WWI Soldier’s Lost Compass Finds a Surprising Home 100 Years Later | Finding Heroes | Ancestry® 

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My great-great Uncle died in France on this day in 1918. He was 23. I love hearing these stories from people.

Ok, you have me balling my eyes out with this story!! My dad served in the US Navy from 1947-1950, then in the reserves until 1956. He had his dog tag on his keychain all his life. When he was discharged, he was allowed to keep his uniforms, both whites and blues. I found them when I was in high school and his whites and blues trousers both fit me, so I wore them all the time. Bell bottoms were all the rage in the late 1960s and well into the 1970s. I graduated high school in 1972 so the pants were perfect. My favorite pants were his blues. I LOVED that 13 button front flap! And also, they were slightly laced in the back waist of the pants, which made them fit better. My dad also had his P coat. In 1973 I met the man I would later marry. He too, had served in the US Navy, during Viet Nam. He was discharged in April 1973 and we met in college in September 1973. Since we met in the fall, the coat he wore was, what else? His P-coat! I remembered my dads, that was hanging in a zippered bag in the back of my closet. I got it out to see if it fit me and sure enough, it did! I was THRILLED! As it got colder and a coat was needed, I wore my dads and my soon-to-be husband wore his. We often got comments and questions about our 'matching coats'. This story about the son donating his dads compass to that French museum brought back the feelings I had when I removed my dads dog tag from his keychain and pinned it (with a straight pin) to the flag that had draped his casket and was given to me at his funeral. I now have both the flag from my father, with his dog tag and my now-deceased husbands dog tag pinned to his flag from his casket. Both flags are now in display cases, proudly displayed in my home.

What a wonderful story. As a family historian, I'm pleased to see the compass and case reunited in the museum. In the museum it has true historical meaning and significance. If Mr. Stokes had taken it home with him, it probably would have meant something to his siblings and the next generation but eventually the story would have been lost and the compass could have ended up as an interesting family trinket and nothing more.

What an amazing story! I never knew my (birth)father’s family or anything, really, of their history. I started doing the family tree and while researching my 2nd great grandfather, Joseph Baker Comer, came across a mention and a photograph of his State of West Virginia Civil War medal online. I contacted the person who had posted the photo of the medal and asked if he would like a photo if Joseph Baker. He, in turn, asked me if I would like to have the medal. DID I??? Of course. He had bought it in a junk shop some years before. I paid him what he had paid for the medal and he shipped it to me. It came in the original cardboard box that JB would have received it in! A few years later, I had posted a photo of my mother’s father, James Edward McIntosh, in his Royal Medical Corps uniform. He had been a stretcher-bearer during WWI. A short time later, I received a message from a collector in Ireland who happened to have bought my grandfather’s medals on eBay. He offered it to me for what he had paid for them. Of course, I bought it. Like JB’s medal, it arrived in its original box. Accompanying it was a newspaper clipping about my grandfather’s having been called to the pulpit in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1926 (He was a Church of Scotland minister). I was ecstatic! Quite apart from having something tangible of my grandfather, I was able to show my mother the medal for the first time. She was unaware of its existence. How it ended up on eBay is anyone’s guess. I suspect that his mother had received it and he was uninterested in having it. For him, his remembrance of his wartime experiences was quite enough. He didn’t need a medal to commemorate it. He had never even attached the ribands to the medals. I assume that they ended up in the house contents after his mother died and, since they were, by then, estranged, they were never sent to him. She had died in 1940, struck by a lorry during an Air Raid practice. I was able to photograph Mom holding the medals… Mom passed away in 2018. She had Alzheimer’s so I was glad that she was still able to appreciate the medals while she still remembered her father. (He passed away in 1945, just after VE Day.)

What a beautiful story! Thank you! My 3x great-uncle died in France a month before the war ended. I have the telegram that reported this dire news to his parents. I know the grief it caused -- grief that lasted the rest of my 2x great-grandparents' lives. I have the letters and the correspondences from him before he was killed and from the War Dept to his parents, after he was gone. Several years ago I learned that there is an American Legion post named for him in Greeley, Colorado. The Victor Candlin Post.

