Major William White – known to his friends and new admirers simply as “Major Bill” – served in the military for a total of 35 years. The highly decorated Marine was also awarded the Purple Heart after Iwo Jima during World War II.
But other hearts have never really been his thing.
Even during his 42 years of marriage, he never celebrated Valentine’s Day – like so many couples, the “Hallmark holiday” just wasn’t the couple’s thing.
Major Bill – who is an impressive 104 years old – now lives at The Oaks Assisted Living Center in Stockton, California where he’s much admired. In fact, he’s so well-loved that staff, family, and residents decided that they were going to show him what the holiday was all about.
The project was dubbed “Operation Valentine” and the goal was to get people from around the country to send a Valentine’s Day card to Major Bill. The social media campaign said it hoped to get 104 cards, one for each of his birthdays.
So imagine everyone’s surprise when over 70,000 (yes, THAT MANY zeros) letters and cards showed up at the facility addressed to him. They came from all 50 states and several other countries.
“It’s just too fantastic,” White told Reuters. “It’s something I’ve never heard of or seen. All of a sudden here, like a ton of bricks. I’m sort of speechless.”
And those 70,000 pieces of mail came in the week BEFORE Valentine’s Day, so the final tally is much larger. In fact, the facility and White’s family has had to enlist volunteers to help him open the cards and read all of the messages.
Many of his “Valentines” expressed deep appreciation for everything Major Bill had done for his country and took the opportunity to thank him for his service.
Some even write stories about their own family members who served and admitted that writing to him was cathartic since they were missing their loved ones who had passed away.
A woman named Jane wrote about her WWII veteran grandfather, who would have been 100 this year if he had survived that long. She wrote in her card:
“I miss him so much. By sending you this card, I feel as though I am sending my grandfather a card.”
As of February 13th, CBS News reported that Major Bill had received well over 100,000 cards!
“The last account somebody ever gave me was 140,000 different pieces,” White said.
The number is sure to grow and other news outlets report the tally to be closer to 300,000 if you count the gifts people have sent as well.
“The gifts include handmade quilts, blankets, artwork, cups, mugs, military memorabilia, challenge coins, hats, T-shirts, candy, scrapbook items, custom-made walker with military colors,” Diane Wright, executive director of The Oaks at Inglewood, told ABC News. “The list goes on and on. And mail is still coming.”
One of White’s hobbies over the years has been scrapbooking and he’s hoping to save as many mementos as possible to preserve the memory of this outpouring of love.
“My mother, parents taught me to conserve and observe memories as much as possible,” he said.
He’s going to need one heck of a scrapbook to get a handle on this Valentine’s Day surprise!
“It’s just been beyond my feeble powers of comprehension,” White said, humbly.
Be sure to scroll down below to see an interview with Major Bill and get a glimpse at the love he’s received from people all over the world.
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