Quincy Family Reunited With Grandfather's World War I Dog Tags
QUINCY (CBS) -- A faded photograph shows William Munroe, of Quincy. He survived trench warfare in Europe during World War I, and now his keepsakes, the things he brought back from that terrible war, have been found.
"Whatever he suffered, these items were with him when he suffered. Whatever he saw these items were with him," Cheryl Morin, Munroe's granddaughter, said after laying her eyes on the WWI medals. "If they could speak to us, what would they say?"
A while back, a woman in Quincy found a small, metal box in her attic and inside were dog tags belonging to William Munroe.
She looked closer. Munroe was a rifleman in World War I, Company E in France.
Munroe's granddaughters today were given the treasure trove of family history.
"I'm amazed," Abby Sabourin, Munroe's granddaughter said. "I'm so happy that they made it back to the family."
William Munroe survived the trench warfare, but not for long.
Just the emotional wear and tear, I can't imagine," Morin said. "What did he have to do? How many men did he kill? You know, what did he see?"
William wrote a letter to his father in 1932 from a military hospital in Illinois. He was dying from lung disease. It was his last letter.
"As my sister said, just to wonder what he went through and how it affected him, you know, afterward," Sabourin said.
It's safe to say this reunion would not have happened without a young cop named Sean Fitzgerald, who thought a simple phone call was worth pursuing.
"If it was my family I would want them, and to know that they were there and to receive them back," Fitzgerald said.
"It makes me proud, too, that he served our country," Morin said. "I just wish I could talk to him."
