ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Korean War veteran and his wife recently came upon a street vendor in Vietnam selling G.I. dog tags.

Outraged, they bought all 37 and made it their quest to return them to their rightful owners, WESH 2 News reported.

They found one vet in Central Florida. Eddie Davis, of Sanford, has no idea how he lost his dog tags 35 years ago and he had no idea he'd be so emotional when he got them back.

He said he accepted them on behalf of the vets who didn't make it back. He also said he's forever grateful to Martha and Swede Roskam for finding them. The Roskams are the parents of Illinois state Sen. Peter Roskam.

"They were being sold as trinkets in a foreign marketplace and they're not trinkets. These are important pieces of identification for men who served for us, and in some cases, died for us," Peter Roskam said.

The Roskams' project wasn't easy. In fact, it took four years for this reunion to take place. Swede Roskam said the veterans or their survivors that they contacted by the telephone were all skeptical.

"They thought it was a scam at first and I don't blame them. So I'd give them time to think about it, and call them back. Some I've had to call over a dozen times before they realize I'm not after any money and I just want to return what's rightfully theirs," Roskam said.

Davis said he was leery at first, too.

"He gave me his Web site, and when I looked at that, I realized he was for real," Davis said.

He said there's more to this than just getting back a piece of metal.

"I had some real good memories, met a lot of friends. A lot of us got to be real close together and a lot of my friends didn't make it back, so I accept this back in their honor," Davis said.

He served in the 9th Marine Regiment in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. His regiment saw so much action it was nicknamed the Walking Dead. They never stayed in one place for very long so he isn't sure what happened to his tags.

What surprised him the most was how much it meant to him to get them back and how glad he is the Roskams didn't give up on trying to find him.

"They had to go through a whole lot to track us down. It took four years to try to find me so that was a lot of sacrifice on their part to try to find myself and other veterans," Davis said.

For many veterans, Vietnam left mental wounds that may never heal. Davis said he didn't just get back a piece of metal; he got back a piece of his life.