Vet reunited with duffle bag 63 years later

[Walt's Daughter]

Lee and I saw a wonderful news item yesterday on TV. They showed a vet who served in the ETO and was sent to the hospital for an extended stay in England just prior to the Battle of the Bulge.

 

Well he went to check his mail the other day and lo and behold there was a large package addressed to him from Belgium. He thought, what the heck. Well he opened it and much to his surprise, there was his duffle bag with his name on it. He was flabbergasted.

 

Seems a young man who is trying to keep the history alive in Belgium, stumbled upon this and other items, and managed to locate this vet and send it back to him after ALL these years.

 

Needlesss to say the veteran was overwhelmed with thanks and couldn't believe that it had survived intact after many, many decades. He is very grateful to this young man and in fact is going to mount it over his fireplace. Ain't that great?

 

Tried to find the story on the internet, but no such luck yet. If I do, will post the whole story here.

[Dogdaddy]

That's the kind of story that makes it worthwhile to get out of bed one more day in a crazy world.

 

 

 

 

Dogdaddy

[Walt's Daughter]

Hmmmm-hmm.

[Misha]

Gee, I've found something about it!!

 

 

WW2 soldier gets his duffel bag back 63 years later

 

 

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Bag back from Battle of Bulge

Henry J. Roth cheated fate in 1944 when severely swollen feet earned him a coveted seat on a train to an English hospital, weeks before his Army division was pounded by advancing Germans in the Battle of the Bulge.

Sixty-three years later, a faded relic from his foxhole arrived at Roth’s home in Catonsville.

Roth, an 85-year-old retired accountant, received the package this week from Belgium. As his mailman and wife looked on, Roth opened the box and pulled out a dark green canvas duffel bag, emblazoned with stenciled lettering: “Henry J. Roth 33383648″

It didn’t take long for Roth to recognize the bag. It had once contained some of his Army gear and a picture of his wife. He had left it with the other members of the 395th Regiment of the 99th Infantry Division in a foxhole near the Belgian-German border as he went to wash up in a nearby farmhouse.

Before he could return, doctors diagnosed his trench foot - a condition that afflicted scores of soldiers during the war - and sent him to England.

 

http://rotstan.com/blog2/category/historical-oddities/

[Walt's Daughter]

Yup, that's the one my friend. Good job. I will have to send this to a new friend who has a page on the 99th Inf Div, so this will be very interesting to him.

[j3rdinf]

Yes, if our "lost" duffle bage could only talk. Last I saw of mine was in a repple deple in France when a group of us were

trucked to the 3rd Inf Div . Were told, "your duffle bags will be sent up to you". Famous last words and last look at my duffle bag. Same as happened to almost everyone. I kinda wonder where ALL these dufflebags are. Probably in "dufflebag heaven" waiting for us.

[Jeeper704]

My friend Jim (James Demopoulos) lost his too when transferred from the 83rd ID to the 42nd ID in 1945.

But it was retrieved and sent after him.

I got the transfer document among the items Jim sent me over the years (ow yes, he was in 3rd wave on Omaha Beach as an Assault Engineer).

 

Erwin

[Daan]

Wow that's a very interesting story! Too bad they didn't mention the person who sent his items back.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Misha]

For more information, about lost duffel bag, see video:

 

http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfAPR07/nf042907-8.htm

[Misha]

YES!! WHOLE STORY IS ON THIS VIDEO,GREAT !!!!