Receiving a postcard from a loved one is a rare occurrence in this day and age of instant messages and video calls. So, 75-year-old Chris Harmon was in for a pleasant surprise when he received a postcard from an American pen friend. However, what was even more surprising is that the postcard was sent 66 years ago.
The lost correspondence was discovered at a charity shop in Dorchester, Dorset. It was a part of Weldmar Hospicecare’s stamp collection fundraising appeal, Metro UK reported.
The postcard addressed to Chris Harman caught the eye of a volunteer, who took it upon himself to track Harmon down and hand him the letter. The volunteer found Harmon on a social media platform and messaged him to confirm whether he was, in fact, the person the postcard was addressed to.
“I was absolutely elated when I got the message telling me about the postcard – I could not believe what I was reading, it was just so out of the blue,” Harmon was quoted saying.
The letter, which features a Grand Central Station marking and vintage airmail stamp, was supposed to have reached Harmon when he was 9-years-old and residing in Peacehaven.
The letter contained a reply from Harmon’s American pen friend, Fred Kendall, who signs off as ‘Uncle Fred’ despite not being related and promises young Harmon a 10th birthday present. The report said that the pair remained pen-friends across the Atlantic until the 1970s, after which they lost contact.
Harmon, a retired salesman, said that he was “elated” to receive the postcard after nearly seven decades. Expressing his gratitude to the hospice and the volunteer finding him and passing on the postcard, he said: “I was absolutely elated when I got the message telling me about the postcard – I could not believe what I was reading, it was just so out of the blue.”
Harmon said that the letter was addressed to Barclays Bank House in Peacehaven, Sussex, where he lived as a child. Wondering how the postcard landed up at the hospice, he was quoted as saying: “‘I have no idea how it ended up in a hospice charity in Dorset, and I would love to find out more about it. It really is quite bizarre.”