A Gift In The Mail

Let's talk to Diana Middleton about this story: Patrick Lyons' fingers tingled when he opened the business-size envelope that had arrived at his home in May.

Inside was another envelope, this one bearing just the family name. Tucked inside was an Army dog tag, thinning in some places, almost bendable.

The engraving, still distinct after so many decades, bore just four pieces of information: name, identification number, blood type and religion. Patrick hadn't been alive when the dog tag was manufactured, or even when it was last worn.

But Patrick hoped it was his father's, a tangible piece of a past his father guarded. There were scant verbal clues of his time as an Army construction engineer,…