The children of James W. Wallace had heard stories of their father fighting at the Battle of Normandy during WW II.

Now they have a keepsake of his service. Their father's dog tag was recently found near Utah Beach in Normandy, France and was be returned to the Wallace family during a presentation to his widow, Catherine S. Wallace, a resident of American Village.

The presentation was held at American Village, 2026 East 54th Street. Mr. Wallace died in 1997. After serving his country he returned to Indianapolis to serve his community. He retired from the Indianapolis Fire Department as a fireman.

The dog tag was found by Frenchman Francois Blaizot of Brucheville, France who discovered the tag while treasure hunting near Utah Beach last summer.

Utah Beach was one of five beach sites where the Battle of Normandy fighting took place from June 6, 1944 to July 24, 1944. Thousands of U.S. soldiers were killed or injured during the battle. Mr. Wallace was one of the 160,000 Allied troops who landed along the 50-mile stretch to fight Nazi Germany. The battle resulted in the liberation of Paris and allowed Allied forces to slog across Europe to defeat Adolph Hitler's troops.

Blaizot spent the following months trying to return the dog tag to officials in America. Friends connected him to Chuck Hodge, a Dallas, Texas man who writes about WWII veterans. Hodge was in Normandy when he learned about the tag.

After returning to the U.S., Hodge, whose wife is a native of Indiana, contacted local veteran officials after learning Wallace was from Indiana. He was referred to the Grant County Veterans Affairs Office where officials were especially interested in returning the tag to the family. Grant County Veterans Affairs Officer Bob Kelley assigned the task of locating the family to Marine veteran Cory Goodwin, a volunteer with the Veterans Affairs Office. Goodwin located the Wallace family.

"It's been a crazy story," said Goodwin. It's so awesome and we're so glad we can give this back to the family."