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WWII veteran’s postcard delivered 77 years later

<p><span>A letter written over 77 years ago by a World War II veteran has finally made its way home to his family.</span><br /><br /><span>Bill Caldwell was a little over 18 years old when he joined England's Royal Navy.</span><br /><br /><span>During his first week of training, he sent a postcard to his family back home.</span><br /><br /><span>The note was addressed to Mr Caldwell's "Uncle Fred" and was postmarked 1943 with a stamp saying: "Post early in the day."</span><br /><br /><span>Strangely enough, the postcard was not delivered to his childhood home, where some of his relatives still live, until February 2021 – over 77 years later.</span><br /><br /><span>While Uncle Fred has since died as well as Mr Caldwell 25 years ago, Fred's daughter Joanna Creamer said reading the 77-year-old postcard was "surreal".</span><br /><br /><span>"Well I am in blue at last. I did not think it would be like this – you don't get much time for yourself, do you?" the postcard said, according to the BBC.</span><br /><br /><span>"But I like it alright.</span><br /><br /><span>"I will write a letter to you all when I get half a chance so will you hold on a bit? I have 19 weeks here yet.</span><br /><br /><span>"Give my love to everyone. Love, Bill."</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7840036/qqii-veteran.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/a4358153621949ad9de5ab34666c63f6" /><br /><br /><span>Mr Caldwell's daughter Elizabeth told the Daily Mail the story was "crazy" and understood it was "hard to believe".</span><br /><br /><span>She said her father loved to tell stories, but he would never write.</span><br /><br /><span>"To actually see his handwriting was beautiful," she said.</span><br /><br /><span>A spokesperson for the Royal Mail explained to the BBC that it was likely someone put the aged postcard back into the postal system recently.</span></p>

Family & Pets

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100-year-old postcard finally gets delivered!

<p>A woman from Michigan ended up receiving a postcard in her mailbox which had been sent almost exactly 100 years ago.</p> <p>Brittany Keech from Belding, east of Grand Rapids said the message took her by surprise and is now on the hunt of the relatives of the intended recipient.</p> <p>The postcard had a stamp on it with George Washington’s face and was postmarked October 29th, 1920 having been sent right before Halloween of that year, from Jamestown, Michigan.</p> <p>Keech is now hopeful that she’ll be able to track down the descendants of the people whom the message was intended.</p> <p>“This might be something that their parents can say, 'yea I remember when your great-great grandma would tell me stories’.”</p> <p>So far, she has posted it to a local Facebook group which features local stories where it has garnered over a hundred comments.</p> <p>If the family is not found, she says she may donate it to the local museum in Belding.</p> <p>One member of the community, Robby Peters, has begun the search to find relatives.</p> <p>“I do some genealogy research as a hobby,' said Peters to the<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/09/12/with-1920-postmark-mail-is-delivered-michigan-home-100-years-late/" target="_blank"> Washington Post.</a> </p> <p>“I started helping my own family, and I kind of caught the bug after that.”</p> <p>Peters found a Roy McQueen in the 1920 census who lived at the same address where Keech is currently residing with her husband and two children.</p> <p>McQueen was originally from Canada and moved to America in 1887.</p> <p>He was married to a Nora Murdock and was the manager of a produce company.</p> <p>The likely author of the postcard is Florence 'Flossie' Burgess, the daughter of Nora Murdock's sister, according to Peters.</p> <p>“I found census records, death records and marriage records,” he explained. “The postcard contained a couple of names and it had a destination, so I had an idea of where to start searching.”</p> <p>“I built a family tree,” Peters said. “It doesn't look like Roy and Nora had children, and Flossie seems to have remained unmarried, so there are no direct descendants.”</p>

Art

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Vintage postcards show New York City on cusp of change

<p>America’s Library of Congress has unearthed a collection of rarely seen postcards of New York from the early 1900s, revealing a city on the cusp of change.</p> <p>As you can see in the gallery above, these images are incredible.</p> <p>The photographs for these postcards were originally taken in black and white, and had colour filled in with a painstaking and then ground-breaking process called Photocrom.</p> <p>It’s a dazzling collection that features Staten Island, Central Park, early skyscrapers and the newly-created Subway network that would transform transport in the Big Apple.</p> <p>To see all the photos, scroll through the gallery above.</p> <p>Which picture stands out as your favourite? Have you ever been to the Big Apple, and if so how did you find the experience?</p> <p>Let us know in the comments.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Library of Congress</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/travel/domestic-travel/2016/06/10-lesser-known-new-zealand-holiday-spots/"><em><strong>10 lesser-known New Zealand holiday spots</strong></em></a></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/travel/international/2016/06/japan-beach-illuminated-by-mysterious-natural-phenomenon/"><strong><em>Japan beach illuminated by mysterious natural phenomenon</em></strong></a></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/travel/international/2016/06/10-breathtaking-photos-celebrate-the-beauty-of-britain/"><em><strong>10 breathtaking photos celebrate the beauty of Britain</strong></em></a></span></p>

