In this August 20, 2018 photo, the lost wallet of Robert McCusker, a war veteran who served in World War II and Korea, is displayed with its contents on a kitchen table in Dover, New Hampshire. McCusker lost his wallet almost 65 years ago in France. It was found at a construction site and returned to his family in New Hampshire. AP
CONCORD, New Hampshire, United States 鈥� Sharon Moore had heard the stories about her father getting his duffel bag stolen on his way back from the Korean War. The New Hampshire woman never expected to see any of the contents.
In July, Moore received a Facebook friend request from a stranger in France. She deleted it. But, the person responded with a Facebook message asking for help in finding the owner of a lost wallet. Attached were several black-and-white pictures, including one of her mother as a young woman, and another of her aunt, as well as a tattered Social Security card and Massachusetts driver鈥檚 license.
鈥淚 immediately saw my dad鈥檚 driver鈥檚 license and my mother鈥檚 photo. I knew it was my dad鈥檚 wallet,鈥� Moore said of her father, Robert McCusker, who died a day before her 20th birthday in 1983. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 believe it. Really, my dad鈥檚 wallet after all these years? It was just weird.鈥�
The brown leather wallet was found in the basement of a building in Chatellerault, France, a small city about 185 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Paris. Workers had tossed it out, but the building鈥檚 owner, Patrick Caubet, noticed it on a pile of gravel and was drawn to the half-dozen photographs and what looked like official documents.
On closer inspection, he saw a field ration permit dated September 1950 belonging to Cpl. Robert S. McCusker, as well as McCusker鈥檚 Social Security card and other military documents.
It was unclear how the wallet ended up in the building, although Moore said Caubet had heard that the building once was a social club for American officers and that officers might also have stayed there.
鈥淭he photographs made it very sentimental and personal, and really gave me the desire to find the family they belonged to,鈥� said Caubet, who works in communications for the French military.
鈥淢y grandfather and father were also in the war,鈥� he said, adding that his grandfather had been injured by a shell in World War II and his father suffered serious burns in the Algerian War. 鈥淚 would have loved it if someone had found papers or other things belonging to them and sent them to me.鈥�
Caubet, who was interviewed in French, found a friend who spoke English and together they found an obituary for Moore鈥檚 mother, Jean McKenney McCusker, who died in 2014. They went in search of his surviving relatives listed in the obituary, first posting the wallet鈥檚 contents on Caubet鈥檚 Facebook page. That prompted some replies from friends, including one who surmised that the wallet鈥檚 owner was possibly 鈥渁 soldier who fell in love with a French woman.鈥�
They tried contacting the Pentagon and the U.S. Embassy in Paris, but got nowhere. Then, Caubet sought the help of a French military office in Paris, which tracked down the names of McCusker鈥檚 children in just days. Caubet found Moore on Facebook last month and shortly after the wallet was headed to Dover, New Hampshire.
鈥淪he was so happy to know there was this trace of her father,鈥� Caubet said. 鈥淪he was almost ready to come to France with her brother to get the wallet. But I told her I could send it. I was so afraid it would get lost in the mail. But it arrived in less than a week. I was so happy.鈥�
When the package arrived, Moore and her brother, Steven McCusker, filmed themselves opening the wallet and emailed the video to Caubet, so he could share in their joy.
For Moore and her relatives, the wallet represents another part of a father who rarely talked about his time at war. He also fought in World War II, forging a birth certificate at the age of 15 and running off to the Merchant Marine. He then re-enlisted for the Korean conflict and received a Purple Heart after he was injured in a grenade attack.
Moore gave the wallet to her brother, Steven, who also lives in Dover, because she already has her father鈥檚 Purple Heart, his dog tags and the flag from his coffin on display in her home. The family also sent Caubet a gift basket featuring maple syrup from her backyard, some of the candy her father enjoyed and a New England Patriots jersey.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just amazing. It鈥檚 just amazing. To hold something he held every day, there are just no words,鈥� Moore said, adding that her father would have been 鈥渇loored by the whole story and just thankful and grateful, especially because it was a soldier that helped get it back to us.鈥� /cbb