Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe MONROE, Ohio, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A woman who purchased an old suitcase at a Toledo, Ohio, auction found it full of World War II-era love letters between a U.S. serviceman and his wife. Terri Smith of Monroe, Ohio, bought a raggedy old suitcase for $27.50 and noticed that there were old papers inside, the Monroe Evening News reported Friday. When she opened the suitcase, she found five hundred letters written by Charles Ashton and his wife Ruthie while Ashton was serving in the U.S. Navy, the newspaper said. Advertisement Smith decided to track down Ashton and his wife, and through the help of the Internet, contacted Lynn "Dutch" Ashton, 66, one of Ashton's two sons. Ashton and his wife have both passed away, but Lynn said it was "terrific" that the letters have been discovered. The letters were evidently overlooked when surviving family members were dividing Ruthie's possessions after her death in 2004. They were collected by a personal property liquidator, the newspaper reported.
