'A little piece of history': Winnipeg homeowner finds 80-year-old letters hidden in walls

When George Arcioni began renovating his kitchen last summer, he didn’t expect to find a stack of letters hidden in the wall behind his oven.

The handwritten letters date back to 1944 and are all addressed to John Buechler. Based on the notes, Buechler was serving in the Royal Canadian Navy at the time, and was stationed at HMCS Cornwallis – a naval training base in Deep Brook, N.S.

“This is like a time capsule from 80 years ago,” said Joelle Arcioni, George’s daughter.

“It’s a little piece of history.”

The Arcioni’s have lived in the one-and-a-half storey house on Home Street since the early 1980s. Based on city records, it was built in 1930.

Once Joelle was able to sift through the more than 20 letters, she set her sights on finding Buechler’s family to pass on what they left behind.

“We’re hoping to hopefully connect with either children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren,” she said.

Some of the letters found in the walls of the Arcioni household (Alexandra Holyk/CTV News Winnipeg)

Based on the contents of the letters, Joelle said it seemed like there was regular correspondence between Buechler and those writing to him.

“Some of the letters are from his dad and his mom,” she said. “There’s also letters from his wife, Hazel. There’s letters from fellow sailors, there’s letters from an aunt Rose.”

However, Joelle said her father only found the letters addressed to Buechler and none penned by him.

“Maybe those letters are stashed somewhere else in the house.”

Gordon Goldsborough, the head researcher and webmaster at the Manitoba Heritage Society said it's rare to see letters from the homestead return to their origin.

"These letters don't typically come back here," he said. "And to have a collection this large from somebody who presumably survived, they got the letters, they read them, they brought them home with them."

However, Goldsborough said he has no idea how or why they ended up in the wall. 

While Joelle’s search has yet to lead to any more discoveries, she said she isn’t giving up.

“It’s not every day that you come across letters from the end of World War Two,” she said. “It feels kind of surreal, but I’m just hoping again to connect with the family.”