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Find on lake floor sparks memories (MN)
StarTribune.com ^ | 12/15/09 | MARY LYNN SMITH, Star Tribune

Posted on 12/15/2009 8:09:27 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo

A piece of Don Sunstrom's past has been missing for 40 years.

While fighting in Vietnam, he'd gotten a fancy engraved cigarette lighter as a keepsake to remind him of a place he later would try to forget. But he lost the lighter in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

Two months ago, Sunstrom, 65, who now lives in Blaine, was stunned to learn that the Zippo lighter had been found -- at the bottom of a lake in southern Wisconsin.

Scott Mitchen, a professional treasure hunter and author, found the lighter during a dive in Delavan Lake and plans to return it to Sunstrom Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm elated about getting it back," said Sunstrom.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: History; Local News; Military/Veterans; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: frwn; vietnam; zippo
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1 posted on 12/15/2009 8:09:28 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Excellent post. Brought a tear to my jaded eye.


2 posted on 12/15/2009 8:22:39 PM PST by thatdewd (2010 is coming soon...and THEY know it! THEY are afraid.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Holy cow, it’s Tolkein’s Zippo Of Power!


3 posted on 12/15/2009 8:22:42 PM PST by RingerSIX
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Beware! Interdimensional wormhole between Vietnam in 1969 and a lake bottom in Wisconsin in 2009!


4 posted on 12/15/2009 8:26:31 PM PST by ExGeeEye (P.U.M.A.--BC/BG!)
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To: RingerSIX

Well, glad you liked it.


5 posted on 12/15/2009 8:27:32 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Merry Christmas, FReepers!!!)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

What he needs to do is research who in his unit was from wisconsin and then he’ll know who the thief was that stole his lighter back in ‘68!


6 posted on 12/15/2009 8:31:44 PM PST by mamelukesabre
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Well...I thought that this was a pretty good story and I thought that FReepers would actually enjoy it....

Wrong, again...


7 posted on 12/15/2009 8:39:29 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (I have better things to do....)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Good story. Thanks.


8 posted on 12/15/2009 9:00:37 PM PST by americanophile (Merry Christmas!)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

I’m not sure why you say that. It was a great story.

If it was my comment about Tolkein’s “Zippo Of Power,” you’d have to read the Lord of the Rings and/or The Hobbit to know the reference. It was about a Ring Of Power that had been lost for a very long time, and was found by someone at the bottom of a river/lake.


9 posted on 12/15/2009 9:38:34 PM PST by RingerSIX
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Delavan???? For crying out loud...at least it could have been in Lake Geneva.


10 posted on 12/15/2009 10:52:40 PM PST by norge (The amiable dunce is back, wearing a skirt and high heels.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

I know that this is not quite the romantic story that this story is, but, I have a Zippo that I found under the seat of a Cadillac Seville, in 1985, belonging to someone off of the Carrier John F. Kennedy. I’m sure he has stories to tell, and maybe would like to have it back.


11 posted on 12/15/2009 10:59:52 PM PST by gigster
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
Quite a story. The guy still has his 'short-timer' calendar. Glad to hear he's getting his Zippo back.

I have an old buddy who had a custom Zippo he got in Phu Bai. It had a little saying on it. He lost it out drinking one night after he got back to the world. It would be nice for him if it would come back. I don't remember of he had any identifiers on it so I doubt it ever will get back to him.
Thanks for the post.
12 posted on 12/16/2009 2:09:39 AM PST by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Great post! It goes to show that you never know what can happen or come back to you!!


13 posted on 12/16/2009 2:32:09 AM PST by Cricket24 (Conservatives Only...NO RINO'S!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Years ago Zippo used to run a series of ads about Zippo lighters that were lost and later found in odd places. One that sticks in my memory was found in the belly of a codfish. After replacement of packing, flint, wick and filling with lighter fluid, the lighters would work. IIRC, the tag line was, “Lights the first time......every time.”


14 posted on 12/16/2009 6:03:12 AM PST by Roccus (My anger IS manufactured.......................................in the WHITE HOUSE and CONGRESS!!)
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To: Roccus
"After replacement of packing, flint, wick and filling with lighter fluid, the lighters would work."

I'd hope so. LOL

15 posted on 12/16/2009 6:08:00 AM PST by Landru (Forget the pebble Grasshopper, just leave.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

What a cool story.
The real story here is how did the lighter get from Vietnam to a lake in Wisconsin?


16 posted on 12/16/2009 6:13:19 AM PST by commish (Freedom tastes sweetest to those who have fought to preserve it.)
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To: TheConservativeParty
"Scott Mitchen, a professional treasure hunter and author, found the lighter during a dive in Delavan Lake and plans to return it to Sunstrom Wednesday afternoon."

Hey, girl?
Between this and last week's story detailing West Bend's LED traffic lights freezing, Cheeseheads are making "the news"!! :o)

Must be awfully slow. LOL

17 posted on 12/16/2009 6:14:06 AM PST by Landru (Forget the pebble Grasshopper, just leave.)
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To: RingerSIX
I served as an usher at my sister's wedding, and my brother-in-law bought some small gifts for the members of the wedding party...mine was a brushed chrome Zippo. I'd owned a few Zippos over the years, all of which I'd misplaced or lost, and had pretty much resorted to disposables as a result. I was intent on keeping this one, and for a couple years had no problem doing so.

After Hurricane Katrina, I adopted a second shepherd (Ranger) that had been abandoned in the NO area, to pal along with my German Shepherd, Timber. Initially, Ranger had some separation issues and would chew some small personal objects of mine while I was away from the house, and also had a penchant for burying things. Shortly after I adopted Ranger, my Zippo disappeared, and I just assumed it fell out of a shirt pocket on a walk in the woods, although I did search the house, jeep, and yard at some length because of its sentimental value...with no luck.

In the summer of 2007, Timber died, and Ranger (and I) were functioning like two legs of a three-legged stool...there was a 115 lb. hole in our lives. A few days after Timber died, I got up and let Ranger out then went to the take a shower and get ready for work. As I was walking to my front door, laying right there in the middle of my living room floor was the zippo I'd given up for lost.

18 posted on 12/16/2009 6:18:45 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
It IS a good story! Maybe the guy lost it and someone else found it and it was that person who dropped it in the lake.

I am trying to remember a story about my husband finding his lost ring but it was over 50 years ago and I can’t quite remember the details.

19 posted on 12/16/2009 6:30:10 AM PST by Ditter
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To: Landru

Madison was in the news last week too with their LED lights full of snow. Madison totally failed on snow clean up. So bad that “Mayor Dave” was on the news apologizing on Saturday night. We drove to the east side Saturday morning and conditions on the road, were like that of a 3rd world frozen nation. Those silly liberals! They don’t like to use road salt, it hurts the grass! Vicki McKenna was teasing them after the storm, saying “Hey guys, use some sand, it’s organic!”.

BTW, Saturday, several days after the storm, the LED’s were still blocked by snow.


20 posted on 12/16/2009 9:27:07 AM PST by TheConservativeParty (Take back the GOP-RNC. Apply RINO-B-GONE as needed.)
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