If you’ve ever lost a piece of mail through the USPS, this story might give you hope that your grandchildren might eventually find out what happened to it.

The USPS recently delivered a letter sent from Montgomery, Alabama, to the Red Cross Hospital at Camp Roberts in California that had originally been sent on Aug. 9, 1944.

Since neither the Red Cross hospital nor the intended recipient — a Miss RT Fletcher — are still around, the letter — still sealed but with a tear in the upper left corner that makes the return address unknowable — was delivered to the cu­rator for the Camp Roberts Histor­ical Museum.

According to the curator, the postal service delivered the letter “just like an­other piece of mail, with no explanation.”

As for its origins, he theorizes, “Most letters come from family or good friends, so we’re thinking that this lady was from Montgomery and that the letter came from a friend or relative.”

A rep for the Postal Service says there’s no way this letter has been in the system for so many decades.

“It’s just a guessing game as to where it came from,” he said. “No equipment, or trans­portation, or storage stuff is still in service from 66 years ago… Now if it were three years ago, I would think it could have been in a tray or a sack or something, but that’s just not possible.”

The museum curator has has not yet opened the letter out of respect for privacy and the law. But the postal rep says,”I don’t see anything wrong with opening the let­ter, just to determine the identity so it could find its way into the right hands… One can make discreet use of what one finds inside.”

If you have any clue where RT Fletcher or their descendants might be located now, e-mail the museum curator at gary.mcmaster@us.army.mil or call 805-238-8425.

Letter sent from Montgomery arrives in California after 66 years [Montgomery Advertiser]

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