Vietnam veteran takes on mission to return slain Marine’s dog tag to brother in Magnolia
Nearly a half-century after he left the battlefields of Vietnam, Eddie Neas this week completed a mission of another kind: Presenting the weathered and tarnished dog tag of a serviceman who died there to the man’s family in Magnolia.
Neas, who is from New Jersey, delivered a single dog tag to Magnolia resident Brian Freed during a ceremony Tuesday night. The dog tag belonged to Freed’s brother, Marine Lance Cpl. David Freed, who was killed in action in September 1968 during the Vietnam War.
Neas came upon the dog tag during a return to Vietnam in 2016 and set out to find Freed’s family.
Through tears, Neas and Brian Freed came together before a packed Magnolia City Council chambers to honor David, who was only 19 at the time of his death.
“Everybody has a piece of the puzzle,” Neas said. “The piece of the puzzle for me was this dog tag. I don’t know why I was selected, but I found a dog tag and I had to do something with it.”
The journey of David Freed’s dog tag home from Vietnam began almost 18 months ago. Neas traveled back to Vietnam in March 2016 as part of the College of the Ozarks’ Patriotic Education Travel Program.
College of the Ozarks is a private, Christian, liberal arts college in Point Lookout, Mo.
A group that included Neas, 11 other veterans and a dozen students traversed cities such as Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Cu Chi, Da Nang, Hue City, Dong Ha and Hanoi to learn about the war.
Bought from peddler
“While in Khe Sanh, a Vietnamese peddler approached me,” Neas recalled in his presentation Tuesday night. “He was selling items on a tray, pieces of shrapnel, spent bullets … but what caught my eye was a dog tag with the initials D.B. Freed … and on it the letters USMC.”
At that moment, Neas knew what he had to do. After some time haggling with the peddler, Neas purchased the dog tag for the equivalent of $25 and set in motion his quest to return the dog tag to the fallen Marine’s family.
“I was not going to leave without it,” he said.
Back at his hotel, Neas began an internet search to find D.B. Freed.
“The first thing I did was go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and put his name in,” Neas recalled. “I found out that David was KIA in September 1968. Emotions hit me.”
Neas and several students discovered that a Lance Cpl. Freed was born in New Jersey, not far from where Neas and his wife, Linda, live.
Neas also learned that the soldier was buried in the Long Island National Cemetery. “I saw his site was maintained by his brother Brian.”
Neas emailed Brian. But the process stalled after Neas realized he had referred to David as “Dennis.” Brian responded that it was not his brother.
“I apologized to Brian, but a month or two went by without a response,” Neas said. “I had to start making this right.”
Sought help
Neas then reached out to several veterans groups. With help from several veterans, Neas located Brian Freed and his family in Texas and tried to contact him via Facebook. A selfdescribed internet skeptic, Brian Freed discarded Ne as’ information, thinking there was no way it could be true.
In a last-ditch effort, Neas contacted the Magnolia Police Department to see if they could help. Police Chief Terry Enloe and Administrative Assistant Martha Mueller tracked down Freed and went to his home.
“Because of the chief and the city of Magnolia, I am here tonight to return this dog tag to David’s family where it belongs,” Neas said.
Freed, a quiet man, was overcome by emotion as he held the dog tag for the first time. “I was 10 years old when he died,” Freed said. “I didn’t get to know him. I miss him. This means more than Eddie will ever know.”
Freed said he is grateful to Neas for returning his brother’s dog tag. Neas said it was his duty.
“I had to do something,” Neas said. “People ask, ‘Why didn’t you keep it?’ Because it isn’t mine. They ask, ‘Why didn’t you leave it in Vietnam?’ Because it doesn’t belong there.”