Found 50 Years Later: How Social Media Helped a Michigan Veteran Reclaim His Past

I feel like most people I know don't write letters anymore, and I find that said.

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Back in the day I remember always being excited to get a letter in the mail from a family member on my birthday.

And when I was in school I remember being a pen pal with a kid in another state I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Back in the day a letter was one of the main ways a majority of people in the world were able to communicate, especially those who were half way around the world during war times.

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A letter written by a Michigan man 50-years-ago was recently found and reunited with the man who wrote it.

Michigan Navy Veteran Reunited With Letter He Wrote 50 Years Ago

Back in 1976, Mark Wilson was 17-years-old and entered the U.S. Navy after he finished high school studies

While at bootcamp in Illinois, Wilson wrote a letter back to his friends from church, Gus and Cybil Bouchey.

In the letter, shared by WXYZ he shared how busy he was at bootcamp with his studies and inspections along with how much he missed things like his TV, radio and newspaper along with family and church friends.

Wilson probably never thought about that letter again until years later it was found inside a Michigan home.

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50 Year Old Letter Found During Michigan Home Construction

WXYZ reports that Kimberly Neumann lives in St. Clair Shores and had a big leak in her home that caused damage and needed needed major construction work to be done on that part of the house.

During that construction workers discovered an envelope hidden behind a cabinet.

Inside the envelope was a letter on U.S. Navy stationery in perfect condition.

Neumann decided that she was going to do whatever she could to get this letter back to the man who wrote it.

She posted the letter to social media and eventually Wilson's friend who was visiting Ireland saw the post on social media.

His daughters commented on the post and that's how the 50 year old letter was reunited with Wilson. He told WXYZ,

It felt very heartwarming to know that somebody cared enough to take their time out and try to track me down and get it delivered back to me, so that I could have that piece of memory to hold on to now forever.

I'm so glad that the letter survived for 50 years behind the cabinet and that Neumann made the effort to return this special letter to Wilson.