Title : Brother lost, uncle found: Prized World War bracelet finds its way home
link : Brother lost, uncle found: Prized World War bracelet finds its way home
Brother lost, uncle found: Prized World War bracelet finds its way home
An Alberta woman mourning the loss of her brother has been unexpectedly reunited with a Second World War ID bracelet that belonged to her long-lost uncle, after whom her brother was named.
The silver ID bracelet was once the property of Sgt. Airgunner Leonard Switzer, who served with the Royal Canadian Air Force until he went missing in action at the age of 21. Switzer’s niece, Cathy Parsonage, learned all about his exploits through scrapbooks from her father.
“He was always a big part of dad’s life,” Parsonage said of her uncle, in an interview with CTV Edmonton. “My younger brother was actually named after Leonard.”
Parsonage’s brother died last January, and the anniversary of his death prompted Parsonage to do “some snooping and Googling” a few weeks ago. But her search for the younger Leonard Switzer yielded information about the elder one, in the form of a 2015 newspaper article about his lost-and-found RCAF ID bracelet. The bracelet had been found by treasure-hunter Rob Edwardson in Edmonton years earlier, buried approximately a foot underground in a schoolyard.
Parsonage says she was “shocked” to learn of the bracelet’s existence, and even more shocked to read that Edwardson had been trying to return the bracelet to its rightful owners for years.
Edwardson says he found the bracelet in 2001, but had been unable to find Switzer’s descendants. He hung onto it for over a decade, then went to the Sundre Round Up community newspaper with the story in hopes of finding its rightful owner.
“There was a lot of information out there as far as who Leonard was and what happened to him, but I was not able to find the family that he (left),” Edwardson said.
Parsonage reached out to Edwardson after discovering the article, and recently met up with him so he could give her the bracelet.
“It was a good feeling to give that little piece of Leonard back to his family where it belongs,” Edwardson said.
Parsonage says she’s grateful to Edwardson for returning the bracelet. She was also happy to show Edwardson the scrapbook about her uncle that he’s held onto for so long.
“It was just wonderful,” she said. “It was great, and really nice to be able to share this information with him.”
With files from CTV Edmonton
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