3 Years After Army Vet's Uniform Goes Missing, He & Wife Find It Hanging in Antique Shop
Moving is a hassle. No one likes sifting through their possessions, boxing up their belongings, and hauling everything to a new location. That’s probably why some boxes stay packed and stowed away.
Every once in a while, though, there will be a particular item you’re trying to locate that you just can’t find anywhere.
You know that in the shuffle of packing, tossing, and donating, that you might have permanently misplaced it, but it’s tough to give up hope — especially when the wayward item holds significant sentimental value.
That was what happened to Xenos Lopez of Bakersfield, California. What should have been a fairly uneventful move from one area of Bakersfield to another turned sour when Lopez lost a precious belonging: his Army Greens.
“We were moving from one side of town to the other and sometime during the move my uniform disappeared,” he told CNN. It had been years since he’d last seen it, and all he could figure was that maybe someone stole it while they were moving.
But it was a recent stroll through Mill Creek Antique Mall, also in Bakersfield, that reunited the man with his medals and uniform.
“I looked through the shop and when we got ready to leave, my wife points out my uniform,” Lopez said. “I was shocked … how did it get here? But I knew it was mine for sure.”
“Just everything that’s on it is mine so you just instantly know,” he told KERO. He posted photos and the story to Facebook on Feb. 16.
“The craziest thing happened to me today,” he wrote. “I lost my Army greens a few years ago when I moved.”
“Today I went thrift shopping downtown with my wife and as we were getting ready to leave she points out a uniform hanging on the rack. I look at it and instantly yell ‘That’s mine!'”
“I asked the owner Rick where it came from and explained it was mine and how I lost it a while back. He said ‘It’s yours take it!'”
“I am so grateful to have my original uniform with all my awards and my Beret returned to me. Thank you guys at Mill Creek Antique Mall you guys made my year!!”
Rick Freels, owner of the shop where the Army uniform was being displayed, was kind to offer the item back so quickly. “I said it’s yours, you earned it and I could tell how much he appreciated it,” Freels said.
Lopez plans to keep an eye on it, and create a display for the medals so he won’t lose track of them again and will be able to appreciate them often.
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