Now this is really something!
On this Veterans Day a veteran of Britain's Royal Navy is trying to find the rightful owner of an incredible collection of photographs taken by an American World War II veteran.
It was more than a year ago that Monty Singh spotted an ornate photo album at a garage sale in Renton.
“I just thought it would look good on a coffee table,†he said.
He bought it for just $3.50. But while the album is clearly Japanese, the pictures inside document an American airman's tour of duty through Europe.
“I went, ‘Oh, wow.’ I mean looking through it, and the pictures of who are in here, and the quality of the pictures,†Singh marveled. “This is somebody's life history.â€
Singh, who grew up in London, recognized a number of locations. Including the London Zoo. But there's not much more to go on.
“It’s a complete mystery,†he said.
So who does the album belong to? Singh believes the pictures were taken by the man posing in front of a sign for the 61st Maintenance Squadron.
“I just want to get it back to him,†Singh said of the album.
The book is devoid of writing. No captions, no names. But from the photos, it appears the soldier was later based around Frankfurt, Germany. There are pictures of bomb damage, and reconstruction, as well as friends in the newly formed U.S. Air Force which came into being as a separate service out of the U.S. Army in 1947.
There are also lots of pictures of the C-54 aircraft that would become famous during the Berlin airlift of 1948 and 1949.
Singh saw combat himself over Iraq as a British Harrier pilot during the 1991 Gulf war.
“I'm just hoping that somebody will recognize some of the pictures and say, that's my grandpa, that was my dad or whatever,†Singh said, “and is able to put a name to any of the faces in here. So can put some closure to it and return it to whoever it belonged to.â€
Could this be the man they are looking for??
More to come in a few moments...
