Woman discovers unopened WWII-era love letter at Goodwill

photo: Joke_Jaith/Twitter

A Dallas, Texas woman is on a quest to find the recipient of an unopened love letter she found tucked inside a book at a Goodwill store in Florida.

Sheila Polk found the vintage-looking letter inside the pages of a book she purchased and refuses to open it because it is personal, reports Fox.

The letter dates back to 1945 and was written by army Sergeant Albert Alm who was stationed in Palm Springs, California. Alm wrote the letter to military member Helen Rothurmel who was stationed in Dallas, Texas.

"Her life could have been changed from this one letter, " says Polk. "They do movies about lost love letters, and I am thinking who knows what's in here that she has never seen? I would love for her to get it."

The search for Helen Rothurmel has so far been unsuccessful, but Polk is hoping to enlist the help of the military to find her.

So far, the post office has tried to deliver the letter three times, but it always ended up with the wrong person.

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All hope should not be lost though. There are a number of recent examples of people who have found long-lost love letters, and due to the power of social media, the letters eventually ended up with the family members of the deceased lovers.

Last spring, a New York City woman accidentally received a love letter from 70 years ago in the mail. She launched a website and huge social media campaign to find the rightful recipient. After major media in the U.S. covered the story, she eventually tracked down the daughter and son of the married couple from the hand-written love letter.

Also see: How to tell if he's really in love with you

In another happy ending story, just last month, an Indiana man discovered a love letter from 1963 inside a rusty old vintage car he bought. After some Internet research, he found the son of the couple from the love letter and returned it to him.

What would you do if you found an old love letter? Would you throw it out or hunt for the intended recipient?