WWII Veteran's Family Reunited With His 1942 Service Documents That Cops Found, Thanks to Internet Sleuths

Carl Wolfe, son of Army Sergeant Carl A. Wolfe, holds up service documents from 1942 that were lost at least five years ago.
Carl Wolfe, son of Army Sergeant Carl A. Wolfe, holds up service documents from 1942 that were lost at least five years ago.(Kansas City Police Department)

The son of Army Sergeant Carl A. Wolfe said his military service is "part of the story of who he was: honorable, kind, conscientious."

A World War II veteran’s invaluable mementos of his service were returned to his loved ones, thanks to an online effort to track his family down.

Officers with the Kansas City Police Department in Missouri had been investigating a possible break-in at a vacant motel when they came across 1942 army documents once belonging to Army Sergeant Carl A. Wolfe, which they believed were stolen.

“My first thought was, ‘Is this really happening?’” Carl Wolfe, son of Army Sergeant Carl A. Wolfe, told KCTV. “It’s part of the story of who he was: honorable, kind, conscientious.”

Wolfe explained the documents had gone missing more than five years ago and he hopes the memorabilia will help his own daughters learn more about their grandfather.

The older Wolfe, who grew up on a farm, had enlisted when he was just 20 years old in 1941, and spent time serving in Europe before he was discharged in 1945, KCTV reported. He then married his beloved when he returned home from service, and spent the rest of his life working as a plant manager before dying of a heart attack at 61 years old.

“He was just the finest man I ever knew,” Wolfe said.

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