145-Year-Old Book Finally Released

Joyce Yarde bought a copy of The Siege of Kenilworth that once belonged to Union soldier J.C. Sample.

When curiosity about the book’s plot led Yarde to turn a few pages into it, she found an inscription penned by Sample in 1863.

“Captured from the Blount House Little Washington North Carolina in June 1863,” the inscription reads. It is signed “J.C. Sample Corps G 168 P.V.I.”

That sent Yarde, a self-professed history buff, on a quest to return the “captured” property in her possession to its rightful owner, if one were living and if she could find him or her. She Googled “Little Washington, North Carolina” and came up with Blount Rumley, director of the N.C. Estuarium. A few weeks of e-mail correspondence ensued and, confident that she had at least found someone who could point her and the book in the right direction, she mailed the book to Rumley. [Link]

Rip Wasn't Ready to Rest in Peace

Wim Hasman found a World War II mess tin in Germany's Huertgen Forest with the name "Emmit S. Collins" carved into it.

“Under the name — the letters RIP — I thought he was dead,” Hasman said of the information his efforts revealed.

Later, though, a very confused Hasman found mention online of Collins’ death not in 1940s Germany, but in 1999, a world away in Arkansas.

Pearl [Collins], who began communicating with Hasman early last week, was able to explain the engraving.

“That was his nickname when he was in the Army,” she told to a Courier editor when contacted by telephone last Monday. [Link]

Soldier Bagged Two Girlfriends

Egyptian tour guide Kahled Makram found a bag in the Sahara dropped by Alec Ross when he was serving there in World War II. Ross died a few years ago, but Makram is sending the bag to his sister, Irene Porter.

She has been able to read the letters - sent by her parents, herself and her brother's two girlfriends - from photographs put onto disc by Mr Makram.

Mrs Porter, 75, of Burnley, said: "I was stunned when I found out about this and it is just incredible the way the bag has come to light.

"I just wish the bag had been found a few years earlier so that Alec could have been reunited with its contents.

"He would have been thrilled, if a little embarrassed about having had two girlfriends on the go." [Link, via Neatorama]

Remember to Check the Chicken Guts

Aaron Giles lost his identity bracelet 25 years ago while playing in his grandfather's barn in Minnesota. It turned up a few months ago in an unlikely place.

The barn was dismantled a few years ago, and the materials were used to construct another barn in rural Elmore, about 45 miles away, he said. Giles thinks his bracelet was imbedded in the barn materials when they were moved.

Workers at Olson Locker in Fairmont were cutting the meat of chickens that came from an Elmore farm when one of them, Brittany McDonald, came across a shiny object in a chicken gizzard. McDonald, whose grandfather owns the locker, saw Aaron's name, address and phone number engraved on it. [Link]

Engagement Ring Changes Hands

Peter Brady discovered Ernest Stanley Cubiss's engagement ring while diving off the Orkney islands. He recently delivered it to the owner's nephew, Malcolm Cubiss.

On a routine dive in September, company director Peter initially thought he had found a part of the doomed ship's machinery - but on further inspection found the gold ring, which was inscribed: "To Stanley from Flo, March 1916."

Together with engineer pal Bob Hamilton, who was also in the water that day, the pair eventually tracked down Malcolm, after trawling the internet and travelled to York with the precious ring.

Grandad Malcolm, who lives in Tockwith with his wife Wendy, 61, said: "I received a call out of the blue telling me that divers had found this ring which had been salvaged from the wreck of HMS Opal. The second they mentioned the Opal I knew what they were talking about, because I knew my uncle had died on that ship." [Link]

Moldy Oldies

After Frederick H. Gage's discharge from the Navy in 1946, his duffel bag was forwarded to Ardine Richardson of Strong, Maine. Richardson had no known connection to Gage, so he stuck the bag in his barn. It was found by the barn's current owner, who tracked down Gage's widow, Mary, and returned the duffel bag with its contents intact.

She had some fun -- well, the moldy clothes weren't fun -- going through the contents. There was an empty wallet with the name "Freddy Gage" inscribed on it; a nice Blue Star Service flag; and a blue stocking cap with a name tag stitched inside: "F. Gage, Naval Radio Station."

