BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The long-lost U.S. Army identification tag of a North Dakota soldier has been returned to his widow after it resurfaced in Russia.
Gov. Doug Burgum gave Ronald Hepper’s military tag to his widow, Ruth Hepper of Bismarck, last week.
According to Burgum’s office, Ronald Hepper had kept a set of his dog tags in his boots, and had been in Vietnam just a few months when a blast from a hand grenade blew his boots off his body in June 1969. Hepper woke up in the hospital with no boots and no dog tags.
He spent three months in an amputee ward, but doctors were able to save his legs, which were wounded by shrapnel. He received the Purple Heart for his injuries.
Following his military service, Ron returned to North Dakota and worked with his brothers. Ron married Ruth Krogman on January 14, 1972, in Aberdeen, SD. They lived in McLaughlin, SD, where Ruth taught school. In the spring of 1973, Ron and Ruth bought a ranch south of Isabel, SD. They farmed and ranched there until the fall of 2002 when they bought a smaller place near Golden Valley, ND. In 2004, Ron and Ruth retired to Custer, SD. They then moved to Bismarck in 2006 to be closer to family a few months before his death in January 2007.
The military ID was found by an American citizen traveling in Russia. The American bought the ID from a street vendor in Moscow and brought it to the American Embassy. The tag was eventually returned to the North Dakota Governor’s Office.
It’s not clear how the ID ended up in Russia.
