More than 80 years after two Allied soldiers exchanged military dog tags while imprisoned during World War II, their families reunited in Jacksboro to fulfill a promise neither veteran lived to keep. During World War II, Corporal Mervyn McCready of Australia and Private Garth Oliver of Jacksboro became prisoners of war after the Allied surrender in Java in 1942. The two formed a close bond and exchanged military dog tags as a symbol of friendship during their captivity. Both men made it out of the war, but neither was able to return the tags in person. On Wednesday, their families met to honor the commitment more than 80 years later. “He never did get to return that dog tag,” said Aaron McCready, the grandson of Mervyn. Later, reflecting on the significance of the tags, McCready said they are “quite literally soaked in blood, sweat, and tears in the name of freedom and liberty.” McCready went on to say the tags are also representative of something far more human: connection and friendship. “He would have wanted me to return this dog tag to his mate,” McCready said. McCready said he wore the tags in his own service as a representation of luck and friendship. A historic friendship McCready explained that his grandfather, Mervyn McCready, and Texas soldier Garth Oliver met while fighting Japanese forces in Java before becoming prisoners of war following the Allied surrender in 1942. They spent roughly three years in captivity, first in POW camps and later performing forced labor on the Thai-Burma Railway, often called the “Death Railway.” McCready said his grandfather gave Oliver one of his dog tags as a token of their friendship and gratitude. “Mervyn gave Garth his bottom dog tag as a token of their mateship and symbolic of ‘I owe you my life,'” said McCready. A long journey home The effort to return the tags started on the other side of the world. McCready said he was long familiar with the story of the American soldier his grandfather met while they were prisoners of war. When the family decided it was time to return the tags, the search for the family of Garth Oliver began. “It had to happen. Mates look after each other,” McCready said. That search eventually led him to the Texas Military Department, where officials helped connect him with descendants of Garth Oliver in Jack County. For Oliver’s family, the return offered a rare opportunity to understand a man whose wartime experiences were known mostly through stories passed down through generations. “It gives me an appreciation or an understanding of my namesake,” said Garth Oliver, the veteran’s nephew and namesake. “You get more of a glimpse of the man he was and the difference that he made in the world.” More than eight decades after the two soldiers endured war and captivity together, their families met face-to-face in Jacksboro to complete a journey neither veteran lived to see. The big picture While Wednesday’s ceremony focused on the friendship between Mervyn McCready and Garth Oliver, speakers reminded attendees of the larger historical picture. Representing Lost Battalion veteran Luther Prunty, family member Al Prunty recounted how dozens of young men from Jack County answered the call to serve before the United States formally entered World War II. “There were 63 Jack County young men between the ages of 18 and 21 serving in Battery F of the 131st Field Artillery Regiment”, Prunty said. Those soldiers would eventually become part of what became known as the “Lost Battalion,” a group of Texas National Guard troops sent to the Pacific and captured after the fall of Java in 1942. Jack County Judge Brian Keith Humphreys formally proclaimed June 10, 2026, as “Lost Battalion Brotherhood Day” in Jack County, recognizing the extraordinary friendship between the two soldiers and the generations that carried their story forward. A lesson in friendship and sacrifice For both families, the ceremony represented much more than the return of a military artifact. “Service to larger ideals and beyond yourself and your fellow man; it’s really mateship that kept them alive, kept them together,” McCready said. Oliver said the moment carried a deep appreciation for what the two men endured and the sacrifices made by their generation. “There’s an intensity of an appreciation of who they were, the sacrifices they made, the things that they stood for,” he said. McCready told the crowd that the friendship between the two soldiers helped them endure the hardship they faced while imprisoned. “Ladies and gentlemen, they were mates,” he told the crowd. “They looked after each other, and together, despite the challenges, they came out on top, together.” More than eight decades after the war ended, that bond between an Australian soldier and a young Texan brought two families together and returned a piece of history home. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less