A 91-year-old man in the US was pleasantly surprised to find out that someone recently returned his wallet he had lost more than five decades ago, all the way in Antarctica. The sweet reunion now has delighted him and restored part of our faith in humanity.
US Navy meteorologist Paul Grisham spent a year monitoring weather conditions on the frigid continent of Antarctica in 1967, where he worked as a weather forecaster for a science station and airport on Ross Island. However, when he returned to sunny California, he realized he had misplaced his wallet.
Now, thanks to the efforts of Stephen Decato, who formerly worked for an agency that does snow cap research in Antarctica, and Bruce McKee of the Indiana Spirit of ’45 nonprofit foundation — Grishman got his wallet back after 53 long years.
According to UPI, the wallet was discovered behind a locker during the demolition of a building at McMurdo Station, the southernmost town on Earth. McKee, a US Air Force veteran from the nonprofit foundation, reached out to the Naval Weather Service Association for help finding the owner of the wallet. Luckily Grisham, is a member of the organisation, which helped in the process of reunion.
The recovered wallet still contained Grisham’s Navy ID, his driver’s license, a tax withholding statement, a recipe for homemade Kahlua among other things. And yes, the driver’s license is expired.
Grisham is grateful for the efforts that went in to return the item. “I was just blown away,” Grisham said the local news outlet. “There was a long series of people involved who tracked me down and returned my wallet to me” he added.
“Something such as an old wallet can mean so much to someone with the memories that item holds,” McKee said.
This story serves as a reminder that the lost can be found; indeed that is the premise of the Christian gospel. Praise God for the Good Shepherd, and His ongoing restoration of lost humanity.
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“And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:9-10).