Friends of Old Annville is collaborating with the Musée de Lorris, a WWII museum in Loiret, France, to answer questions surrounding three letters that were found in a drop ceiling in rural France along with a gas mask and rations.
The letters were addressed to Annville native Oscar S. Light, Jr. (1925-1968) — who served in France with the U.S. Army during World War II — and they were written by his parents.
They were found during renovations on a house in Aulnay-la-Rivière, in Loiret, France.
Newspaper clippings show Light graduated from Annville High School in 1943, where he was a member of the school’s orchestra and band. Before going abroad, he was a student at the Conservatory of Music at Lebanon Valley College. He was also part of the entertainment unit Yanks a Million, which played music for the men fighting overseas.
The French museum 50 miles south of Paris first contacted Friends of Old Annville on July 9 via email, said Michael Schroeder, the president of Friends of Old Annville. They outlined the information they were able to find on their own but wanted FOOA’s help in contacting living relatives to share the letters and gather more information about Light.
After an initial dig through the organization’s digital archives, FOOA posted about the inquiry on Facebook to get the public’s help.
“People have contributed photographs and documents and remembrances to be part of the historical record,” Schroeder said. “We were able to identify some direct living relatives pretty quickly and put them in touch.”
Schroeder said the original Facebook post had reached more than 10,000 people as of Friday, and the public response shows many Annville residents have deep interests in local history.
“People care about their own past,” he said. “People are yearning for a connection to their place, their communities, their families and their ancestors.”
Though FOOA has helped find answers for the Musée de Lorris, Schroeder said he still has many questions of his own.
“Why were these letters from Oscar Light’s parents up in the drop ceiling of a house in rural France? How did they get there? Who put them there? Did he know people in the French resistance against the Nazis?,” he said. “One mystery is solved, and five more emerge.”
Schroeder said he plans to continue updating the Friends of Old Annville Facebook page as he learns more, and he hopes to get copies of the letters to add to the archives.
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