Photo: Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP
More than 50 years after losing his wallet on the far side of the globe, a California man has had it returned.
On Saturday, 91-year-old Paul Grisham received the brown leather wallet he lost in the late 1960s when he was a Navy meteorologist stationed on Ross Island in Antarctica, according to theSan Diego Tribune.
The wallet still contained both his Navy ID and his driver’s license, along with a recipe for Kahlua and a tax withholding statement. Not only that, but the wallet contained a beer ration punch card and a sheet with instructions on what to do during a nuclear attack.
The item was discovered behind a locker when a building at McMurdo Station — located on the south tip of Ross Island — was demolished, theTribunereported.
Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP
“I was just blown away,” Grisham told the newspaper. “There was a long series of people involved who tracked me down and ran me to ground.”
Grisham enlisted in the Navy in 1948. He arrived in Antarctica in 1967 and received a promotion to lieutenant during his 13-month stay.
“Let me just say this, if I took a can of soda pop and set it outside on the step, if I didn’t retrieve it in 14 minutes, it would pop open because it had frozen,” Grisham said of the icy continent.
A group of amateur detectives worked for weeks to find Grisham, who did not remember that he lost the wallet but was appreciative of its return.
“If it was my dad’s possessions, I would have treasured it as I think they will,” Sarah Lindbergh, who, along with her dad, helped track down Grisham, told theTribune.
“It was a feel-good thing to do and both my dad and I have gone to bed thinking that another family was as happy as we are,” Lindbergh, whose grandfather was a veteran, added. “My grandpa would be so proud and my dad is proud to have things in their rightful places.”
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“I have a deep love for those that serve and their stories,” McKee — an air force veteran — told the outlet. “Something such as an old wallet can mean so much to someone with the memories that item holds.”
source: people.com
