A routine trip to look for Halloween costumes took an unexpected turn when a woman in Indiana discovered a coat worn by a soldier during World War II. Zuleika King Rivera was browsing at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Fort Wayne, searching for outfits for her children, when a coat priced at $9.99 with a tag reading "Halloween Jacket" caught her eye.
"When I saw the coat, I knew it was something special," Rivera, 29, told Newsweek. "Inside was a name: 'Willibey.' There was also military identification information, including the last four digits of his Army service number." Rivera, a U.S. Army veteran, felt compelled to find out more about the owner of the coat.
"I come from a military family," she said. "My husband is a veteran, and military service runs throughout his family as well. So I've always had a lot of respect, passion, and empathy for service members and veterans." As soon as she saw that name, it became more than just an old military uniform in a thrift store.
Somebody had a family who may not even know it was sitting there," she said. "I just had this immediate feeling: I have to buy this. I have to figure out who this man was and, if his family is still out there, I have to try to give it back." Returning home, Rivera made it her mission to find out more.
"I spent about four and a half hours researching him, and I mean really digging," she said. "There wasn't a ton of easily accessible information online, so I had to start putting together tiny pieces until they formed a bigger picture." An important clue she had was his Army service number, written in neat handwriting alongside the surname "Willibey" on the coat's collar. By combining those pieces of information with different keywords, Rivera was able to locate archived documents and records.
She learned the previous owner's full name was Gilbert Alton Willibey and that he was from Indiana. Gilbert was born on April 8, 1917, and died in 2001. He was drafted into the U.S.
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