Bill Caldwell had wanted to join Britain’s Royal Navy since he was 15, and that dream came true in 1943, when he was 18.
When he finally came of age, the Liverpool native was conscripted at the height of World War II and sent to train at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, Cornwall, according to the BBC. During his first week in the Navy, Caldwell wrote a quick postcard to his Uncle Fred who was living with Bill’s parents in the family home.
The postcard got lost in the mail en route and was not delivered to Uncle Fred. Miraculously, the card was finally delivered to the published address on Friday, 77 years and 7 months after postmarking.
When contacted for comment, Royal Mail were unable to explain where the card had been for the past seven decades, or how it was ultimately delivered to the intended address.
Caldwell and “Uncle Fred” are long dead, but a relative named Jack Eluma has a stepson, Dan, who now lives in the family’s old dorm and received the postcard. Jack immediately reaches out to the six Caldwell children to tell them about this incredible discovery.
“It was the most surreal thing on a Friday night to suddenly read a postcard my dad wrote 77 years ago while he was training to be a sailor in the Navy,” his daughter Joanna Kramer said.
The Caldwell children are spread across England, so they keep in touch using group chats via WhatsApp. The siblings were shocked when their sister Joanna sent the letter she received from their cousin Dan. Caldwell’s daughter, Elizabeth, shared:
“Friday night we were in our family group on WhatsApp and my sister Jane sent a message from my cousin Dan.”
“She was amazed at what she saw. Dan’s stepson still lives in the house we grew up in. He had sent this card that morning from my father, so we had read a letter that my father had written it nearly 78 years ago. We were thrilled.”
While in Caldwell’s service, he was deployed before the D-Day revolutionary operations in Normandy as a minesweeper, then was sent to both Nagasaki and Hiroshima to help transport prisoners of war Japanese.
His naval service lasted only three years, as he was demobilized in 1946, after which he found work as a plumber, eventually settling his family in Somerset.
The postcard sent to his uncle said:
“Dear Uncle Fred, well I’m finally here in the blue. I didn’t think it would be like this, you don’t have much time for yourself but I like it.”
“I’ll write you all a letter when I have half a chance, so you’ll hold out for a bit. I’ve got 19 weeks here so far. Send my love to everyone. Love, Bill.”
The postcard is now a priceless heirloom the family never knew existed, and it will be treasured for many years to come.
