ANDOVER — Steve Boyson wasn't planning to spend his Sunday evening scouring a grassy highway shoulder off Interstate 93.

But after he read an Eagle-Tribune story about the death of Army Sgt. Mark R. Ecker II in a car crash, Boyson grabbed his car keys, left his East Hampstead, N.H., home and headed for Andover.

An hour later, Boyson found what he was looking for; one of Ecker's military dog tags.

"My son also spent a year in Iraq," Boyson explained yesterday. "After I read the story, I felt compelled to go out there and see if I could help ... I just couldn't ignore it."

Ecker, 23, of East Longmeadow, an Iraq war veteran who lost two legs in combat, died Friday in a car accident on I-93 in Andover. He was ejected from a Pontiac Sunfire coupe that landed in a gully. When paramedics found him, he was without the dog tags he always wore.

Police had planned to search the area for the dog tags early this week. But Boyson, 58, a Vietnam era Army veteran, couldn't wait. The story about Ecker made him think of his own son, Steven John, who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and fortunately returned safely.

"All those same emotions came back," Boyson said. "So I took a ride."

Using skid marks on the highway as a guide, Boyson grabbed a stick and started poking around the area.

He raked through heavy brush, maneuvering carefully through soft soil and trash until he spotted a single dog tag with Ecker's name.

He grabbed the tag and marked the area, planting a stake in the ground and placing his Army ball cap on top of it. Then, he turned the dog tag over to Andover police, who notified Ecker's dad in East Longmeadow on Sunday night.

Andover police officers went back to the area yesterday and found the other dog tag, the chain it was affixed to and a memory bracelet in honor of one of Ecker's fallen friends.

"These dog tags were his connection to everything," said the soldier's father, Mark Ecker Sr.

He was overwhelmed with emotion yesterday morning when police called and told him they found the rest of his son's dog tags.

"It was hard to talk because I was crying," Ecker Sr. said. "They were just about one of the most important things in his life because they connected him to the soldiers out in the field and his fallen comrades."

Ecker II lost both legs below the knee after an improvised explosive device went off as he led a patrol through the streets of Ramadi in February 2007.

He wore the dog tags when he returned from Iraq to symbolize the bond he kept with the soldiers still fighting overseas, Ecker Sr., said.

Lawrence police Chief John Romero and Detective Thomas Cuddy made the more than 200-mile-round-trip drive to East Longmeadow to deliver the silver dog tags to the family about 4:10 p.m. yesterday. With tears streaming down their faces, Ecker's parents and his sister thanked Romero.

Ecker's father looked at the jewelry, placed in a clear plastic bag, and spotted the bracelet that Ecker wore. It bears the name of Ming Sun, a fellow soldier killed by sniper fire.

"That's Ming's," the father exclaimed. "He died in my son's arms."

Romero delivered the jewelry because he has a connection to the family — his girlfriend's brother-in-law is a friend of Ecker Sr. The brother-in-law called Romero and asked if he would speak to Ecker Sr. because the father wanted someone to put him in touch with the state police accident reconstruction team, and he wanted to know where the dog tags were, Romero said.

Romero acted as a liaison between the family and police.

Andover police Lt. James Hashem called Romero after the tags and bracelet were found. Hashem brought them to Romero, who then called the family and offered to deliver them.

"It felt great," Romero said. "This is a family that has suffered so much tragedy. Their son is an American hero."

"We're all shaking," Ecker's younger sister, Shannon, 21, said after she and her parents greeted Romero in front of their home.

The family expected that if Ecker died in war, they would receive his dog tags, said Ecker's mother, Debra.

"This means a lot," she said. "The fact that we have that back is so important."

Ecker II, was killed at 4:45 p.m. Friday when the Sunfire he was a passenger in veered off I-93 south in Andover. The Sunfire rolled over before coming to rest upright in a nearby drainage gully.

Stephanie Ortiz, 21, of Lawrence, was driving the Sunfire and suffered minor injuries. She has not been charged or cited.

Ecker Sr. said investigators told him that Ortiz "wasn't violating any traffic rules" prior to the crash. She was cut off by a blue van driver and was forced off the road, he said.

His son and Ortiz were friends, said Ecker Sr., noting his son has "many, many friends."

"All I can say is he touched a lot of lives and a lot of people," Ecker Sr. said.

Boyson yesterday was humble about his efforts to find the dog tags. He wanted no notoriety or credit, but just to know he eased the mind of another military father and honored a national hero.

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