WWII Vet Recovers Lucky Cup, 50 Years Later

OWOSSO - For years, Owosso resident Monica Hill had used a unique item as a change holder.

As a child in Hudson, N.Y., she would often join her father, a land surveyor, at work. One day, Hill found an old, dented metal canteen cup in a field, not too far from her home.

The cup had words scratched into it...Africa, Italy, Rum and L.R. Noreen. Hill deduced the cup belonged to a military veteran, but all of her searches for L.R. Noreen came up empty.

When she moved to Owosso, Hill brought the cup with her. One day, her husband (John Hill) encouraged her to pick up the search again. The two scoured Internet sites and veteran listings at their local library but found nothing - until a search finally came up with the name L. Noreen. The listing also had a phone number, so Monica Hill called it.

“I said ‘I think I've found something of yours,'” Hill said. “He said to me, ‘I don't think I've lost anything.' And then I said ‘Well I have a canteen cup with your name on it.' And he broke down and started crying.”

It's worth reading it all. You have to love the common decency of Americans when you read of something like this.