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