28 August 2023 , 12:23
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A man has uncovered a soldier's sweet letter to his mother that has been stashed away from the world for more than 100 years. He and his wife recently bought her grandmother's house - and have set to work upgrading the property and redecorating its outdated style.
But when ripping up an old carpet, he was shocked to discover a letter from a US soldier sent to France in 1917. The remains of the letter, originally sent 'On Active Service with American Expeditionary Force' reads: "My dear mother. Just a few lines to let you know I'm all right and feeling good.
"Our Y.M.C.A opened up yesterday and sure is a handy thing. We are having the finest of weather [not clear enough to read] and working like [not clear enough to read]. There is not much I can write about. The [not clear enough to read] ship [not clear enough to read] are so strict. Sure and write as often as you can. With close love, G M Parker. A.&.F. Via New York. France."
When he first discovered the letter, he assumed it was sent by the grandmother's great-great uncle - but later discovered it was from a previous occupier of the house. In a resurfaced Reddit post, he said: "We found this letter in the home we just purchased from my wife's grandmother. It was under the carpet, so it's in decent condition considering its residency for who knows how many years.
"She has lived in it since 1962 and has a few generations' worth of belongings. We quickly assumed it was sent by her late great-great uncle, Dr Ralph Powers, who had served (and ultimately died in Russia) while serving as a member of the American Expeditionary Forces. It turns out that it was sent by a Dr George M. Parker. He lived in this home prior to my wife's grandmother. Wild!"
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Commenting on his discovery, one impressed user said: "The letterhead says 'Active Service' so I'm wondering if the writer was active duty and writing home to his mum and the blacked-out areas were where they censored the outgoing correspondence as they do in wars. Turns out the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), commanded by General John Pershing, were the armed forces that the United States sent to Europe during World War I."
But this wasn't the only 'treasure' he found when redecorating, as he also came across a collectable Brooks Robinson baseball card hidden inside a wall. He added: "The card belonged to my father-in-law. He said he used to play in the attic right above where it was found. He even remembers the specific card. Pretty impressive memory to recall something relatively obscure from 60 years ago!"
In response, one user said: "Awesome find! A much sought-after collectable! Go Orioles, Mr. Hoover, the greatest defensive third baseman in Major League history! I can imagine a kid lost that card and looked everywhere for months trying to find it. And I bet he still rues the day it went missing. I wonder how big his whole collection was, and did he trade them on the playground."