Family offers reward after military dog tags of man killed in WWII stolen out of SUV in SF

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The military dog tags of a Purple Heart recipient killed in World War II were stolen from a Jeep in San Francisco last week.

Family members need your help to find those tags, and they are offering a reward.

It happened near 23rd and Bartlett in the Mission District.

The tags were once used as identification for Private Ambrose D. Regalia of Pleasanton who was killed in World War II. The tags were stolen out of a Jeep Cherokee in the Mission District of San Francisco last Thursday.

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"Some chargers were taken, and then I immediately noticed that the dog tags were gone and my heart just sank. I couldn't even put it into words what I felt," said Katie Regalia.

Katie would have been Ambrose's Great Niece. At 26, she never knew Ambrose, but she has read the many articles written about him over the years. She knew he was a gunner in the Army, killed in a Japanese attack in June of 1942, and is now desperately trying to locate the identification tags -- something that hung from her rear view mirror.

"I like to look at them. It's a good reminder of my family and to work hard and to do the things that he wasn't able to do," Katie said.

Private Regalia was posthumously given a Purple Heart for his actions before his death in World War II. Katie says her uncle still has that medal, but the family doesn't have much else other than the tags and a few pictures.

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She's put up flyers offering a $500 reward with the hope that someone will come forward with the tags.

"We don't care how you got them, anything. We would just really like them back. The person that took those doesn't understand the significance of what they are or doesn't have what we have with our history and how Ambrose was such a big part of our lives, even though he isn't here anymore," Katie said.

If you think you've come across Regalia's military dog tags, you can contact the family at (415) 967-8254 or email them at lregalia2@yahoo.com.

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