Sunday: Mystery surrounds hatbox full of WWII letters
By MICHAEL OVERALL, World Staff Writer on May 4, 2013, at 3:07 PM
Amateur historian Doug Eaton shows a letter belonging to a collection of over 200 letters, photographs, and documents sent by a soldier during World War II. Eaton is trying to track down the descendants of the soldier. The collection was donated to him. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
State
The bee belongs to a group of solitary bees commonly known as "wool carder bees" because their cotton-like brood cells are made of plant hairs.
The storm included heavy downpours, lightning and some strong winds.
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Going to an estate sale about 15 years ago, Pamela Gilliland came home with an armful of stuff, including an old hatbox that she paid $1 for.
She assumed it was empty.
“I probably didn’t open it for a few days,” Gilliland says. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time. But I had no reason to look inside it.”
When she finally did, Gilliland saw a bunch of handwritten letters, yellowed from age and packed so tightly that she had to be careful not to rip one pulling it out of the box.
It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Harvill, Box 7, Drumright, OK. The postmark was from 1945. They were letters home from a soldier in World War II.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Gilliland says. “Obviously, somebody would want them.”
But who?
The estate sale was long over. And the box had been with a group of unsold items from previous auctions, so it didn’t originate from the house in Cushing were Gilliland bought it.
She found somebody named Harvill in the Drumright phonebook.
“But I never heard back from them,” Gilliland says. “There’s no telling where the family has gone.”
The letters seemed too personal to read and too important to get rid of. So she put the hat box in a closet.
And there it sat, until now.
Read more in Sunday's World.
State
The bee belongs to a group of solitary bees commonly known as "wool carder bees" because their cotton-like brood cells are made of plant hairs.
The storm included heavy downpours, lightning and some strong winds.
CONTACT THE REPORTER
918-581-8383
Email
