Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CASPER, Wyo. — A veteran has discovered a special piece of history. He stumbled upon a World War II-era photo album that belonged to a Utah soldier, and wants to return it to the soldier's family.
The photos in the album hit close to home for William Ray Epperson and he said he feels bound by honor to find the person the memento belongs to.
"(It was) in my dad's stuff," Epperson told KCWY13. "I was going through some books and stuff and I found this — U.S. Army snapshots."
The album chronicles Army Cpl. Woodrow Gordon's service building the Alcan Highway, a road developed to connect the contiguous United States to Alaska via Canada after Pearl Harbor.
"The were afraid the Russians were going to come across through Alaska," Epperson said.
The work was grueling as troops worked to complete the project in a mere five months, finishing in October of 1942.
Epperson served with the Marines in Vietnam. He described his experience with fellow Marines as something like a family.
He doesn't talk about the album often, but he said it brings back memories.
"It reminds me of my friends in the military," Epperson said. "I don't even know their names, but when I look through these pictures I can see their faces."
Now Epperson faces the daunting task of finding the album's owner. Some quick research revealed the soldier died in Utah in 1978, but found some Gordons living in Utah now. He's having trouble finding the connection between one of the Gordon families and Woodrow Gordon.
"If it was me, and all of the sudden someone brought me something that was from my dad that had been missing for 60 years, (it) kind of brings tears to my eyes," Epperson said.
The search for the Gordon's family has become a personal affair. Epperson said he's been offered good money for the album but is dedicated to keeping the album safe until he can give it back.
"I'll get out of this wheelchair on my crutches and I'll walk from Casper, Wyo. to Utah," Epperson said. "I mean, that's the least I can do. I know that his descendants have got to be wonderful people."
