Old letters found in stolen truck returned to grandchildren of military gunner

RIMBEY, Alta. – Letters dating back to 1944 that were recently recovered in a stolen truck have been returned to the family of the original writer.

Early last month, Mounties in Rimbey, Alta., tracked down and arrested a female driver in a stolen vehicle and inside, they found a bundle of letters written to relatives from Mungo Clark.

Clark was a gunner born in Biggar, Sask., who served overseas in the 40th Battery, 11th Field Regiment, Canadian Army.

He enlisted in the army when he was only 16 years old, lying about his age and saying he worked as a miner so that he could fight in the Second World War.

He ended up serving in Germany, Italy, Holland and Africa, all the while sending letters to loved ones back home.

When RCMP put out a public call to find relatives of the two writers, they quickly heard from Mungo’s only child, Bonnie Rasmussen.

On Wednesday, Mountie’s returned the letters to the gunner’s grandchildren — Jason Rasmussen, Trish Rasmussen and Kirsten Evans.

“These are amazing,” said Jason Rasmussen as he perused the letters. “I’m scared to open them, I don’t want to rip them.”

He wondered how his mother would react to seeing them: “If these were taken … in the 60s, this is going to be absolutely amazing for her.”

Some of the envelopes show addresses in Hamilton, Regina and Craik, Sask.

Bonnie Rasmussen has said she wasn’t sure how the letters written by her father, who died more than 20 years ago, ended up in a stolen vehicle.

She said the letters, along with war medals belonging to her father, were stolen in the 1960s.

The medals have not been recovered.

(CTV Edmonton)