53 Years Later, Man Reunited With Wallet Lost In Antarctica

Most people think that when they lose their wallet, it’s gone for good. Paul Grisham, a retired Navy meteorologist, lost his wallet so long ago that he had forgotten about it till it was returned to him — 53 years later.

Grisham lost his wallet back in 1968 while stationed in Antarctica. He spent 13 months there as a meteorologist with the U.S. Navy, starting in 1967. He was part of Operation Deep Freeze, which supported scientists working on research there, according to The New York Times.

The 91-year-old said he didn't remember losing it, and he was stunned when he received a call last month letting him know that someone had found it.

“What are the odds?” Grisham said. “It was so out of the blue. I was blown away.”

He got the wallet back on Jan. 30. It contained a beer ration card, his military identification card, his motor vehicle operator's license and even a recipe for Kahlúa. An atomic, biological and chemical warfare pocket reference was also in the wallet.

Grisham’s wallet was found in 2014 at McMurdo Station on Ross Island by a crew that was carrying out demolition work. The crew handed over the wallet to a manager at the station, and it changed hands before reaching a former researcher who contacted Bruce McKee, founder and director of nonprofit Indiana Spirit of ’45.

McKee found Grisham through a Naval Weather Service blog, according to The Washington Post, and mailed him the wallet after confirming that he was the legitimate owner.

“It’s not often that you get to reunite somebody with their wallet after 53 years,” McKee said.

Recalling his time in Antarctica, Grisham said it was a lot of hard work. “During the winter, the sun goes down and for a period of about five months, there’s no sunshine at all — it’s black,” he told The New York Times.

He retired in 1977 and had been working as a volunteer docent at the U.S.S. Midway Museum since 2007 till the COVID-19 outbreak.

Grisham is not the only one who recently found his wallet long after he had forgotten about it. Last year, an Australian man was reunited with the wallet that he lost almost 25 years ago.