Retired meteorologist reunited with wallet lost half a century ago

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Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A California man said he was shocked when the wallet he lost 53 years ago was returned to him after being found in the place where he lost it: Antarctica.

Paul Grisham, of San Diego, said he doesn't remember losing his wallet while serving as a meteorologist in the U.S. Navy in Antarctica in October 1967, but the wallet found during the demolition of a building at McMurdo Station, the southernmost town on Earth, definitely used to be his.

New Hampshire man Stephen Decato, who formerly worked for an agency that does snow cap research in Antarctica, said his former boss got in touch last month to ask for his help finding the owners of two wallets found during the demolition of the McMurdo Station building.

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Decato's daughter, Sarah Lindbergh, reached out to Bruce McKee of the Indiana Spirit of '45 nonprofit foundation.

McKee contacted Gary Cox of the Naval Weather Service Association for help finding the owner of the other wallet, and Cox was able to put the sleuths in touch with Grisham, who is a member of the organization.

Grisham said the wallet still contains his Navy ID, his driver's license, a tax statement, a recipe for homemade Kahlua, a beer ration punch card, receipts for money orders sent to his wife and a pocket reference card for what to do in the case of different disasters.

Indiana Spirit of '45 posted photos of the second wallet to Facebook and later was able to return it to the family of its owner, Paul Howard, who died in 2016.

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