[Editors] Brass rat mystery

[Tom Gearty]

All,

There’s a link on the MIT homepage today to a video describing a mystery we’re trying to solve.

We received a “grad rat”—an MIT class ring for a graduate student—from a woman in Virginia. This ring was returned to her family along with her brother’s effects after he was killed in action in Vietnam in March 1968. Here’s the mystery: neither the soldier nor his family have a connection to the Institute. Whose ring is it? How did it come to be included with the possessions of an 18-year-old Marine who died during his first weeks in Vietnam?

We’d like to return the ring to the original owner! If this person is deceased, we’d return it to the family. Either way, we hope the ring returns to its rightful home.

Please take a look at the video. (Many thanks to the great video team in the MIT News Office for putting this together!) If you can think of any alumni or groups that might be able to help solve the mystery, we’d appreciate your forwarding along the link.

The permanent link for the video is here:
http://video.mit.edu/watch/mits-brass-rat-a-vietnam-war-ring-mystery-11571/

We’ve set up a web page with more information and a form to send leads and suggestions:
http://studentlife.mit.edu/vietnamring

Thanks for any help you can offer bringing this story to the attention of those who could help.

-tom

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Tom Gearty
X 3-3951
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