While it usually takes a few hours or a couple of weeks to get a lost wallet returned to you, one man had to wait 53 years. Paul Grisham lost his wallet in Antarctica in 1967 and only recently saw its return.
Grisham, from San Diego, was on assignment for 13 months as a meteorologist for the U.S. Navy in Antarctica. He arrived in October 1967, and shortly after, misplaced his wallet, Newsweek reports.
Grisham left behind his wife and two young kids in an effort to take on a role with "Operation Deep Freeze," supporting scientists conducting research.
The wallet was later discovered in 2014 behind a locker during the demolition of the McMurdo Station on Antarctica's Ross Island. Stephen Decato, who worked for an agency who did research on the continent, was tasked with returning the lost wallet.
Grisham was eventually tracked down using the Naval Weather Service Association where he is a member. The wallet acted as a sort of time capsule for Grisham in the '60s.
The wallet contained Grisham's Navy ID card, driver's license, and a beer ration card. In the time that the wallet had been missing, Grisham had retired from the Navy, watched his family grow up, and remarried following the death of his first wife Wilma in 2000.
In a conversation with The San Diego Tribune, Grisham said of the returned wallet, "There was a long series of people involved who tracked me down and ran me to ground."
"I was just blown away," he continued.
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