SYLACAUGA, Ala. – Dennis Murphy helps his wife Beverly often in her real estate career in Sylacauga. Sometimes, the two find very unique items in home she is trying to sell.
Around two years ago, Dennis Murphy, a retired Navy veteran, found one of those unique items, and he has been looking for the owner ever since.
In a home on Wood St. in Sylacauga, Murphy and his wife were doing a final walk-through with a home buyer when the two came across a framed portrait of a member of the United States military. The photo, according to Murphy, looks to be from WWII or the Korean War. Ever since the two stumbled across the finding, Murphy has been looking for any tidbit of information about the pictured serviceman.
“I found this picture in the closet, and I started wondering about this guy,” Murphy explained. “A lot of people will throw stuff like this away. He would have ended up in the garbage can.”
Being a Veteran himself, Murphy has a vested interest in finding either the pictured man or a relative in the area.
“We don’t know who this is or what has happened to him, but when I look into his face I see myself and many others,” the veteran said. Murphy said he has looked all over the photo for any evidence of who the man could be, but has found no clues. “This was probably taken when he was an 18-year-old. Maybe he is a local guy. We just don’t know.”
For Murphy, to reunite this photo with its owner or a family member would mean the world. “It would mean so much for to get this photo back to a relative or to the man pictured.,” Murphy said.
“We don’t know this man’s story. He may have went to Germany or Korea,” Murphy said. “He could be a fallen solider or he could have made it home.”
Although he has no answers today, Murphy said he will continue to search the area for someone who can identify the photographed veteran.
