Posted on 11/05/2020 12:13:13 PM PST by sodpoodle
Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A Nova Scotia man said he is hoping to reunite a letter written by a man serving in World War II in 1944 with the soldier's family after finding the note in a box of items he purchased years ago.
Arnie Lloyd of Elmsdale said he bought a 1948 Ford F1 car from a family about three years ago, and he also ended up buying some boxes of truck parts and other miscellaneous items from the same seller.
Lloyd said he was going through one of the boxes recently when he found a hand-written letter written by Arnold Weisner, a Canadian solider who served in the Netherlands during World War II. The letter, dated Nov. 4, 1944, was addressed to Clark Armstrong of Beechville.
Lloyd said he found numerous other items bearing Armstrong's name in the box, including love letters, old pay stubs and a driver's license from the early 1900s.
Lloyd said he is now hoping to reunite the letter with members of Weisner's family.
"If a grandson or granddaughter gets to read that letter, they get a piece of history that maybe their father or grandfather didn't get a chance to talk about," Lloyd told CTV News.
Ken Hynes, the curator for the Army Museum Halifax Citadel, said Lloyd might have some difficulty finding Weisner's official records.
"Library and Archives Canada haven't released them to the public from the Second World War because there are veterans who are still alive," Hynes said.
Lloyd said he will not give up the search for Weisner's relatives.
"I'm hoping that they will actually get it," Lloyd said. "They'll get to read the story that their relative has written while they were in the war."
The wife was still living and she signed a letter of approval for the release of the correspondence.
I wonder how many votes for Biden were in there?
That’s so awesome. Great idea!
A few years ago I opened an old used book and found a postcard from New York in the ‘60s, written in Italian to an address in Italy, unstamped and presumably unsent. I put a stamp on it and dropped it in the mailbox. I have no idea what it said but I suppose someone was surprised to get it!
I know nothing at all of where he served or when.
I would be very grateful if someone found such a treasure and sought me out to return my family.
when my mom died, i found ~75-80 letters my dad wrote to her
i can’t bring myself to read them...
i feel like it’d be an invasion of their privacy
During one of our phone calls I was told that their only child, a daughter, who was born in 1942 died in 1996 - she was only 54 years old.
Letters during those times were seldom salacious- for the very reason you mention. They are treasured and expected to be read by family members.
During WWII the U.S. military censored letters from servicemen. The soldiers and sailors wrote the letter, put it into an unsealed envelope which was later read by an officer. My father was a naval officer during WWII and reading sailors letters was one of his duties. He hated that part of his job.
Catch-22
“when my mom died, i found ~75-80 letters my dad wrote to her”
My 95 year old widower uncle had no family accept for me, his nephew. I basically took care of him the last 12-15 years.
He died last year and cleaning out his house I found some pretty risque letters between him and his wife back in the 50’s sent to other couples they hung around with around the country.
Photos of him and her in other people’s laps etc. Swingers?? I do not know. Like you I stopped reading the letters. He was like a second dad to me.
Better than being ordered to advance on the enemy line.
Freepmail me if you want to see if I can find anything. If there's anything, should take 10-15 minutes to at least fish up a Selective Service record, if there's one.
Interesting. I bought an old suitcase and it’s full of letters between a ww2 soldier and his wife...
I will have to research doing the same.. I don’t know what do to with them...
Call the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress and see if they would like them.
202-707-4916
You might need permission from the letter writers if they are still alive - or family members.
That would be a great novel. What kind of news was in that postcard, why did they decide against sending it, and what kind of sensation did it make upon receipt?
Dennis the Menace hid that letter in a box!
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