NJ Vet Gets Back Dog Tag He Lost in World War II A New Jersey man has been reunited with the dog tag he lost in France during World War II. Ninety-year-old Willie Wilkins served in 1944 in the Army's Quartermaster Graves Registration Units, where his job was to retrieve the dead bodies of American soldiers. The Newark resident on Wednesday received the relic from a woman who tracked him down. Anne-Marie Crespo found the dog tag in 2001 while digging near an olive tree in her backyard in France. She thought the soldier was dead, but a neighbor urged her to try to find the tag's owner. Crespo contacted the French government, which got in touch with the U.S. Army. It contacted Wilkins' daughter, Carol. Carol Wilkins says it's a miracle her father got his dog tag back.