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Wallet Returned to World War II Vet After 62-Years
World War II vet Ray Heilwagen was recently reunited with a wallet he lost 62-years ago. While serving with the Army's 79th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army in France in 1944 Heilwagen was injured by a German mortar blast. He was treated at a hospital and in the process of being transferred to a new hospital he noticed his billfold was missing.
More than six decades later Stephen Breitenstein was going through some of his father’s possessions when he noticed an old wallet. Breitenstein’s father, who recently passed away, had served in France during World War II. Stephen figured that his father had found the wallet and intended on locating the owner when he came back from the war.
Without any luck finding Heilwagen the elder Breitenstein placed the wallet in a drawer and there it sat for 62-years.
After speaking with Heilwagen on the phone, Stephen Breitenstein mailed the wallet to the Army veteran.
Heilwagen, who lives in Mexico, Missouri, said “He sent it to me, and I received it in very good order, It had everything in it — (French) francs and pictures and my original Social Security card and some receipts.” He expressed his gratitude for the trouble Breitenstein went through saying “I was impressed that a stranger would go to such trouble to locate me and return my wallet.”
