WWII soldier's gift to mom, lost for 73 years, returns home for Mother's Day

MILLVILLE, Mass. -- A loving tribute from a soldier preparing for war to his mother on the other side of the continent has come home after 73 years and just in time for Mother's Day.

The elaborate pillow sham emblazoned with the word "Mother" and sent in 1942 by Dominic O'Gara from his California Army base in California to his mother in the Massachusetts town of Millville. It was discovered last month by a town native on eBay.

Millville native Donald Lamoureux paid five dollars for the sealed envelope without knowing what was inside.

The sham is also decorated with roses, the name of the Army camp and a touching poem about mothers.

It looked brand new, but where it has been for the past 70 years remains a mystery.

Dominic O'Gara died in 1998 and his mother died in 1956.

The hope now is to put the sham on display in the town's senior center, just yards from the house where the O'Gara family once lived.

Margaret Carroll is chairwoman of the town Historical Commission. She says the pillow cover is back where it belongs.

It also has this famous poem, written by lyricist Howard Johnson:

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M is for the million things she gave me

O means only that she's growing old

T is for the tears she shed to save me

H is for her heart of purest gold

E is for her eyes with love light shining

R means right and right she'll always be

Put them all together they spell mother

A word that means the world to me