A Dorchester widow whose husband died from cancer five months ago has been reunited with long-lost family members after an Echo story brought them together.
Calls from readers flooded in after we told of how a 50-year-old letter from war hero Harry Trump to his wife Margaret was discovered by a bargain hunter in a wallet at the bottom of a rucksack, together with her picture and newspaper cuttings telling of their engagement.
Now the mystery of how the love letter ended up at a Nottingham car boot sale has been solved after friends and family of Margaret came forward.
Following the story in Saturday's Echo, dozens of readers called in to help solve the mystery and said that the couple's sons, Paul and Graham, were living in the area.
Graham, 47, had moved to Mansfield, near Nottingham, 10 years ago, but was just in the process of moving back to Dorchester, which is how the wallet containing the letter ended up at a car boot sale.
He said: "I was clearing out the attic and I put the rucksack in a pile of stuff for the car boot sale, but I obviously didn't empty it properly.
"I am collecting things on my family history and it is great that I'm able to get them back - they might have been lost forever if that lady had not contacted the Echo."
Sadly, there was not a happy ending for Harry and Margaret, who parted in the 1970s.
Harry, 71, is living in Sheffield and Margaret died in 1984 after a battle with multiple sclerosis, but many people contacted the Echo to pay tribute to her.
And Margaret's cousin Phyllis Lambert, 72, contacted us to say that she would love to get in touch with her cousin's two sons, Graham and Paul.
Happily, we were able to reunite her with Graham and Paul, 52, who now lives in Blandford.
Mrs Lambert, 72, from Claudius Close in Dorchester, said: "I used to see Graham quite a lot when he visited his aunt and it is lovely to be in contact again. I lost my husband Jeffery five months ago after 50 years of marriage, so I've been lonely and being in contact with the boys again will help a lot."
Harry said: "I received a call from someone in London to tell me that the letter had been found - it was a bit of a surprise.
"Then I called Graham and he said, 'I'm sorry, I think that was me'."
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