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Surrey Mounties had cause to mark national hat day after a fallen Mountie’s Stetson turned up more than four decades later at a market in Germany.

Tim Jöckel, an avid collector of RCMP memorabilia, came across an RCMP Stetson for sale at a flea market in Hamburg, according to Surrey RCMP, who posted the story on social media Tuesday.

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Mounties said the former police officer had long been in search of an original John B. Stetson to add to his collection.

To help verify the hat’s authenticity, RCMP said Jöckel sent photos of the Stetson and the regimental number etched on the inside to his Canadian friend and RCMP veteran, retired superintendent Ric Hall.

Hall discovered that the regimental number belonged to Surrey Const. Terry Draginda.

Draginda was only 24 years old when he died while on duty more than 40 years ago. He was responding to a report of a collision when he was involved in a crash with another vehicle on Sept. 29, 1974.