In March of 1944, Clinton Krotz was a soldier stationed in Italy. He had received the birthday present his parent’s had sent him and he wrote a letter back to thank them. The letter was mail a couple of days later. He never wrote another letter home. On 8 May 1944, he was killed in action.
Gary Mathis went to a yard sale in Kansas. He bought some old newspaper. Inside the box was a letter from 1944. It was the letter Clinton Krotz had written to his folks. It had never been delivered.
Mathis decided to see if the family was still around. He posted an announcement in the Ravenna Newspaper. By chance, Louise Kisling, Clinton’s sister, heard about the announcement. She contacted Mathis who sent it to her.
It’s a mystery how the letter got to Kansas. It had been post marked by the Poole, Nebraska post office, so it wasn’t very far from it’s destination. Whoever received the letter held onto it. Perhaps it got lost in the box of newspapers from 1915. At any rate, Clinton’s sister now has a memento over 60 years ago of the brother she lost int he war.
[Photograph credit: Nauris Mozolevs, www.sxc.hu]
