'I was in disbelief': WWII medals belonging to Raleigh family found in Missouri

A Raleigh woman got a Christmas gift she wasn’t expecting after someone found her father-in-law’s World War II medals and tracked her down.

Edward Fels was a soldier in WWII and his wife, Charlotte, kept a scrapbook as a diligent record of their chapters of their lives.

Fels’ daughter-in-law, Victoria Fels, and her late husband, John, took the scrapbook from the home when Charlotte died in 2006. It was the family’s single most prized possession to remember the soldier by, until the phone rang last week.

“I got a call from these people in Warrenton, Missouri. They said they had my father-in-law’s medals,” Victoria Fels said.

The medals, which Victoria Fels didn’t even know existed, were lost when a professional cleaning crew helped clean out her mother-in-law’s house 11 years ago.

“Medals of honor, medals of valor, good conduct medals. I was in disbelief,” Victoria Fels said.

The medals and Edward Fels’ discharge papers had somehow found their way to the Veterans of Foreign Wars office in Warrenton. A Vietnam veteran found them on a back shelf and went looking for family members of the soldier who earned them.

“I cried,” Victoria Fels said. “It means everything. It’s just such a nice thing to do.”

Victoria Fels said she has no idea how the medals ended up in Missouri, but she is happy to have them now and will cherish them.