We just wish that social media were used this way more often

Nearly 50 years later, a thoughtful act. Mary Webb, while deployed with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam in the early 1970s, was shopping in Saigon when her handbag was ripped from her shoulder, stolen by a couple guys on a motorcycle.

Amongst the personal possessions she lost that day were her set of dog tags.

The storyline picks up again all these years later: Just a couple weeks ago, she got a message from a stranger in the Bay Area who said he had a dog tag with her name on it.

“I just find this whole situation so exciting,” she said. “After so long, I think my dog tag has had a more interesting journey than I have.”

The reunion between the veteran and her long-lost dog tag was chronicled in last Saturday’s edition by reporter Jake Abbott

Webb got an email from Elliot Wilen, Berkeley. In 1999, he visited Vietnam with a college friend. He met the woman who would end up marrying him. Her father, years later, during a visit, showed him a collection of dog tags he had ... and gave

Wilen one of them. He forgot about it until just a few years ago, dug it out and searched the Internet, eventually locating Webb.

He utilized a website to locate her through the Tan Son Nhut Association – a forum used by military personnel who served in the Vietnam War. Webb had just become a member a few year ago.

“I’m truly amazed at how kind people are that he thought of the Tan Son Nhut Association to get an email address,” she said.

She hopes to some day welcome Wilen to the area to visit the Museum of the Forgotten Warriors.

It’s a fun story and fun to think about. So often there are people up to no good via social media. We’ve come to suspect the worst out of other people because social media accommodates those who want to do their worst. But there are probably a lot more people such as Mr. Wilen, who use it to reach out to someone with good intentions. Oh, but were there so many more of those types of exchanges.