What an awesome story that will now live on and it was nice to see him donating the compass to the museum to runite it with the case. Last year, using records I was able to find out about my 2nd great grandfather on my dads side who he knew nothing about and I was able to tell my dad about him before he passed away at the end of last year. I found my 2nd great grandparents marriage certificate and it explained why my grandmothers family were from the town they lived in as children (and still have relatives there today) as that was where my 2nd great grandmother was living at the time she got married to my 2nd great grandfather and they lived there after getting married. I also found my 2nd great grandfather's military records and it was interesting to read when comparing his physical traits when he signed up to my dad. My 2nd great grandfather joined the military in 1898 when he was 29, 6 months after getting married. His military record said his height, weight, eye colour and they were the exact same as my dads height and eye color and weight when he was in his late 20s. It said my 2nd great grandfathers hair was dark brown, turning grey and my dads hair was very dark turning grey when he was in his late 20s as well. Both my 2nd great-grandfather and my dad both served in the military and both of them had a tattoo on each arm. I found out my 2nd great-grandfather died in a military hospital in 1918 which might explain why my dad never knew about him.

Brave ,Brave ,Men ,LEST WE FORGET.

Oh this one had me bawling when he gave her the compass! Plus, I hope Lester led a healthy life living to be 100! Fighting in a war he deserved it!

Exquisitely fascinating. The Stokes family name will be long remembered. Not only for bravery, their emotionally generous thoughtfulness as well.

This made my eyes well up. Well done!

I love your stories. Don’t stop please.

So touching but I can't believe she didn't give the case to him after all it's a family heirloom

Lovely story but Lester's son should have the case returned to him, not vica versa.

These stories are so emotional, they bring tears to my eyes.

I had tears in my eyes! So beautiful 😍

That was just such a great story! I'm not crying.....😂

wow! What an absolutely amazing story~

What an awesome story!! Please keep these coming...

First of all, thank you very much to your respected side for this creativity. Memories, nostalgia, And return the past to the present and incur everything to deliver them to their families.

This is so wonderful!

Fantastic find and story. His story will live on how wonderful that is.

Wow! While doing research on this line of our genealogy, my brother discovered that Lester Stokes is our 8th cousin! We will be doing his final temple work tomorrow, July 18, 2023. Lester had a brother named Clifford who died in Belgium during WW1.

Simply amazing. A higher power working here!

This is amazing so intresting! He lived and got married!!

Wow that’s some story and how generous to leave the watch at the museum ❤

Had me all emotional.

Absolutely fascinating! More stories like this! ❤️❤️

Amazing Story! Thank you.

I don't even know what to say, too many thoughts.

Amazing story

Wow just wow

My grandpa Fay served. But I have no idea where or how. I just know my dad said he was in the armed forces.

This is a wonderful story. Thank you for honouring our Great self sacrifices they endured ..Thank you❤️

The Great War, as it was named a few years after the war’s end, was great for awful reasons. a horrific number of men & boys that became men did not make it back home alive. some made it back, but with shredded lungs from chlorine gas attacks. some made it back, but with missing limbs. a staggering estimate of 22 million people lost their lives in a time when populations were fragments of today’s. potentially half of the deceased were civilians that perished from shelling, starvation/malnutrition, poisoning, destroyed lungs from gas attacks, disease, etc… WWI seems to be overshadowed by WWII & that is another great awful. we all failed as world leaders, because the world went to war again, and more atrocities to human kind ensued. WWI could have been prevented by national leaders, but former sharp wars between France & Germany left unhealed wounds on both sides. King George, Kaiser Wilhelm & Tzar Nicholas were kindred, due to elaborate & intricate marriages, while the Court of Vienna gleamed at the crown. but, the instabilities of their monarchies showed up before they did. I taught myself about WWI through my own research, because my primary schooling did not. WWI was a brief subject. I asked why the 2nd world war had to happen & my teachers did not deliver any satisfying answer. why? because they weren’t taught about WWI in their schooling. why is that?

Awe that was heartwarming

That was awesome , my late father’s ww2 polish uniform has gone back home to a polish military museum in Poland x

I thought for sure she was going to give the son the compass case.

WOW..........

It has been 106 years

Only 100 years ago......

You should get me some contact info, I have a friend in Australia that helps find items in PNG etc, they have lots of ID tags etc from Americans

How shameful for her to not research artifacts that can be tractable. And for her to not give him thr case and take the compass... Deplorable.

🤯🥹

Fantastic story! 🥲