Sheila Polk is determined to find the rightful owner of the letter

Mar 6, 2014 18:21 GMT  ·  By
World War II era love letter was found in a book purchased from a charity shop
   World War II era love letter was found in a book purchased from a charity shop

A Dallas, Texas woman has embarked on a quest to find the rightful recipient of an unopened love letter she found inside a book at a Goodwill store in Plant City, Florida.

Sheila Polk found the World War II era love letter, dated all the way back to May 28 in 1945, inside the pages of a book she purchased from a charity shop, but she didn’t open it because she doesn’t want to invade anybody’s privacy.

Metro informs that the letter was sent in 1945 by a sergeant named Albert Alm, who was based at Palm Springs, California and was addressed to a Helen Rothurmel, a member of the African American WACS unit stationed at Love Field, Dallas.

Although it’s now almost 70 years later, Sheila Polk is determined to see the story through to its conclusion and find the intended recipient to give her the nostalgic opportunity of opening the letter.

“Her life could have been changed from this one letter. You know. It is a personal sentimental thing. They do movies about lost love letters, and I am thinking who knows what's in here that she has never seen? I would love for her to get it,” Polk said.

However, given that Polk didn’t open the letter, its content is unknown, so it’s difficult to prove the correspondence is a love letter.

So far, the search for Helen Rothurmel has been unsuccessful. The post office has tried to deliver the letter three times, but it didn’t reach the intended recipient. Polk hopes military officials will help her trace Ms. Rothurmel or her family.

A number of similar examples of people who have found long-lost love letters give hope to Polk. Nowadays, with the power of social media, the finder has more chances to find the original recipient.

Last spring, for instance, a New York City woman accidentally received an old love letter in the mail. After launching a huge social media campaign, she eventually traced the daughter and son of the married couple from the handwriting of the love letter.

Another story with a happy ending surfaced last month, when an Indiana man discovered a love letter from 1963 inside a vintage car he had bought. He made some Internet research and found the son of the couple from the love letter and handed it over to him.