New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
After this story broke it attracted people from around the world. Many took it upon themselves to be internet sleuths determined to help get the dog tags to the family. People contacted Patricia Chadwick who was 2 years old when her dad was fighting overseas, as well as her nephew Sal Matteos. Matteo is a 22-year veteran of the Air Force, who has since left the military and lives in Virginia. He grew up in his grandfather’s home in Fairhaven. Walter Chadwick sold the house to his daughter Nancy who is Sal’s mother.
One man from Austin, Texas, who wanted to remain anonymous ended up talking to Patricia and after convincing her that he wasn’t trying to scam her, they had a laugh. The contact details were forwarded to Sevcik who has since mailed the dog tags and they are on their way to where they belong.
Original article:
A Czech man was spending a leisure day with his family when he came across a special find. Jaroslav Sevcik brought his metal detector with him when his family decided to go out for a stroll in the western part of the Czech Republic.
When it was his mother’s turn to try her luck, she began scanning the ground in within minutes the detector made a loud beep indicating that metal was just below the surface of the ground. After digging only an inch or two into the ground the unearthed a “treasure”: World War II dog tags that read “Walter Chadwick.”
The U.S. Army was in the city and its environs to liberate the area from the grip of the Nazis during the war. Surprisingly, this is not the first time they not only recovered American dog tags tracing back to Massachusetts. 2 years back they found the dog tags of a Wakefield man and successfully reunited the tags with his family.
Sevcik and his family would like to do the same for the Chadwick family. After some research, they discovered that Matthew Chadwick passed away in 1955 and is buried alongside Julia Chadwick at St. Mary’s Cemetery here in New Bedford. Julia died in 1997.
Fast people search does bring up a Walter Chadwick in MA. It’s possible a move from our area could have happen. There were 2 listed. Good luck, God Bless people like you.