Freels receive a special delivery, 63 years late
Everyone has experienced lost or late mail at one time in their life, but very few people have had an experience like George and Shirley Freel of Millersburg.
Within the last two weeks, Shirley received a delivery from her husband mailed to their home more than 63 years ago.
The Army had George stationed at a base in Tokyo, Japan. He was a motor sergeant in field artillery near the end of World War II and sent out a few war mementoes. George sent out several crates with rifles and swords to his wife of five years back home in Millersburg. That was in 1945.
Back then there was only one way to get a letter, package, or in this case a crate, to its destination and it was through the United States Post Office. The postman didn?t ring twice, but he or she did deliver ? it just happened to be more than a half century late. Evidently, one of the shipments didn?t reach its destination.
The long, rectangular-shaped wooden box arrived looking like it had been stored in someone?s attic or garage, or maybe in the long forgotten corner of a storage facility. ?IT WAS unique,? said Georgia Houser, who was visiting her parents for 10 days when it arrived on the porch. It had no shipping labels, so it was unclear what shipping company made the final delivery.
Georgia sai
?I said, ?where has this been for 63 years,? ? said Georgia, who lives in Oklahoma City. The address is printed on the side with white paint, and is as clear as the day it was handwritten.
The stamps covering the postage have faded, but it is clear who it was from and where it was going. It also was postmarked. It must have taken a wrong turn in Albquerque. Freel believes it had to have been a rifle. All that?s in the box are cobwebs, although the crate and lid are in excellent shape and could be easily reused if the Freels chose to do so.
?I was glad to get it, but I was so surprised,? said George. Freel served as a motor sergeant in field artillery. George and Shirley have been married since June 29, 1940.