'We all thought they were gone forever': Delight as pictures of Shropshire war veteran returned
A pensioner has been reunited with photographs and memories of her late partner nearly a month after they went missing at his wake.
Nancy Wood, of Bomere Heath in Shrewsbury, said her faith in humanity has been restored after a stranger returned the precious pictures of her long-term partner Reginald Steventon.
Mr Steventon was a D-Day veteran who died in September aged 98, just two months after being presented with the Legion d'Honneur award, and was a member of the Shrewsbury Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club.
Head of the group, Amanda Cundall, has been appealing for the return of the envelope since it went missing at the Corbet Arms on October 23.
She said: "Nancy, who will be 89 next month, brought these photographs and certificates to the wake for people to see, but they went missing and it caused a lot of upset.
"However, on Wednesday, the Corbet Arms received an envelope with the photographs and certificates, and a letter of explanation. There were no details of who it was from but it said they had been working down here and staying at the Corbet Arms, and had picked them up by mistake.
"The letter stated that they had hoped to be back in the area soon and could return them then, but realising they weren't going to be, they posted them. They apologised but left no clues as to who they were and we'd love to thank them for restoring our faith in humanity."
Amanda delivered the pictures to Miss Wood on Wednesday and said she was "ecstatic".
She added: "They had great sentimental value and dated back to a long time ago. She was beaming when she saw them because we all thought they were gone forever.
"We searched the field next to the Corbet Arms and even went through the bins, so Nancy is ecstatic - we all are."
Reginald Steventon was a Second World War King's Shropshire Light Infantry veteran, born and raised in Telford.
In July, he was surprised with a ceremony in Shrewsbury where there French Consul, Monsieur Robert Mille, presented him with the Legion d'Honneur for his efforts in helping to liberate France during the Second World War.
