Skip to main content

B.C. man on mission to reunite lost 'treasure' with war veteran

Share

A scrapbook filled with photos of a soldier’s life during the war somehow ended up in a B.C. thrift shop, and the man who found it is trying to reunite the album with its rightful owner.

Carlos Romero discovered what he calls "a treasure" at a Value Village store in Coquitlam, about five years ago.

It’s a white leather bound book with “Snaps Scraps” printed in gold on the front and the initials LS, along with the name Len Hart at the bottom right corner.

There are hundreds of black and white photos inside.

“I can tell he went to World War II,” said Romero. “There are some pictures of him with friends in Notre Dame.”

Other images are from battlefields, medal ceremonies, and weddings.

Further into the album, the man is shown enjoying life in British Columbia, fishing, and raising a family.

“You know, so much contrast in the pictures. You flip the page and then’s he’s in Vancouver with a big smile,” Romero pointed out while looking through the photographs.

For five years, Romero has been trying to find the Hart family. At first, he tried calling numbers in the White Pages, and then he took to social media.

There is an inscription on the inside cover that reads, “To Len from Doris, Bob & family.” It’s dated Christmas 1957.

So far, nobody has come forward to claim it, but Carlos believes it likely found its way to the thrift store by mistake.

Romero is asking anyone who might know the rightful owner, to contact him on Instagram

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'

The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.

Stay Connected