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NY Soldier's Long-Lost WWII Bracelet Found, Returned To Family

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was thought to be lost forever, but a nearly 75-year-old piece of history has found its way back to its rightful owner in upstate New York.

Tom Beaudoin said he was shocked to hear someone had found his father's bracelet from World War II.

"Somehow the bracelet found its way to the shores of the Hudson River," Beaudoin said.

And that's where Mike Maggiulli, the attorney for the upstate town of Colonie, found it.

"I got a good sound on my detector, it was about five inches down, and I dug it up and found this bracelet," Maggiulli said.

The bracelet bears the name Charles "Eddie'' Beaudoin and an eight-digit military service number. So Maggiulli went on a mission to seek out the Beaudoin family.

"This is the first time where I've ever found anything that had detail enough where I could trace," said Maggiulli.

With a little help, he was able to track Beaudoin down and return the bracelet.

"A bracelet that my dad had back when he was 22 years old and enlisting in the Army," Beaudoin said.

He even has a photo where he believes his father is wearing the bracelet.

"Dad was always fun and everything seemed to have a story or a complication to it," Beaudoin said.

Maggiulli says he knew how much it would mean to return it to the family because he was reunited with his grandfather's World War I medals just last year.

"I thought it would be great to try and get it back to the family," Maggiulli said.

Beaudoin is grateful to be reunited with the bracelet, saying this is just another way his dad, who died in 2001, has continued to tell him stories.

"He believed in that kind of stuff, and he had that belief go into this children, too, there's a little mystery and magic out there," Beaudoin said.

The family doesn't know what they'll do with the bracelet from here on out. They might pass it along to other members in the family, or donate it to a museum.

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