Man finds military tags, gifts daughter of late soldier with them

For one Michigan resident, all she has left are memories of her father years after passing, but now, after a lucky find, she has something to hold onto.

The last memory Tiffany Pace has of her father, Richard Adams, was him battling cancer in the hospital nearly twenty years ago.

“He had a lot of health problems and then she went through a lot with him the last few years, so that’s still kind of raw,” said Linda Spiekerman, Adams’ sister.

Adams served in the army from 1960 to 1965 as a paratrooper.

Besides a couple of medals, a flag and some old pictures, she never thought she would see his name anywhere else until John Scherzer decided he needed a new shed.

“We’re all done and we’re already cleaned out and that stuff, that grass, was already starting to grow up and that and I just, I was walking through it to pick up some other brush yet and I looked down right now and I seen a set of dog tags and I seen ‘em and I knew exactly what they were,” said Scherzer.

It was true luck that made Scherzer look down. It was like a needle in a massive haystack.

After Scherzer and his wife, Joy, did some digging, they found Tiffany and her aunt Linda.

That call wasn’t the first time Scherzer had been part of returning lost property.

His father had served in Korea and Scherzer got a call about his army stencil.

“So basically it was they found it in the old woodshed at the farm after it was sold and they knew us because Saint Mary there, and they returned that to us so when we found the dog tags, we found you and we returned them to you,” said Scherzer.

He knew the importance of even the smallest memory.

“It’s wonderful,” said Pace. “To have him – just this tiny piece of his history back with us. I know my sisters are gonna be just as emotional as I am about it, and just love it just as much.”

Today, Richard Adams completed the final part of his discharge from active duty.