William Sapp, a U.S. Army veteran who served during the Vietnam War, discovered over a dozen military dog tags near the old Kansas City dump site along the Missouri River. As an avid explorer, Sapp had collected many treasures throughout the years, but none as priceless as these forgotten mementos of the past. In early 2023, Bill Sapp, his friend and comrade David Owen and Sue Quinn-Morris of Patriot Connections Dog Tag Project embarked on the journey to get all the military dog tags home to the veterans and/or their families

In a heartwarming twist of fate, a treasured military dog tag once belonging to WWII veteran Bobby Pittsenbarger  found its way back to his son.

RESEARCH: Through research, including numerous sources, the story of Bobby Pittsenbarger began to come to life.

Bobby was born June 15, 1927, in Ravenwood, Mo., to Lenord and Elsie M (Morrison) Pittsenbarger. After high school, he served his country proudly during WWII in the US Navy. He married Doris J. Daniels in 1948 and eventually they made their home in the Kansas City area. He was employed by Safeway/Foodbarn where he was a store stocking supervisor and retired from there in 1989 after 33 years of continued service. He loved to read and westerns were his favorite. Being a wonderful father, grandpa and great- grandpa he loved to go deer hunting with his sons and going to Penguin Park with his grandchildren. He was a member and usher of Winnwood Baptist Church.

Bobby, at the age of 81,  passed away June 16, 2008, at North Kansas City Hospital. Funeral services were held on June 20th, 2008 at DW Newcomers' Sons White Chapel Funeral Home, Gladstone. He was buried, with full military honors at Kirk Cemetery, Allendale, MO.

DOG TAG RETURN: Quinn-Morris made contact with his surviving daughter, Susan Sharp, who was ectastic to hear that Bill had found her fathers dog tag, yet a bit skeptical. Her nephew, Roger Pittsenbarger, who works for the Iowa VA, followed up with a call to Quinn-Morris to get more details. He was interested to learn more of the work of the dog tag project as well.

Quinn-Morris put Dave Owen in touch with Roger to get a mailing address so that Dave could send the dog tags out.

For details about this Dog Tag Collection, click here

Navy Muster Roll