Leon Taylor was just a young man in 1945.
Only 20 years old at the time, his memories of the end of WWII and the beginning of a new age are buried under more than 70 years of intervening history. But he still remembers the fateful day that his father decided to capture forever.
It was Victory in Japan day, and Leon’s father wanted to know that a historical record of that moment would survive into the future.
He took a treasure trove of the day’s newspapers, and sealed them away in a canning jar, which he then buried in an unused outdoor fireplace on a distant corner of the property. Like this family treasure hidden high in the attic, it lay there untouched for seven decades.
For all of those years, Leon knew his father’s time capsule held the key to a whole other era. Now that he’s 90 years old, he thought it might be about time to go dig it up. Like the woman whose parents’ love letters turned up years later, he wanted to immerse himself in that time and place once more.
He and his family found the jar right where his father had left it. Inside, newspapers still fresh and crisp trumpeted the news, and ration stamps reminded him of his wartime childhood. Now, he says he has a plan of his own for what should happen to the jar next. Check out the video to learn more!
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