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Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind podcast. This is the

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Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and

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Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the

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Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope

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Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day.

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Speaker 2: Woman receives a letter in the mail from nineteen fifty three,

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Speaker 2: figures out who it belongs to. Written by Heather Wriggleman,

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Speaker 2: read by Jully Provost. A woman receives a letter in

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Speaker 2: the mail from nineteen fifty three and figures out who

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Speaker 2: it belongs to. A free good mystery begins with something

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Speaker 2: ordinary and then one small thing that is not. And

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Speaker 2: if you're anything like me, the headline will have you hooked.

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Speaker 2: It also happens to include a mailbox in December, a

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Speaker 2: woman expecting only bills and grocery store ads, and then

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Speaker 2: a letter. But not just any letter, but one dated

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Speaker 2: June tenth, nineteen fifty three, resting quietly in a North

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Speaker 2: Dakota mailbox the week before Christmas, as if time itself

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Speaker 2: had leaned in and whispered. Now. Anna Milk doesn't get

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Speaker 2: many surprises in her mail, mostly just bill. She laughed

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Speaker 2: so when she saw the thin yellowed envelope marked airmail,

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Speaker 2: unaddressed only to avarp and Anne gross kinettar North Dakota.

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Speaker 2: As she paused, no street address, no house number, just

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Speaker 2: names in a town, as if the letter trusted land

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Speaker 2: to remember where it belonged. This was a doozy, she said.

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Speaker 2: I really had to look at it. I couldn't believe

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Speaker 2: the date. The seal was already broken, and Anna read

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Speaker 2: the words of a young man named Ben, written while

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Speaker 2: he was serving in the army. The letter spoke of

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Speaker 2: daily life, with the weight and quiet courage of somebody

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Speaker 2: standing near danger. It reads like they were going into battle,

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Speaker 2: she said. And suddenly it wasn't paper at all. It

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Speaker 2: was a voice, a heartbeat of life folded into ink.

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Speaker 2: Anna knew the Gross family. Their farm was just down

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Speaker 2: the road. When she reached out, the mystery deepened. Valentine Gross,

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Speaker 2: the v on the envelope, had seen the letter before.

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Speaker 2: It was one of dozens his older brother Benedict had

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Speaker 2: written home. He wrote a lot of letters, Valentine said,

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Speaker 2: and he kept every single One years later, Valentine mailed

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Speaker 2: these saved letters back to his brother in Georgia, carefully

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Speaker 2: taped inside one large emvelop but when it arrived, the

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Speaker 2: letters were gone lost, it seemed, until one appeared in

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Speaker 2: Anna's mailbox, another reached a different brother. Fifteen are still missing,

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Speaker 2: and so the ending hasn't arrived yet. Because this isn't

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Speaker 2: us just a story about a letter. It's a story

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Speaker 2: about how nothing written in love is ever truly lost,

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Speaker 2: how words wait, how grace travels slowly, and how sometimes

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Speaker 2: the most beautiful mysteries are still finding their way home

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Speaker 2: Isaiah fifty five eleven. So is my word that goes

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Speaker 2: out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty,

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Speaker 2: but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose

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Speaker 2: for which I sent it. Neighbor risks his life to

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Speaker 2: save a mother and her children from a house fire.

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Speaker 2: Written by MICHAELA. Gardoni read ve Julie pos harrk Naber

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Speaker 2: saves a mother and her children after their townhouse caught

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Speaker 2: on fire in Baltimore. Stephen and Dea Lily was asleep

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Speaker 2: in his bed when he heard popping sounds outside the house.

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Speaker 2: When he saw that the home across the street was

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Speaker 2: in plames, he ran to it without hesitation. As he

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Speaker 2: ran outside, he yelled to his neighbors is anybody there.

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Speaker 2: His question was answered by screaming. I heard like horror,

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Speaker 2: horror screams. It was haunting, It was scary, and I

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Speaker 2: knew it wasn't good, he recalled. He tried to grab

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Speaker 2: a ladder that was on the nearby parked truck, but

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Speaker 2: couldn't get it off due to an arm injury. Instead,

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Speaker 2: he ran over beneath a third story window and told

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Speaker 2: the woman screaming to drop her two children into his arms.

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Speaker 2: There was tons of black smoke billowing out of the

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Speaker 2: window and fire lit the floor below. He knew everyone

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Speaker 2: had to act quickly. At first, the mom didn't want

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Speaker 2: to drop her first sundown, but when she realized she

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Speaker 2: had no choice, she consented. Drop him, Drop him. Stephen

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Speaker 2: shouted up at her. Then she dropped the boy into

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Speaker 2: his arms. Two neighbors nearby. Stephen helped him. She dropped

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Speaker 2: the second child, who slipped through Stephen's grasp. Steven was

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Speaker 2: still able to break his fall. One of the boys

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Speaker 2: is nine yearyears old. Before he was dropped, the mom

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Speaker 2: told him, I looked him straight in the face. I said,

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Speaker 2: if you don't let go, we're going to die in here.

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Speaker 2: It was very scary. The boy said, Then neighbors helped

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Speaker 2: prop up the letter so the mom could climb down.

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Speaker 2: I knew she had seconds left because the smoke was

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Speaker 2: too intense, Stephen said. The fire started in the family's

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Speaker 2: living room. It completely destroyed that section of the house.

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Speaker 2: You're my hero, the mom told Stephen, hanging him. I

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Speaker 2: don't mind putting my life in the line for others,

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Speaker 2: Stephen said, I think God put me here and puts

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Speaker 2: me in situations to help other people. I did what

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Speaker 2: anyone else would do for my family, and thank God

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Speaker 2: that he did put him there. Thanks to him, the

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Speaker 2: family suffered only minor injuries and we'll have a full recovery.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to story Behind podcast.

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Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story.

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Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced

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Speaker 1: in this episode, check out the links and the show notes,

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Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our podcast, Asked, and please tell a friend about us.

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