A message-in-a-bottle believed to be from World War II washed up in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Debby.
The bottle was found Wednesday in Safety Harbor, Florida, by Suzanne Flament-Smith while walking along the shore, picking up trash following the hurricane, according to WTSP News.
“There was so much plastic. I’m like, Okay, this is driving me crazy,” Flament-Smith told the outlet. She began filling trash bags when she made a historic discovery.
“On my third bag, as I was filling it up, I noticed a glass bottle, and you could see the writing, the note and the scripture, I was like, oh my goodness, I think I just found a message in a bottle,” she added.
Flament-Smith then took the bottle home with her. (RELATED: Hurricane Debby Leaves At Least 4 Dead As It Weakens To Tropical Storm).
“There were contents in the bottle, there was sand, a few shells, a bullet casing, and like a mini cannon ball,” she told WTSP.
Message in a Bottle from 1945 Found Along Florida Bay After Hurricane Debby, Woman Says https://t.co/fNMqP5HedM
— People (@people) August 9, 2024
Inside the bottle, she discovered a letter written in cursive on an old piece of paper adorned with the words “United States Navy Amphibious Training Base Little Creek, Virginia.” The letter was dated March 4, 1945.
“Dear Lee, received your letter yesterday. Was glad to hear from you,” the letter began. The writing faded, but it appeared to be a message from someone named Chris to a friend named Lee, WTSP reported.
“It appeared to be a navy military to a friend of some sort, because it mentioned how he wants to see him soon, and things like that,” she told the outlet.
The Virginia naval base still stands over 800 miles from the Florida town the bottle was found in, though it’s now named Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, according to WTSP.
“We were established because with World War II going on, they needed a place to train amphibious forces like the folks who landed on D-Day on Normandy 80 years ago,” Navy public affairs officer April Phillips told the outlet.
The Navy cannot confirm the letter’s authenticity since no last names were mentioned, WTSP reported. However, the Navy said the letterhead appears to be from 1945.
Hurricane Debby made landfall Monday, bringing warnings of “potentially historic heavy rainfall” across the U.S., according to the National Hurricane Center.
