In case you need a story to warm your heart, here it is! It’s about lost and found things, but most of all about family togetherness and second chances. Our story takes place in Europe, it begins more than 70 years ago.
Imagine this: A British soldier lost his wallet 71 years ago, and the person who found it passed it on until someone tracked the family’s owner and made an amazing effort to return it to them. Faith in humanity restored.
In WWII Kenneth Ashby, a British soldier lost his wallet in a town in south-eastern Netherlands.
Image credit: www.dailymail.co.uk
The wallet fell into the hands of an elderly resident, and later on fell into Frits Von Horne.
Mr. Frits Van Horne used the name on the driving license inside the wallet to begin the investigation that fortunately had a happy ending.
The whole family was brought together in the search of the wallet’s owner. Mr. Van Horne counted with the help of granddaughters Myrthe, 11, and Jasmijn, eight, Mr van Horne to trace Ashby’s family.
So the cutest investigation team followed a trail of online clues that led them to a cemetery in Godalming, Surrey, where Mr. Ashby was buried following his death in 1968. Oh oh, yep. So Mr. Ashby had died, and maybe you think this is the end of the story, but it gets better.
So, the Von Horten family decided to reach to local officers and newspapers for help, and suddenly they got a call, Mr. Ashby’s son Robin, who wanted to arrange a meeting to get the wallet back.
The Dutch family drove to England to returned the wallet personally. This is the wallet.
Among Mr. Ashby’s personal effects there are many photographs, an embroidered handkerchief, a small Union flag and a rabbit’s foot.
For Robin who lost his father when he was a teenager, the wallet has huge sentimental value. Since he didn’t get the chance to grow up with a father, this is the chance for him to learn about his father. Here’s a pic of Robin getting his father’s wallet back, with Van Horne’s granddaughters.
A cute story about togetherness