Honorable discharge papers found in Cumberland library

It was a strange find for workers at the Cumberland Public Library last week when a person scrolling through the children’s section found honorable discharge papers from the Marine Corps in a book.

After a week of phone calls, property searches, and posts on Facebook, that veteran was reunited with those important documents.

In her 20 years, Cumberland Library Director Celeste Dyer comes across a lot of lost items, but never something like this.

“We find photos. In the copy machine sometimes like birth certificates and tax documents,” Dyer said. “It’s kind of odd that someone would put this in a children’s book. That’s what we thought was weird.”

When Dyer came across the document, her team got to work trying to find the veteran.

“We did find a phone number and it didn’t have a voicemail option, and no one answered it. We looked up this address and it wasn’t owned by this person,” she said.

Library staff, including Assistant Director Aaron Coutu had to think outside the box to locate the Lincoln man.

“[I] know some people who work at the VA hospital and I knew they wouldn’t be able to give us direct information but thought that they could connect the message to the person,” Coutu said. “We weren’t sure whether or not he was still local.”

Luckily, the VA was able to contact the infantry veteran, and he picked up his paperwork Wednesday.

He wanted his privacy protected but he told ABC 6 he was beyond grateful for the efforts from the library staff.

“It’s one of the most exciting things to be able to return because it really matters,” Coutu said.

“I’m really glad we found the person,” Dyer added.