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WWII-era letter in a bottle found in Safety Harbor during Debby cleanup

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Published  August 12, 2024 5:39pm EDT
Pinellas County
FOX 13 News

Message in a bottle found during Debby cleanup

Ariel Plasencia reports.

SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. - An Odessa resident found what appears to be a WWII-era letter in a bottle while picking up trash in Safety Harbor after Tropical Storm Debby.

Suzanne Flament-Smith was walking along Bayshore Dr. in Safety Harbor on Wednesday.

"And then I'm like, I cannot enjoy my walk. It was driving me crazy with all that trash!" Flament-Smith told FOX 13.

She keeps trash bags and gloves in her car because Wednesday wasn’t the first time she’s picked up trash around the community. It is, however, the first time she’s found a message in a bottle.

"It was a fairly big bottle. So that kind of captured my eyes," Flament-Smith said. "But mainly, you could clearly see a letter inside."

Flament-Smith broke the bottle so she could carefully pull out the message. The letter dates back to 1945. Written in cursive writing on U.S. Navy letterhead, the letter is addressed to ‘Lee.’

READ: Part of Pass-a-Grille Beach closed, nourishment project paused after Hurricane Debby

"They have a bar, and they have pretty good beer," a portion of the letter reads. "I'm going to school again. Radio school."

Some of the cursive writing is faded, but it appears to be two buddies, catching up on their daily lives.

The letter is signed ‘Your pal, Jim.’

"Or Chris. Not sure," Flament-Smith said laughing, as she read the letter on Monday.

Sand, a coffee stirrer, a bullet casing, and a small cannonball were also inside the bottle.

"These are things that, at that point in time in 1945, it's quite likely that the writer would have had access to," public affairs officer April Phillips, a spokesperson for Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, told FOX 13.

The letterhead from the message in the bottle reads "United States Navy Amphibious Training Base" in Little Creek, Virginia. In 2009, the base’s name changed to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, which is what it is today.

READ: Pinellas County ER doctor uses paddleboard to commute to work during Debby

"We started in 1942 during World War II as a place where they could train sailors and soldiers on amphibious landings. And that was really important because D-Day, that amphibious landing," Phillips said.

Phillips told FOX 13 that they’ve be in touch with Flament-Smith and that they’re doing what they can to track down the two buddies from the letter or their living relatives.

"Oh, I'd love to see it get back to a family member. I think that's the main thing I hope to happen. My father's passed. My husband's both parents have passed," Flament-Smith said. "There's something so precious if you can bring a loved one something that -- if somebody’s passed on -- from their past. I think there's something so beautiful about that."

Flament-Smith also hopes this story might encourage others to clean up their communities, especially after storms.

"Had I not made the time to pick up trash, this may not have ever been found, so I hope people can maybe take away to find moments in your life to just do good things, because why not?" Flament-Smith said.

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