A family in Ohio recently got the shock of their lives when a young boy returned a dog tag to them of a U.S. Marine who died in 1974.

Kolton Conrad, 12, was kayaking with his father on the Hocking River during what they call a “guys day out” when they stopped on a beach to pick up some trash. That’s when Kolton caught sight of something shiny in the water, and when he picked it up, he realized it was a dog tag.

Clearly engraved on the dog tag was the name “Rhonemus.”

Kolton pocketed the dog tag and brought it home to his mother Ashley, who took to Facebook to see if she could find who it belonged to.

“Rhonemus doesn’t seem like a very common name, so we thought it should be pretty easy to find who it belonged to. So we put it on Facebook, and within about six hours someone got in touch with us,” Ashley told the Lancaster Eagle Gazette. “That woman put us in contact with Kimberly Greenlee, the dog tag’s owner’s sister. We knew we had to get the tag back to her, so we arranged to meet.”

“She asked where would be a good place? I said Rising Park… She replied with ‘oh my goodness, yes, this was his favorite place to go,'” Ashley added.

Greenlee’s brother Steven Rhonemus was a veteran of the United States’ Marine Corps who was discharged due to an injury. Sadly, he died in a motorcycle crash in 1974. While she has no idea how the dog tag ended up in the river, Greenlee remembered that he brother loved the outdoors, so he likely dropped it while out on the water with friends.

Greenlee decided to give the dog tag to Steven’s daughter Danielle, who had not been born yet when he passed away.

“I reached out to Danielle, and I told her the story. We haven’t been in touch for a while, but I wanted to offer her the dog tag, so she could have that to remember her father,” she said. “It was emotional when she got it. She said it felt like God was letting her know her dad was with her and watching over her.”

“It’s just amazing for me how much of a ripple effect there has been since Kolton found the tag, and all the good we’ve heard about because of it,” Greenlee added.

This entire situation has caused Greenlee to reflect on the brother that she lost nearly fifty years ago.

“He was a brother, a protector. Everybody loved him. The first thing you’d hear about him if you said his name is ‘he was my brother.’ He was a good man,” she said. “I loved him, and I can only imagine how my life would have been different if he had lived.”

“I just want to acknowledge Kolton and his family,” Greenlee concluded. “We have so much gratefulness for them, from the bottom of our hearts. They were able to give us back a piece of my brother, and helped show respect to the military, the respect it deserves.”