Randy Lundy's dog tags find their way back to Fowler.    From the Fowler Tribune

It started with someone around the world having a love of history.

And ended with a bittersweet reunion for the Lundy family — 43 years later.

That's the path Randy Lundy's U.S. Army dog tags took from Fowler, Colo., in the late 1960s, to the jungles of Vietnam in 1969 where he was killed in action, to a city in Denmark and finally, back to Fowler, Colo., just recently.

Randy Lundy was killed in action Aug. 21, 1969, while serving for the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

Lundy, who was just two months shy of his 21st birthday and less than a month away of ending his tour, died a hero.

His parents, Ray and Eva Lundy, longtime Fowler residents were left to deal with the tragic loss of their eldest son. They rejoiced in his life and mourned his death until their own deaths. Ray passed away in 2000 and Eva in 2010.

Also left behind in 1969 were Randy’s two little brothers — Richard and Roger. Richard (Jocelyn) Lundy lives in Denver and Roger (Annette) Lundy reside in Fowler.

“I was 14 years old at the time," Roger said. "I remember being in class and our good family friend Pee Wee Jones came to the classroom and told me he needed to take me home.

“I could see how losing him affected my folks, it was a tough time for us all,” Roger went on to say.

Randy graduated from Fowler High School in 1966, attended college for one year and was immediately drafted into the Army.

“He spent his R & R, something the Army allotted their soldiers, in Singapore. So when he left home to begin his tour, that was the last time we saw him — that is until they shipped his body home,” Roger said. “Through the years, several of his squad buddies would keep in contact with my mom and dad."

And also with Roger and Richard. Last fall Roger, Annette and some of their children were invited to a squad reunion.

“Of course, it was an emotional time, meeting some of the men Randy served with. I always wondered if he died alone in the jungle, but one of his squad members told me they were with him when he died of a gunshot wound during enemy fire,” said Roger, somberly.

Randy's memory lives on in his family, but just recently, a series of events brought back a flood of bittersweet emotions.

On Monday, March 12, through a series of emails, Daniel Peters, 24, of Frederiksberg in Denmark, a small country in Scandinavia with about 5.5 million people and about 5,000 miles away from Fowler, began contacting Fowler residents in hopes of finding the Lundy family.

The young man, who wasn't even born during the Vietnam War but has a love of history, had acquired Randy Lundy's dog tags from the jungles of Vietnam.

"I love to study modern war history and I have been collecting German helmets from WWII since I was about 14. A few years back I got more interested in the personal story of the soldier and began to research my items. Then about a year ago I read an article about a Vietnam War veteran being reunited with his dog tag and even though the Vietnam War wasn't in my area of interest at that time, I found the story quite amazing. I took up the subject with a fellow collector who has his way in US items and he knew a local in Vietnam who had some dog tags he had found. So I contacted the local at the beginning of 2012 and bought the dog tags he had, which were only a few and then I began the research. After a month of research and trying to get in touch with the Lundy family, I finally got lucky and got a mail from Roger, Randy's brother," Daniel Peters said in an email.

And he wanted to get them to their final resting place and in the hands of the Lundy family.

"You ask me why I do this and it's quite simple to answer that question — it's the right thing to do. That's it. There's no other explanation. We may come from different parts of the world, but this dog tag belongs to Randy’s family and no one else.

It was obvious that receiving his brothers’ dog tag was very emotional and brought back many memories for the Lundy family.

“It’s so amazing that this was found and returned to us, especially from a young man who lives 5,000 miles away from us and has no connection to our family, that is until now,” Roger said.