History Wallet

This Summer, Dr. Josef Ruckhofer was remodeling the farmhouse near Salzburg his late grandfather had remaining him when he found an old leather wallet concealed underneath some floorboards. The wallet had no profit it but there have been family images, some stamps, cash order receipts and most thankfully, a military ID card which identified the wallet’s owner as Eligio Ramos of Texas. Ruckhofer searched through Tx telephone directories online but had beenn’t capable of finding an Eligio Ramos. As he extended the search to all or any of United States, he discovered an Eligio Ramos produced from the proper date (August 27th, 1923) at an address in Fresno, California.

On the early morning of Summer 18th, Eligio Ramos, today 91 years old and residing in a Fresno VA hospital, had been having morning meal together with 72-year-old girl Sylvia Gonzalez when she started a letter from Salzburg, Austria. It was from Dr. Ruckhofer asking if the Eligio Ramos only at that target will be the person who left their wallet behind after spending a night in an Austrian farmhouse in 1945. He including some copies of this military ID card and family members photographs.

“I was having breakfast acquainted with dad like our typical routine three days out of the few days, and I also was examining the mail when I stumbled upon the page, ” Gonzalez, 72, stated. “we stated, ‘Dad! Look! Someone found your wallet you lost in 1945 in Austria.”

It turns out Eligio Ramos and his platoon associated with 250th industry artillery was in fact when you look at the Salzburg area in 1945 while going town to town liberating prisoners within the slave-labor subcamps of this vast Mauthausen-Gusen complex. Ruckhofer’s grandfather provided Ramos and his comrades a place to stay the night. Ramos secreted their wallet underneath the floorboards but forget to recover it prior to the soldiers left the following early morning. Throughout the years he forgot in regards to the wallet he’d lost in Austria, until it-all came back to him the morning he obtained Dr. Ruckhofer’s letter. Eligio Ramos has become the only surviving member of his battalion.

Ramos’ child Rosando emailed Ruckhofer and confirmed he’d found the long-lost wallet’s owner. They made plans for the precious memento is sent back to Eligio who was able to hold it in his arms the very first time in 70 many years.

The wallet contains a “treasure-load” of household pictures, including infant photographs of relatives now within their seventies who turned up at a special reunion celebrating the lost-and-found at Fresno VA Hospital, [VA general public affairs professional Carmichael] Yepez said.

“Everything inside wallet is of sentimental price, ” vet’s boy stated within reunion.”He had a huge amount of photographs in the wallet in the event he performedn’t allow it to be right back. He desired to have their family with him in the heart.”