Father's Day Miracle? Internet 'Sleuth' Returning Navy Memorabilia to Vet's Son

Swampscott, MA — A Navy veteran's memorabilia is being returned to his son after a woman discovered an old film in her possession.

Beth Campbell Bagley dubs herself an internet super sleuth akin to Nancy Drew after using Google to track down the son of a former member of the U.S. Navy who served on the U.S.S. Wisconsin.

"Several years ago, after the death of my father, I found several little boxes of 8-mm movies," Bagley says. "Since I also have an old suitcase full of family 'home movies' and the old 8-mm movie projected, I viewed them."

To her surprise, the movies had nothing to do with her family at all. "Instead," she says, "they included 1950s era footage aboard the U.S.S. Wisconsin and scenes filmed when the ship was in various ports."

On Thursday, when Bagley stumbled across the box of old films again, she noticed a name with an address: Douglas R. Parker of Swampscott, Massachusetts. "I Googled the name and made two hits on obituaries at a Parker Funeral Home in neighboring Lynn, Massachusetts." So she called the number listed on the funeral home's website to explain her discovery.

"[T]urns out that the man I was talking with [on the phone] was his son, Richard D. Parker," Bagley says.

Parker went on to explain that his father had been stationed on the ship, which was based out of Norfolk, Virginia in the 1950s.

"My parents were living in Portsmouth, Virginia during that same period," Bagley says. "I don’t know how they came into possession of Mr. Parker’s movies, but I am going to ship them to his son."

The shipping will serve as a welcomed gift to Parker who told Bagley that his family has very few items of memorabilia from his father's time in the Navy.

Photos via Beth Campbell Bagley