"Sixteen men went home tonight, and 10 more are to go tomorrow and the next day. I sure feel bad when I see them all go, and I just seem to stay on and on," a letter that has managed to find its way back to its rightful owner after a woman stumbled upon it on the street in Colorado Springs reads.
According to a story published in CNN affiliate KRDO, after the death of Johnie Watkins III's mum, he could not bring himself to read the hundreds of love letters his parents had exchanged, while his dad was away fighting a the World War II, instead he threw them all out. But it seems one of the letters was destined to come back to him.
Watkins was reunited with the 73-year-old handwritten parchment, after a woman, Katy Hadduck, stumbled upon the envelope on the street in Colorado Springs.
Dated March 12, 1946, it was addressed to Marge Watkins and had a return address of an Army post office in San Francisco.
In the three pages long letter, Sgt, John Watkins lamented having to spend time with his wife, and then three-year-old son Johnie.
In the letter, he wished his wife and son a happy late Valentine's Day in response to a letter Marge had sent that included a valentine from young Johnie III.
A hot commodity for history buff and collectors, thanks to the insight it provides into the lives and times of the World War II soldiers, Hadduck tracked Watkins down to hand-deliver the letter.
However, this is not the first time that a wartime correspondence has been reunited with its owner. According to CNN, in 2013, an octogenarian couple re-united with a trunk full of letters after it had been stolen.
