A Florida mother cleaning up garbage after Hurricane Debby spotted a message in a bottle from nearly 80 years ago that had a bullet casing inside — and potentially traveled more than 800 miles.
The World War II-era note had US Navy letterhead from the Amphibious Training Base located in Little Creek, Va., dated March 4, 1945, and was discovered by Suzanne Flament-Smith this week on the western shore of Tampa Bay.
Flament-Smith told WTSP she couldn’t bear all the trash along Bayshore Boulevard in the city of Safety Harbor following a storm surge from the hurricane when she decided to start picking up litter Wednesday.
“On my third bag, as I was filling it up, I noticed a glass bottle, and you could see the writing, the note and the scripture,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I think I just found a message in a bottle.’”
The bottle had the bullet casing, a few shells, sand and a “mini cannon ball” in it, the station reported.
It also included the letter that was written out in cursive on an old piece of paper, though a good chunk of the words were faded.
“My kids are like, ‘What kind of writing is that?’ I’m like, ‘It’s cursive,’” she told WAVY.
The note appears to be addressed to a friend named Lee with the writing explaining their plans to go to radio school, Flament-Smith said.
The base where the letter might have come from is now named Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.
The base was established during the Second World War to prepare amphibious forces like the soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day, Navy public affairs officer April Phillips told WTSP.
The Navy told the station Friday that it can’t authenticate the letter because it doesn’t have last names, but it is possible the letterhead on the note existed in March 1945.
Still, Flament-Smith is hoping the mystery around the letter is unraveled.
“Well, I try to tell my kids if you do good, good things happen,” she reportedly said.
“There is a sense of excitement, and also like a story, a story that hopefully we can find its home.”