A stolen memento of a father who died in Vietnam has found its way back home, the North County Times reported.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Greg Beck wrote in an e-mail to Jacque Beck (no relation) about two weeks ago, after hearing that a stolen shadow box containing his father's medals had been recovered. "I cannot tell you the wonder this brings for me. Thank you for all your diligence."
The framed box contains 10 medals, ribbons and other items awarded to his father, Army Chief Warrant Officer Gregory G. Beck, who was 24 when his Cobra helicopter went down during the Vietnam War 40 years ago, the paper reported.
The box was stolen five years ago by home invaders who entered Beck's Coronado home looking for another resident who they said owed them money, according to the North County Times. The medals were eventually found in the trash by Deni and Steve Herckt, owners of a foreclosure-related business who were at an abandoned home in South Bay. The couple turned over the box to the the VFW in Ramona after their efforts to locate Beck proved fruitless.
Luckily for Beck, the shadow box ended up in the hands of the post's PR guy, Ken Dower, who worked with a friend to track down Beck through his genealogy.
