Dog tags a U.S. soldier lost on a Massachusetts beach 70 years ago have been returned to his son at the same place . Zachariah Fike head of Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited , says the military ID belonged to World War II veteran Cpl . William Benn , who lost them in 1939 at a coastal artillery placement on Salisbury Beach . Metal detector enthusiast Bill Ladd found them after a storm last year . Metal detector enthusiast Bill Ladd found the missing dog tags after a storm last year , returning them to the vet 's son , William Benn of Rhode Island . Fike and Ladd gave the tags to William Benn of Providence , Rhode Island , on Sunday afternoon . Cpl . Benn manned a gun during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor . He was awarded the Silver Star for shooting down several Japanese aircraft the next year as a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber at the Battle of Midway . Benn died in 2002 . Fike 's group recently received a $ 50,000 grant . The tags came from World War II veteran Cpl . William Benn , who lost them in 1939 at a coastal artillery placement on Salisbury Beach . Purple Hearts Reunited says it will use the money from the Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation to cover the 'purchase or rescue ' of Purple Heart medals , the cost of framing , travel expenses and event and presentation costs . Purple Hearts are awarded to service members , or the family of service members , who have been wounded or killed in combat . The organization has hundreds of medals it hopes to return to the veterans who earned the medals or their families .
Zachariah Fike head of Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited , says the military ID belonged to World War II veteran Cpl . He said he was told by a soldier that it had been stolen from his home in New York and then sold on eBay for $300.