DANIA BEACH, Fla. (NewsNation) — The powerful waves from Hurricane Debby have uncovered a new mystery dating back to World War II.
A Florida woman is now searching for the writer or intended recipient of a message in a bottle dated March 4, 1945, which she discovered while cleaning up debris from the hurricane exactly one week ago.
Letter found in debris 730 miles away
Suzanne Flament-Smith believes she knows who the message was meant for nearly eight decades ago.
The letter, addressed to someone named Lee from someone named Chris, was written in cursive and is difficult to read, showing clear signs of wear from its long journey through the decades.
“It says ‘received your letter yesterday; was glad to hear from you. So, you got a little lit up the other day, well that is everything around here. They have a bar and really good beer,'” Flament-Smith read.
She added: “It sounds like two friends just exchanging what their daily lives were like.”
The letterhead is from a Navy training base in Virginia Beach, about 730 miles from where it was found in the Tampa area.
This suggests that over the past 70 years, the message in a bottle traveled around the Carolinas, south under the Florida Peninsula, into the Gulf of Mexico, and then weaved into the Tampa Bay area.
A potential match found
Flament-Smith posted a picture of the letter on social media, and her inbox was flooded with people wanting to help track down the families involved.
With assistance from the Navy and internet investigators, she believes she may have found a match.
A woman in Texas thinks her grandfather wrote the letter. The Navy is validating records to see if the timelines match up and to confirm whether the woman’s grandfather was stationed at the naval base in Virginia Beach.
Flament-Smith is also working on getting a writing sample from the woman in Texas to compare with the letter.