D2 | MARCH 2021
PRIME Lost in Antarctica — and reunited 53 years later PAM KRAGEN The San Diego Union-Tribune I n October 1967, Navy meteorol- ogist Paul Grisham shipped out to Antarctica, where he worked as a weather forecaster for a sci- ence station and airport on Ross Island. Thirteen months later, he returned to his family in sunny California, but his wallet never left. down and ran me to ground.”
The team who found Grisham were Stephen Decato and his daughter Sarah Lindbergh, both of New Hampshire, and Bruce McKee of the Indiana Spirit of ‘45 nonprofit foundation. It was the third lost Navy item the trio have recently returned to families. Last year, Decato got upset when he saw someone’s personal Navy ID bracelet for sale in a shop. He decided to buy the bracelet and, with his daughter’s help, find the owner and return it. Lind- bergh found the Facebook page for McK- ee’s veterans tribute organization and he posted a notice online that helped trace the original owner. Before he retired six years ago, Decato worked for an agency that does snow cap research in Antarctica. When two wallets were found in the demolition at McMurdo last month, Decato’s former boss remem- bered the bracelet story and shipped both wallets to New Hampshire in hopes they could do some more detective work. Once again, Lindbergh reached out to McKee, who contacted Gary Cox of the Naval Weather Service Association, of which Grisham is a member. The second wallet belonged to a man named Paul Howard who died in 2016, but his family was grate- ful to receive it. “If it was my dad’s possessions, I would have treasured it as I think they will,” said Lindbergh, whose grandfather served in the Navy. “It was a feel-good thing to do and both my dad and I have gone to bed thinking that another family was as happy as we are. My grandpa would be so proud and my dad is proud to have things in their rightful places.” Looking back on the 13 months he spent in Antarctica, Grisham said it was an un- usual, memorable and sometimes tedious experience that he most remembers for the
Recently, the now 91-year-old Grisham was reunited with his long-lost billfold, which was found behind a locker during the demolition of a building at McMurdo Station, the southernmost town on Earth. Inside the recovered wallet was Grish- am’s Navy ID, his driver’s license, a tax withholding statement, a recipe for home-
NELVIN C. CEPEDA , SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE At their home in San Carlos on Feb. 3 in San Diego, Paul Grisham and his wife Carole Salazar look over his wallet and the items that were inside when he lost it back 1968.
made Kahlua and several items other so- called “ice rats” who worked at the station might recognize. There was a beer ration punch card, receipts for money orders sent to his wife for his poker winnings at the station, and a pocket reference card with instructions for what to do in the event of an atomic, biological or chemical weapons attack. There was never any cash, as there was nothing to buy at the station. The brown leather wallet arrived by mail in good condition with all its contents in- tact following a weeks-long journey of emails, Facebook messages and letters be- tween a group of amateur sleuths working to trace its owner. After 53 years, Grisham said he can’t even remember losing his wal- let on the continent he calls “The Ice,” but he’s grateful for the efforts that enabled its return. “I was just blown away,” said Grisham, who lives in San Carlos with his wife of 18 years, Carole Salazar. “There was a long series of people involved who tracked me
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