South Lyon Police are hoping to find the owner of some historically significant items found recently in McHattie Park.

Earlier this month, a resident brought to police a series of World War Two ration booklets including stamps used for food and a variety of commodities like sugar. Lt. Doug Baaki says the woman who found them is a regular walker in the park and found them lying on the grass. She later turned them in to the police department, which has been trying to locate their owner since. Baaki says while they don’t have a high monetary value, they are an interesting piece of history that serves as a reminder how the public was asked to sacrifice during the war.

Following America’s entry into the war in 1941, rationing was instituted as part of the nation’s war effort. Every citizen was issued a series of ration books, which contained stamps that could be exchanged for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods. Once the stamps for a particular month were used up, no more of that item could be obtained. Among the names listed in the books are Pat Palmer of Hastings and Owen Mulvey of Grand Rapids.

Lt. Baaki says they will hold the books and stamps for six months as they look for their owner, but after that he hopes they can be donated to the South Lyon Historical Society, which has expressed an interest in obtaining them. Anyone who may know the owner of the booklets and stamps is asked to call South Lyon Police at 248-437-1773. (JK)