There was a paperback book -- a War Department Educational Manual, titled "Modern News Reporting" -- and a U.S. Navy sewing kit inscribed "So Sew Sailor."

"No hidden treasure?" Mary was asked.

"Not a dime," she said with a smile. [Link]

A Run-of-the-Mill Story

An Alabama woman was able to buy back the iron mill wheel sold to pay for her birth.

Onis and Nena Harrison operated the gristmill in Goodsprings on Alabama 99 in western Limestone County during the Great Depression. They did not have money to pay a Lauderdale County doctor for the birth of their daughter, Nancy, on July 25, 1939.

"My dad sold the wheel for $125 to pay the doctor in Anderson," Nancy Harrison Gaston said.

The wheel remained in Anderson until 1996, when Gaston bought it from an Anderson police officer for $1,000. [Link]

Woman Returns Husband to Wal-Mart

Julia Foster bought a photo album at a Texas Wal-Mart, and found inside a photograph of a young man. Three clues to his identity were written on the back: "Robert," "19" and "1945." An article about the discovery in The Brenham Banner-Press turned up 81-year-old Robert Wellmann.

Wellmann’s wife, Selma (Loesch), was the initial purchaser, but returned it “as not quite what she wanted,” according to an amazingly young-looking Wellmann, who retrieved his photo at The Banner early today.

At the time his wife returned the album, neither she or her husband realized a photograph of Robert — single and age 19 at the time of the 1945 black-and-white portrait — had been left inside one of its pages. [Link]

Without His Watch Since World War I

A wristwatch lost in a World War I poker game by a soldier in France will be returned to his family today. The watch—inscribed "W.B. Gill, Sioux City, IA, U.S.A."—wound up in the possession of Carl Grothaus of Bemis, South Dakota.

How he acquired it was one of the few war stories he shared with his inquisitive boys.

"It was part of the pot in a poker game," son Dewey Grothaus said, laughing that he had never seen his father gamble or even play cards. "That part he would talk about. I don't know if he knew Gill or if he served with him."

"He did try to look the guy up" after returning from the war, Grothaus said. During a trip to sell cattle at the Sioux City Stockyards, Carl Grothaus asked around about W.B. Gill, but found nothing. The watch returned to his dresser, where it sat until he died in 1991. [Link]

Owner of ID Bracelet IDed

A bracelet given to Maureen Torreiter's father by her mother during World War II has turned up in Reichswald Forest in the Netherlands.

"I just figure it's a sign from my mom and dad that they're together and they're OK," said Torreiter, 60, whose parents are both dead.

Last December, Ben Pijls of Roggel, Netherlands, was combing through the woods of the old battlefield with a metal detector when he found a silver ID bracelet. The oval plaque hanging from the chain carried the crest of the Toronto Scottish Regiment, the name A.O. Edwards, a service number and the inscription, "Allan from Florence, Xmas 1942." [Link]

They're Still Looking for His Pants

Val Gregoire of Maine was hit over the head in Boston in 1951, and woke to find his wallet and pants missing. Last month—on the 56th anniversary of the incident—the wallet was discovered by a demolition worker at the Paramount Theatre in Boston.

"I was stunned," said Jeannette Gregoire, 75, of Lewiston, after receiving a call from the worker's wife, Kathy Bagen. "How could this have survived?"

More than a dozen photos, a copy of Val's Augusta birth certificate and a pair of identification cards seemed preserved inside the Boston landmark.

One of the cards was an Armed Forces Liberty Pass dated April 11, 1951—the day it was stolen.

Why did they take his pants, too?

"He was wearing those sailor bell-bottoms," Jeannette said. "Maybe they liked the buttons." [Link]

But Who Has His Car Keys?

When Torbjorn Johannes Maage emigrated to the United States from Norway in 1882, he left behind his wallet. It somehow ended up in the family of Tor Oevsthus, who recently tracked down a descendant of Torbjorn in Minnesota.

"I have taken for granted that it came into my family in an honorable way," Oevsthus said. "But you never know. Maybe it was won in a poker game? My thought is that this family needed some money to make the journey to America, and they sold this wallet with other possessions.

"It is a very nice piece of work, but it had nothing to do with my family. I thought it was very important to find the right address for it." [Link]