Salvation Army Bargain Includes Forgotten 1944 War Department Letter About Des Moines Man Killed In Action

DES MOINES, IA -- Dena Streeper was looking for a bargain when she shopped at the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Merle Hay Road last month. She came away with a mystery.

Streeper paid $40 for a nine-drawer dresser and mirror, but when she and her fiance were putting clothes away later at their home, they discovered a letter from the U.S. War Department that had fallen behind one of the drawers. It was addressed to Hazel Tullis of Des Moines and it provided grim news: Her son, Army Private Harold F. Tullis, had died in service to his country.

The letter from Major Gen. J. A. Ulio was dated Dec. 21, 1944. The family would have received it around Christmas. It noted that although a telegram months earlier had indicated Harold Tullis was reported missing in action, confirmation had come that he in fact died the same day as the earlier report. He was killed on June 6, 1944, during the invasion of Normandy, France.

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Streeper, who lives on Des Moines' east side just as the Tullis family did decades ago, said it was jolting to read the news, even though she had no connection to the family.

"I was shocked that it was still in the dresser," she told Patch. "Our initial thought was we needed to get this to who it belongs to. We didn't want to throw it away."

Streeper began looking for people with the same name, but initially didn't have any luck. The Tullis family had long since moved from the Guthrie Avenue home that Hazel Tullis lived in 73 years ago.

"We were looking on Facebook and we have been Googling the names and trying to find family members," Streeper told Patch Friday.

She posted photos online and people weighed in with search results from ancestry websites, census records and old directories. Hazel Tullis, it turns out, died only four years ago, and Streeper believes it probably was her dresser that an heir to her estate donated to the Salvation Army.

Soon she hopes to have the mystery solved. Streeper found and talked to a member of the Tullis family after receiving a number of names, and she said Friday night they plan to meet so she can get the mementos back where they belong.

James Holmes and Dena Streeper, with the dresser she purchased at Salvation Army, show letters and papers about the death of a Des Moines solider that were discovered under a drawer./Photos courtesy of Dena Streeper