Beloved cigarette lighter found at NY’s Jones Beach in 1960s finally reunited with family of Vietnam vet who lost it

A long-lost lighter that was dug out of the sand at Jones Beach nearly six decades ago has finally been reunited with the family of the Vietnam veteran who owned it, The Post has learned.

The silver igniter etched with a map of Vietnam made the 3,000-mile journey over the weekend to Oregon, where Theresa Shipley and her son Andrew laid eyes on the relic her late husband Paul talked about so often.

“He wasn’t the kind of man to cry, but I think he would’ve shed a tear when he heard that he was getting his lighter back,” Theresa, 58, told The Post Monday about Paul, who died in 2003.

For decades, the lighter had been something of a mythological artifact in the Shipley household.

US Marines vet Paul frequently reminisced about the wartime object, and even enlisted the help of his wife to rifle through every inch of his belongings in their Salem home in hopes of finding it.

He never realized that he’d lost it way back in the 1960s his hometown of Long Island, which he left after serving two tours in the Vietnam War.

“He said the reason he re-enlisted was because he didn’t get shot the first time,” Theresa said of her hero husband.

The couple met in the ’70s in Oregon at Salem Hospital, where Theresa was working as a housekeeper and Paul as a plumber, a trade he learned during his time setting up water purification systems overseas during the war.

Paul moved to the West Coast shortly after his service concluded because he was tired of digging his van out of the snow, Theresa recalled.

“I remember Paul talking about that lighter and he always wondered what happened to it,” Theresa said.

He didn’t realize his lighter didn’t make the trip with him — and tragically died of a heart attack without ever knowing where the prized possession ended up.

Unbeknownst to the Marine, an eagle-eyed Army paratrooper from the Bronx had scooped up the detailed lighter while enjoying a day at Jones Beach in the late 1960s.

Frank Livoti Jr. said his father, Frank Livoti Sr., instantly recognized the significance of the intricate lighter and spent decades trying to locate its owner, whose initials “P.L. Shipley” were carefully carved on the back.

The elder Livoti and his son visited a military recruitment office to dig up information — but hit numerous dead-ends.

The elder Livoti also died in 2003 and for the last two decades, the lighter sat untouched on a shelf in his son’s office.

The lighter eventually caught the eye of Frank Livoti Jr.’s son, Isaac, about a year ago.

Several days later, while celebrating his anniversary with his wife in the Bronxville restaurant where they first met when they ran into two other former Marines — one of whom was working as a private investigator.

Isaac Livoti relayed the saga of the cigarette lighter and, with the help of the PI, reignited the mission to find its owner.

Last week, the dream finally came to fruition.

“I was excited when I got the phone call from Frank,” Theresa recalled of the moment Livoti Jr. reached out to tell her he had her late husband’s lost lighter.

“I really appreciate that. Frank went through all this effort to try and find me it shows that there are still good people out there and all is not lost,” she added. “I know my husband would be thrilled.”

On Sunday, Theresa bestowed the lighter to her and Paul’s son, Andrew, who, like his mother, had only ever heard about the piece as a long-lost memento father had cherished during his time at war.

“Andrew was choked up. He couldn’t talk when he opened his present,” Theresa said about the heartwarming moment.

“I told him that I had something from his father and he was thrilled. He said it was amazing that the lighter made its way back to us. I was so glad that I could give him something from his father,” she added.

Paul “was a great husband and father,” Theresa said.

“We had a good life, just Ma and Pa North America. He likes working with his hands. He was a standup man very chivalrous.”

For Frank Livoti Jr., the act of kindness also served as a way to bring his father’s dreams to reality.

“I’m so glad it worked out. I did it to honor my father. He was a veteran and he knew the sentimental value of the cigarette lighter. It took over 50 years, but I’m glad that my father‘s intentions were realized,” he told The Post.

“My father would feel gratified and overjoyed. I think he would say to me a job well done.”