International Travel

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Kids write the sweetest postcards to welcome home birds

<p>It’s not every day birds get a welcome home party but this year, the 55 species of migratory birds that are returning back to Wisconsin in the US, have 70 students cheering them on.</p> <p>Why? It’s all part of the “Wings to Wisconsin” program that aims to connect students to birds, and wildlife in general, in a more personal way, rather than just the facts you learn from school books. The program, which sees Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, Madison Audubon Society and Osa Conservation teamed up with six schools of second to fourth year students, asked the students to write postcards to migratory birds that have returned to Wisconsin after their holiday away in warmer climates.</p> <p>"The three organisations tossed some ideas around for a campaign and I kept coming back to the idea of migration as a travel adventure. Sending postcards seemed the perfect fit for that theme of travel!” said Lindsay Mayer of the NRF.</p> <p>The postcards are, of course, adorable. Here are some of our favourites. </p> <p><strong>To Baltimore oriole, from Savannah:</strong></p> <p><img width="498" height="329" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1568080/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="0f560"/></p> <p><img width="500" height="354" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1568081/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="1aa68"/></p> <p><strong>To wood thrush, from Casey:</strong></p> <p><img width="497" height="384" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1567978/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="89bb6"/></p> <p><img width="495" height="382" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1567982/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="f7ee9"/></p> <p><strong>To blue-winged teal, from Siri:</strong></p> <p><img width="486" height="375" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1568095/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="98445"/></p> <p><img width="488" height="377" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1568097/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="2c475"/></p> <p><strong>To gray catbird, from Lucas:</strong></p> <p><img width="482" height="338" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1568032/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="2ef45"/></p> <p><img width="483" height="339" src="https://assets.rbl.ms/1568035/980x.jpg" class="rm-shortcode" id="05e62"/></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/news/news/2015/06/pre-school-in-seattle-nursing-home/">Housing a preschool in a nursing home has transformed lives</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/news/news/2015/06/boy-walks-for-charity/">6-year-old boy walks home from school to raise money for less fortunate kids</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/news/news/2015/06/george-on-balcony/">Prince George's first appearance on the Buckhingham Palace Balcony</a></strong></em></span></p>

News

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Boy gets postcard from late father 8 years after it was sent

<p>A 9-year-old boy from Colorado received a heartfelt reminder of just how much his late father loved him.</p><p>Joseph Torrez died from a degenerative neurological disorder at age 41 in 2013. Before he passed away, Torrez would send his son, Rowan, postcards from different states he had travelled through.</p><p>Last Saturday, Rowan received a postcard in the mail, dated June 10, 2007. It read: “Hello from Pennsylvania! I love you and I miss you so much. See you soon. Love, Daddy.” It came days before the anniversary of his father’s death.</p><p><img width="500" height="375" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/4113/postcard2.jpg" alt="Postcard2" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></p><p>Rowan did not get a chance to say a final goodbye before his dad died. Julie Van Stone, Rowan’s mother, believes that this was Torrez’s way of contacting Rowan one last time.</p><p>“Joseph got that last message out to Rowan – it was in the craziest way, but he did it,” she told Yahoo News. “We have this last little thing from him. It’s truly a gift.”</p><p>It's still unclear how the postcard only arrived eight years after it was sent but regardless, Rowan is treasuring this moment.</p><p>“It's like a keepsake,” he told KUSA. “I'd say, ‘Thank you.’”</p><p><em>Image credits: Julie Van Stone&nbsp;</em></p><p><strong>Related links:&nbsp;</strong></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/news/news/2015/03/boy-sells-hot-chocolate-to-raise-money/" target="_blank"><strong>Boy sells hot chocolate to raise money for the hospital who saved his friend’s life</strong></a></em></span></p><p><a href="/news/news/2015/03/town-learns-sign-language/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>A whole town learned sign language to surprise their deaf neighbour</strong></em></span></a></p><p><a href="/news/news/2015/03/wwii-wedding-ring-returned/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Wedding ring of WWII pilot returned to his family 71 years after he went missing</strong></em></span></a></p>

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