Parcel From Japan Arrives at Home of World War II Vet 63 Years Late

MILLERSBURG, Mich. – Sixty-three years after packing a rifle in a wooden box and mailing it from Japan to his wife in northeastern Michigan, a World War II veteran got the parcel.

George Freel, 89, of Millersburg said the rifle was missing.

He says the box "brought up a lot of memories."

Freel was a sergeant in an Army field artillery unit when the war ended in 1945.

After the war, Freel spent 37 years working for U.S. Steel as he and wife Shirley raised three children in the house where they've lived since marrying in 1940.