Dad Searches for Son's Missing Dog Tags

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. - A father is heartbroken after losing one of his most precious keepsakes.

Dan McDonnell marched in the Holly Springs and Woodstock Christmas parades Saturday and realized somewhere along the route, he lost his son's dog tags. 

"My oldest son passed away and he had been in the military," said McDonnell.  "I wear his dog tags every day."

McDonnell and his younger son, Kyle, retraced his steps Sunday morning, but were unable to find the missing tags.  So, they went to Facebook to ask for help and thousands of people have shared the post in an effort to locate them.

"People don't know me. I'm just a dad and why are they helping?  It just amazes me.  They've got no reason other than that they're probably a parent and they know what it would mean to them if they were to lose something like that," McDonnell reasoned. 

He said people have reached out and even offered to walk the parade route with McDonnell to retrace his steps.

"More than once I became rather choked up over things people have posted and how they've reached out," he said.

Sgt. Ryan McDonnell passed away in May from a drug overdose and his father said the tags are one of the ways he keeps his memory alive.

"I think it's important to know that while he didn't die in Afghanistan, that's part of a war we're fighting is the heroin coming out of Afghanistan," McDonnell emphasized.

Anyone who finds the dog tags can contact Woodstock Police.