Across the decades, Schweickert would repeat the routine, putting the watch away for a few years at time only to take it out and start another fruitless search all over again. Nothing got him closer to finding who gave him the watch until earlier this year, when he thought about running an ad in a paper near Tarrytown to see if it might jar anyone’s memory.

Schweickert told his son what he planned on doing. Schweickert’s son ran a Google search and found an obituary for a Frank A. Harris in a 1962 issue of the Schenectady Gazette. Frank Cook was listed among the survivors.

Schweickert and his son did another search for Frank Cooks in the area. After a few wrong numbers, Schweickert reached Cook’s wife at her home. She quickly put her husband on. After swapping their military experience, Schweickert said “Frank, I got your watch,” Schweickert said.