MACON, Ga. — There's a search underway for a missing hat at a Macon-area rest stop.
In a Facebook post over the weekend, Don Lindley of Indiana says he lost his hat in the overnight parking lot at the I-475 rest area.
Lindley, who served in an engineering battalion during the Vietnam War from 1965-1967, is a retired accountant and also a former ultra-marathon runner although he only does 5K and 10K races since he’s 78 years old.
He had gone to Florida to try to shake off a case of bronchitis he’d gotten, and also to help a pro-veterans group at a road race in Tampa. He was on the way home when he stopped at the I-475 rest stop to grab a nap overnight.
While at the rest stop, Lindley lost his hat. He says he can replace the hat, but not the three lapels attached to it -- one from a Vietnam War 50th anniversary celebration in Fort Wayne, another a special MIA lapel, and the third from the Million Veteran Partnership, which was a special drive to get Vietnam vets to share their DNA to help better track and diagnose war-era health issues like those caused from Agent Orange exposure.
Lindley says he knows he had the hat when he stopped in his car at the I-475 North rest stop parking lot to grab a few hours rest.
"When I got up, I opened the door to get some drinks out of my little cooler in the floor, I didn't see the hat fall whatsoever, and I shut the door and left," Lindley said.
When he hit morning rush hour in Atlanta, he noticed it was missing and knew it had to have been at the rest stop.
He says he’s grateful to people around Central Georgia who have shared his post and helped try to find the hat. As of 10 p.m. Monday, the post had over 20,000 shares, and some people are going much further than that to help.
Lindley talked to 13WMAZ about the hat and the outreach of support.
"I'm very sentimental about that cap because one of the lapels was given to me on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War at the War Memorial Park here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Not only was it given to me, there was a lot of Vietnamese families that migrated here, that lived here in Fort Wayne that were at that war presentation," said Lindley. "The people are fabulous around Macon. I'm getting messages from people saying, 'Well, we'll go over there and look for it.' They even asked the supervisor at the rest stop if my hat was turned in. Unfortunately, it was not turned in."
He says he's grateful to all the people from Central Georgia who contacted him to help try to find the hat.
If you do find it, he asks you to reach out to him on Facebook.