When her mother died in 2000, the sad duty of going through the possessions in the family home in the Scioto County community of Minford fell to Grove City resident Jewell Lykins.

 

In the closet of a bedroom that her grandmother had lived in for a time, Lykins found a cardboard box. And in that box she found a vest. And with that vest she found a letter that explained who the aging, handmade garment had belonged to and why it had been something treasured by her grandmother and generations of the family before her.

The article contains the bulk of the letter, as well as some information on the soldier involved.  It is an interesting and sad story, not disimilar from many others of the war.

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