Tears fell Friday as 81-year-old Ethel Palmquist received a military dog tag once worn by her only son, Steven, who was killed in Vietnam nearly 35 years ago.

"It doesn't bring my son back," she said, crying as news cameras clicked outside her North Fork home. "No, it doesn't," said V.R. Roskam, after he placed the tag into Palmquist's hand.

Roskam, a sales executive for Oil-Dri, a cat litter manufacturer, delivered the tag while in California on business.

He spoke softly, as if to comfort Mrs. Palmquist.

"When you drop into somebody's home and you have a reception like you had here today, it's a marvelous feeling," Roskam said.

For several years, Roskam has been returning dog tags that he and his wife, Martha, bought from a street vendor in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

"I'm 73 years old and still working full-time and traveling the United States and part of the world," he said. "I've had a unique opportunity."

Roskam said his wife could not bear the thought of someone buying the tags simply as a souvenir. She understood the meaning the tags would have to a veteran or their families back in the United States.

After the couple returned home, they gave the tags to their son, Peter, an Illinois state senator who used his connections to check the tags' printed information against a national archive of military personnel.

To date, the Roskams have returned seven tags, including the one presented Friday to Palmquist. The Roskams hope to return another 25, including one more in the Valley.

For Alice Weber, Steven Palmquist's sister, news of the tag's return reawakened a sense of loss.

"I was a little shocked. Like it was happening all over again," she said. "You don't think about it a lot, but even though it's been almost 35 years ago, it's never gone."

On Oct. 2, 1968, Marine Lance Cpl. Steven Palmquist of Kerman was patrolling the Quang Nam Province, nearly 10 miles south of DaNang in Vietnam. He was killed about 4:15 p.m. while his platoon took heavy enemy fire. He was 19.

Standing near a refrigerator that displays photos representing five generations, Ethel Palmquist said, after years of wondering about the tag's whereabouts, she couldn't believe it was finally home.

It just blows you away."

The reporter can be reached at lapadilla@fresnobee.com or 675-6805.