A postcard despatched from the battlefields of World Conflict I has turned up in a busy Townsville procuring centre and can be delivered to the household of its supposed recipient — 106 years late.
Key factors:
- Cleaner Stephanie Schultz discovered a wartime postcard at an ATM in a Townsville procuring centre
- It was written by Bert Cooke, from a WWI battlefield in Turkey in 1915, and meant for his brother-in-law
- Social media customers tracked down the household of the supposed recipient, in New Zealand, inside 24 hours
The postcard was addressed to New Zealander Roy Coombridge, from his brother-in-law Bert Cooke, however when cleaner Stephanie Schultz stumbled upon it final week, she initially mistook it for a discarded procuring checklist.
Upon nearer inspection, she found it was an necessary piece of wartime historical past.
“I believed it was simply one other receipt and was able to chuck it within the bin,” Ms Schultz stated.
“Then I observed there was writing and I believed it [was] most likely simply somebody’s grocery checklist and I noticed it was a card.
“I began studying it and I used to be identical to, ‘Why is he speaking concerning the Turks?’ and I used to be like, ‘oh my God!’.”
A colleague of Ms Schultz identified the date stamp, which learn 1915.
“We had been shocked {that a} card that previous was nonetheless floating round.”
A heartfelt message
Bert Cooke was in his early 20s and serving with the ANZACs in Turkey when he wrote to his youthful brother-in-law in Taranaki, New Zealand.
He stated he was “going again to have one other go on the Turks in a couple of days”.
“It is perhaps a very long time earlier than I can write once more,” Bert defined.
After studying the heartfelt letter, Ms Schultz took to social media with out hesitation to attempt to observe down the household.
“I simply thought somebody may say, ‘oh that is mine’, however two pretty individuals have gone on the web and researched the names and so they discovered the son.
“Inside 24 hours we knew [who] it belonged to.”
Out of the blue
Roy Coombridge’s son, Kevin, was shocked to obtain a cellphone name this week, telling him the century-old postcard had been discovered virtually 3,500 kilometres from its supposed vacation spot.
However the thriller didn’t finish there.
Mr Coombridge stated he was baffled as a result of the New Zealand-based household had no ties to Townsville, North Queensland.
“It simply got here out of the blue,” he stated.
“My solely guess was the postmark says one thing about a military base, so I assume that will need to have been up in Queensland.”
Household connection
Mr Coombridge stated his father was a lot youthful than Bert Cooke, and was simply 14 when the conflict broke out.
“Bert married Dad’s sister. He was fairly a bit older than Dad, however took Dad below his wing,” he stated.
Their shut relationship continued after Bert Cooke returned house from the conflict.
“Dad and Bert truly farmed collectively at one stage on the household farm in Taranaki,” Mr Coombridge stated.
Roy Coombridge by no means served within the conflict, however devoted his life to service as a Methodist pastor, and father of 5.
He died in 1985 on the age of 85.
The household is now working with Bert Cooke’s surviving relations to attempt to piece collectively extra particulars concerning the veteran, who additionally lived to an previous age.
Mr Coombridge stated it meant a lot to the household to be reunited with the cardboard, which supplied an emotional glimpse of the previous.
“I did not know Uncle Bert, hardly in any respect,” he stated.
“I keep in mind he was a really quiet man. He had suffered fairly a bit throughout the conflict, he had suffered from a mustard fuel assault, I do know that, so he was fairly an unwell man.
Ms Schulz stated she was excited the postcard was lastly making the journey house.
“I will ship it registered mail so it might probably get to the son, to allow them to treasure it ceaselessly,” she stated.
