Lost WWII bracelet on way home from Europe
Last Updated: Thursday, January 4, 2007 | 4:19 PM ET
CBC News
A silver bracelet worn by a Canadian soldier fighting in the Second World War will soon be in his daughter's hands after it was found in a former battlefield.
Maureen Torreiter, 60, of Toronto cried when she realized the engraved bracelet did indeed belong to her late father.
The bracelet is engraved with a name and service number.
(Canadian Press)
The piece of jewelry was discovered by a Dutch man using a metal detector in a forest along the Germany-Holland border that had been the site of a bloody battle.
The man contacted an Alberta couple who run a website about Canadian soldiers. The couple tried to find the owner by telling the story to the media.
Torreiter's aunt happened to hear a report about the bracelet Wednesday on a local radio station, AM 740.
Maureen Torreiter's mother, Florence, gave her father, Allan Edwards, the engraved bracelet as a Christmas gift in 1942.
(Family photo)
Her father's name, Allan O. Edwards, was engraved on the identification bracelet.
When she sought further details, she discovered a service number was also inscribed on the bracelet and she verified it was her father's.
"To be honest with you, I cried," said Torreiter. "Not for me. My mom just passed away in August."
Torreiter told CBC she wishes her mother was still alive to see the bracelet.
(CBC)
The bracelet was a gift to her father from her mother and the back is inscribed with "Allan from Florence, xmas 1942."
"It's such a shame," she said. "What a thrill it would have been for her to get it before she died."
The bracelet "gives us a little idea of the love between my mom and dad," said Torreiter. "It's sort of like a little love story."
Torreiter is looking forward to receiving the bracelet and adding it to the few family heirlooms she has to remember her father by. He died about 40 years ago, at age 51.
