Just thought I'd share something that had a pretty happy ending. While yardsaleing one day my mother and sister stopped by a house that had just bought 6 storage units that had been delinquent on payment and the people that bought them had all kinds of stuff just piled out in front of their garage. They hadn't gone through any of the boxes and were letting people just rummage themselves. My mother came across an old green footlocker, being the daughter of a retired Lt. Col of the USAF she knew exactly what the old green box was. It'd been rummaged through before she got there and newspapers from the 40's and 50's that had been used as wrappers for the soldiers things were scattered around the immediate area of the footlocker but not much was left besides some old paper. But then she saw some records in all the paper, scattered pieces here and there and then as she looked around the footlocker she found an old envelope that had been dumped out but still contained some papers inside and then she saw an officer's commission photo of the man who's belongings had been so carelessly rifled through.
Now I had gone with her yardsaleing before and she'd remembered how we had gone to an estate sale and in amongst old junk that was being rummaged through were photos of a WW2 army medic and his personal letters and pictures of his gf and even some of his family stuff from all the way back to WW1. I left them there as the estate sale people were clearing the stuff out to close and didn't seem all that interested in letting me collect all the stuff to buy. I'd imagine since they were in amongst old magazines that they were thrown out in the trash. started regretting not taking the time to gather up all those pictures and his family items and trying to find one of his relatives that may have wanted them and have regretted it ever since. I told my mother on the way home that if she ever found any old military items like that again to bring them home to me so that I could make sure they went back to the right place.
Well back to the story, she remembered that and gathered what she could and went to the yard sale cashier to see what they wanted for the military papers. It was then that the story got interesting...the 2 people that had bought the storage unit told her that they had found a man's folded flag and then his cremated remains in the front of one of the storage lockers! They couldn't bring themselves to throw them out or sale the flag and that both were sitting in the garage but they had no idea what to do with them. They'd called the storage place but said that they didn't really seem to care or anything and they weren't really sure what else to do. My mother told them she'd bring the papers to me so I could find the next of kin and they agreed. Well I started searching online and couldn't find any information with what she brought, it was mostly papers he had done from flight school in Texas and different flight training manuels, so I went back down to the sale and started searching some more. There were quite a few papers still in the locker and even an old Air Corps medal but that was all that was left. In amongst the papers were hand drawn pictures of Betties and Zeros and signed by the veteran, so I imagined he must have been in the Pacific campaign. All I really had to go on was that he had gone to Pecos Field for advanced flight training. So I gave everything back to the people that were having the yard sale and told them I'd try to help out somehow. The next day I proceeded to call the VA office and told them the story and they said they'd contact the people and see what they could do. The VA man mentioned an organization called Missing in America http://www.miap.us/ and I contacted them to see what they would suggest too. The non profit organization goes and finds different remains or veterans that have been forgotten, and then gives them full military honors and a burial at the Veterans cemetaries. The yard sale people called me and said that both the VA office and Missing in America had contacted them and that the VA office was sending someone to pick up the remains and records to see if they could find the mans family. They had no luck tracking down anyone from the records they had and the original owners of the storage locker couldn't be found either.
It's been about 2 months now, but I'm glad to say that the memorial for Lt. Svorack with full military honors was held today at the Northern California Veterans Cemetary were he was finally laid to rest. The men at the VA office in Marysville attended and sure did a great job. It really surprised me how much respect they showed for a forgotten soldier and I'm proud to know there are people like that in the community. Missing in America also did great work, that organization is full of honorable men and women that we can all be proud of for doing the selfless work that the forgotten soldiers so greatly deserve.
God bless all the veterans.
Now I had gone with her yardsaleing before and she'd remembered how we had gone to an estate sale and in amongst old junk that was being rummaged through were photos of a WW2 army medic and his personal letters and pictures of his gf and even some of his family stuff from all the way back to WW1. I left them there as the estate sale people were clearing the stuff out to close and didn't seem all that interested in letting me collect all the stuff to buy. I'd imagine since they were in amongst old magazines that they were thrown out in the trash. started regretting not taking the time to gather up all those pictures and his family items and trying to find one of his relatives that may have wanted them and have regretted it ever since. I told my mother on the way home that if she ever found any old military items like that again to bring them home to me so that I could make sure they went back to the right place.
Well back to the story, she remembered that and gathered what she could and went to the yard sale cashier to see what they wanted for the military papers. It was then that the story got interesting...the 2 people that had bought the storage unit told her that they had found a man's folded flag and then his cremated remains in the front of one of the storage lockers! They couldn't bring themselves to throw them out or sale the flag and that both were sitting in the garage but they had no idea what to do with them. They'd called the storage place but said that they didn't really seem to care or anything and they weren't really sure what else to do. My mother told them she'd bring the papers to me so I could find the next of kin and they agreed. Well I started searching online and couldn't find any information with what she brought, it was mostly papers he had done from flight school in Texas and different flight training manuels, so I went back down to the sale and started searching some more. There were quite a few papers still in the locker and even an old Air Corps medal but that was all that was left. In amongst the papers were hand drawn pictures of Betties and Zeros and signed by the veteran, so I imagined he must have been in the Pacific campaign. All I really had to go on was that he had gone to Pecos Field for advanced flight training. So I gave everything back to the people that were having the yard sale and told them I'd try to help out somehow. The next day I proceeded to call the VA office and told them the story and they said they'd contact the people and see what they could do. The VA man mentioned an organization called Missing in America http://www.miap.us/ and I contacted them to see what they would suggest too. The non profit organization goes and finds different remains or veterans that have been forgotten, and then gives them full military honors and a burial at the Veterans cemetaries. The yard sale people called me and said that both the VA office and Missing in America had contacted them and that the VA office was sending someone to pick up the remains and records to see if they could find the mans family. They had no luck tracking down anyone from the records they had and the original owners of the storage locker couldn't be found either.
It's been about 2 months now, but I'm glad to say that the memorial for Lt. Svorack with full military honors was held today at the Northern California Veterans Cemetary were he was finally laid to rest. The men at the VA office in Marysville attended and sure did a great job. It really surprised me how much respect they showed for a forgotten soldier and I'm proud to know there are people like that in the community. Missing in America also did great work, that organization is full of honorable men and women that we can all be proud of for doing the selfless work that the forgotten soldiers so greatly deserve.
God bless all the veterans.
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