Barracks Air Ducts Hide a Trove of Memories (Camp Roberts, CA)

L A Times ^ | May 29, 2005 | Louis Sahagun

[Ramonan]

Crews demolishing old military barracks on this sprawling base near Paso Robles stumbled on a surprising find: wallets.

Tumbling out of heating ducts suspended from the ceilings, the wallets were stuffed with remarkably well-preserved personal belongings dating from World War II and the Korean War.

Love letters. Religious medals. Base passes. High school identification cards. Driver's licenses. Dog tags. Snapshots. Tips for surviving an atomic blast.

The only thing missing was money.

The discovery posed unusual challenges for officials at the former Army base, now used by the California Army National Guard: How did the wallets get there?

An intensive search for clues among the wallets' contents, and for addresses and phone numbers of owners now in their golden years — or deceased — has reunited all but three of 25 wallets with their owners or relatives.

"The fact that there is no money in any of these wallets leads us to believe they were stolen," said California Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tom Murotake. "The thefts usually involved a trusting guy from a small town who set his wallet down, then got distracted.

"Someone else, in one fluid motion, nabbed the wallet, snatched the cash and chucked the rest into the heating duct overhead."

Over the decades, the heat turned the leather into something resembling beef jerky, but left everything inside intact.

Murotake, who is in charge of tracking down the owners, said the wallets become instant "touchstones," jolting memories back to a grueling and uncertain time when thousands of recruits converged at the base for 13 weeks of basic training. From there, they were shipped out to the front lines in Europe, the Pacific and Asia, a few without their cherished photos and pocket keepsakes.

[Ramonan]

9 Picture essay, right side of Article,"Photo Gallery" Will bring back some memories for vets of Korea, WWII.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Incredible!!!!

[clintonh8r]

My mother was an Army nurse, stationed at Camp Roberts during WWII. I'll send her this story.

[BenLurkin]

Been there a couple times. One 'accommodation' had an incredibly bad odor (think dead critter in the walls somewhere) The windows rattled and the heat didn't really work. On the other hand I got to listen to an awesome fusillade around 2100 hours. I think the Bradleys were doing night gunnery.

Another time and another quarters was not too bad. Quite plain but had A/C and satellite TV. Breakfast at the HQ was cold but only cost a buck or two.

The entire base is WWII vintage and much of it is utterly dilapidated. Many, many structures which should be demolished but there isn't the funds PLUS there is an asbestos complication.

[in the Arena]

"The thefts usually involved a trusting guy from a small town who set his wallet down, then got distracted.

My grandfather lost his wallet this way. He was working in the ship yards around Seattle during WWII and set his wallet on his locker before taking a shower only to find it missing later. He was a trusting farm boy from South Dakota. When I was leaving for college he relayed the story, I guess, to prepare me for life in the "big city"...

[Boss_Jim_Gettys]

"My mother was an Army nurse, stationed at Camp Roberts during WWII. I'll send her this story."

My father passed through during WWII. I am sending him this story too.

[rockrr]

Grampa was right (Seattle isn't any better now!)

[GreyFriar]

ping

[fuzzthatwuz]

Thanks for the post. Great stories! Wonder what ever became of the barracks thief. Probably a State Senator.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. Now, if they could just find the thief's fingerprints on the stolen wallets...