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Donna Gugger:

When I set out to help clean up the beach after Hurricane Sandy a year ago, I was heartbroken by the devastation I saw. But a remarkable find among the debris turned my day around and became a fulfilling experience that brought incredible people into my life.

Last November, I joined members of the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club, in Atlantic Highlands, N.J., to clean up after the storm. As I removed debris from the beach, I noticed an object with shiny brass buttons sticking out of the wet sand. It looked like a Sgt. Pepper jacket, and I was excited since it was almost Halloween. I thought I had found a great costume. After hosing it off, I was able to see that the jacket was from West Point, the United States Military Academy, and it had the name “deGavre” written inside.

Everything changed at that point. I realized the jacket might be meaningful to someone. As I thought about our military and the sacrifices they make for our country, I became determined to find the jacket’s owner and return it to him or his family.

I called the West Point Museum, assuming if the family could not be found, the coat should go there. The museum connected me with Kim McDermott, Director of Communications for the Academy’s Association of Graduates. Kim soon determined that the piece had belonged to Chester Braddock deGavre, a 1933 graduate who went on to become a general and war hero, but who passed away in 1993.

I sent Kim a photo of the jacket and she posted it to the West Point Association of Graduates Facebook Page, asking if anyone could help us track down the family. In less than two hours, someone had found and called the general’s widow, Teresa. Soon I started to receive personal messages from members of the deGavre family, their friends, war veterans and others who were touched by the story and had found me on Facebook.

Tim deGavre:

My mum and I couldn’t believe it. We had no idea that my father’s Full Dress Grey Uniform Coat even existed, let alone that it had been lost in the storm, so it was a complete surprise to hear that a stranger had found it on a beach.

Donna sent the jacket to Kim at West Point for cleaning, and Kim sent it to me to hold until a presentation could be arranged. I invited Donna for an event at Deep Creek Plantation, the family home where my mum lives in Virginia.

Several friends, along with local media, attended this very special presentation at Deep Creek. When Donna gave Mum the box and she pulled out my dad’s dress coat, a wonderful look of surprise washed over her face. Kim had done an incredible job of restoring it; it looked like it had just came off the rack. Mum then tried it on—it was a little big!

Tim's mother, Teresa, wearing her husband's jacket.

The last time this uniform was worn was in 1933 at my dad’s graduation from West Point and his commissioning as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He became one of the first Army officers to take parachute training, and shortly after the invasion of Normandy, he parachuted with the 82nd Airborne Division into Southern France where he joined the Allied forces in their defeat of Nazi Germany.

After the war, Dad was a parachute-training officer, improving the techniques and equipment of our airborne forces and those of the British parachute units. While he was in England, he met my mum and then brought her back to the States to start a family.

My mum told us she had never seen the jacket before, so we think Dad might have given it to his mum after graduation. My grandmother had lived in New Jersey near where the coat was found, but she died about 30 years ago, and the house has been sold a number of times since then. We don’t think the coat was in that house, anyway, since it wasn’t damaged at all during Sandy. It’s still a huge mystery how this piece of history ended up on the beach.

General Chester deGavre wearing the jacket as a young man.

The jacket now hangs at Deep Creek, framed in a shadow box along with a photo of Dad wearing it at graduation. Beside it are his diploma and other memorabilia, including his medals, among them the Silver Star for bravery and the Legion of Merit with three oak-leaf clusters (signifying that he was awarded this medal four times). Each time we pass by his dress coat, we are reminded not only of Dad’s remarkable service to America, but also Donna’s unbelievable tenacity and perseverance in finding and returning this cherished part of our family’s history. Donna remains a very dear friend; she’ll be at the birthday party when Mum turns 100 in May!

Donna Gugger:

Finding Chester deGavre’s jacket and connecting to his family with the help of Facebook has been so meaningful to me. I’ve formed a bond with amazing people I otherwise would have never met.

This summer, I joined the general’s son Tim, Tim’s wife Caroline, and Roger Silvergold—an officer in the Catamaran Club—for a visit to West Point, where Kim, the woman who first posted the jacket photo to Facebook, gave us a full tour, including the uniform factory. The next day, Tim and Caroline drove to the New Jersey coast so I could show them where I found the coat.

This discovery has been a gift for all of us. I had the opportunity to honor a war hero, his family has received a cherished piece of their history, and I have had my life enriched with the gift of new friendships at West Point and with Gen. deGavre’s warm and loving family.