A letter written by Charles Mellor in 1943 while he was a prisoner of war in Shanghai following the Japanese takeover of Wake Island, where Mellor and two brothers, Emmett and Glenn Newell, all of small towns in Idaho, were taken captive. Their families, of North Idaho, met for the first time Tuesday.
January 11, 2023
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January 11, 2023 1:08 a.m.
Shared links to the past
Families discover connections between loved ones held as WWII POWs
The world is much smaller than many people realize. Ron and Betty Mills, who live at Wellspring Assisted Living in Hayden, and Verda Newell, a resident of another assisted living residence in Coeur d'Alene, are complete strangers who recently discovered their families are linked in history. It all started with the serendipitous work of a local public historian who uncovered the connections.