Local News

Lost dog tag of Wareham’s ‘Thermometer Man’ pulled from sand and returned to family

"If that's not a sign of a ‘hello, I am here, everything's okay’ then I'm not really sure what would be."

Daniel Minkle

By Mia McCarthy

2 minutes to read

When Richard Porter was alive, he collected over 5,000 thermometers. But at some point, he lost his Korean War dog tags. 

“We never really knew that they were missing,” said Porter’s grandson Dan Minkle. “We never even remember him mentioning it.”

They were missing until Saturday, when a local man named John discovered a tag on a beach. 

According to Minkle, John was metal detecting on Little Harbor Beach in Wareham when he found the dog tag and decided to find the owner. When John saw Porter’s obituary online, he decided to contact Minkle instead.

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“I was very close to my grandfather, so just to hear his name and that somebody found something of his and for it to be that as well, it’s just an amazing feeling,” Minkle said.

Porter, who died in 2018, was locally known as the “Thermometer Man” for his extensive collection and museum of thermometers, which got him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Porter was also a science teacher and an Air Force Korean War veteran.

“For the guy John to go out of his way to find somebody to give it back to – with the world the way it is today, I’ll tell you it feels great to get a phone call like that from someone who is just trying to do the right thing,” Minkle said. “That meant a lot to the family.”

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Minkle said besides also being from Onset and having the first name John, he doesn’t know anything else about the dog tag finder. He said he tried contacting him after the dog tag send-off, but he could not be reached. 

Minkle added that, unlike John, his grandfather loved attention. 

Porter, a science teacher, loved to give lectures about his extensive thermometer collection.

“He always tried to be in the spotlight, media, and so we just laughed cause it’s like here he is again, trying to get his five minutes of fame again,” Minkle said.

Minkle added that he feels like the dog-tag discovery is like a sign from his grandfather.

“If that’s not a sign of a ‘hello, I am here, everything’s okay’ then I’m not really sure what would be,” Minkle said.

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