Mystery Letter From Navy Secretary Delivered To Richmond Home 67 Years Late
RICHMOND (KPIX 5) - A letter from the top man at the U.S. Navy to a Bay Area woman has finally been delivered, more than six decades after it was sent.
The letter, dated February 5, 1946 and addressed to Mrs. Agnes R. Smith of Richmond, was sent by Navy Secretary James Forrestal less than a year after the end of World War II.
In it, Forrestal offers his gratitude for a service Mrs. Smith performed for the Navy, but does not specify what exactly that service was.
It was delivered to her Richmond home on Oregon St. just this past month – 67 years after it was sent.
The problem is Agnes Smith no longer lives at the Oregon St. address and nobody seems to know where she went, who she is or if she is even still alive.
Her former home is located in historic Point Richmond, an area populated by thousands of workers who toiled at the Richmond Shipyards during World War II.
"We call it the mystery letter because we can't just can't figure out where it has been for 67 years," said Mildred Dornan of the Point Richmond History Association.
The post office said it doesn't look like it was re-sent recently. So the mystery remains, about where it's been all these years and what happened to Mrs. Agnes Smith.
"I would hope that somewhere she is found so she can get this letter," said Dornan.
Until Agnes Smith or someone from her family comes forward to reclaim the letter, it will remain part of Point Richmond's history.
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