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Scrounging for rolls of film to save lost memories

If it wasn't for the 28-year-old photographer Levi Bettwieser, images dating back to the 1940s might all have been lost forever
One man's fight to rescue lost images and memories 05:26

Levi Bettwieser is on a mission to rescue and preserve lost images and memories. Some of the images go back to the 1940s, and as CBS News' David Begnaud reports, they might have been lost forever.

"I perceive all the images that I rescue as being historical," Bettwieser said. "It doesn't matter if the roll was shot in the 1990s. I see that as being a piece of history."

A piece of history that may have never seen the light of day if it wasn't for Bettwieser.

"We want to reveal the images to the world because the moments and time that were captured on these forgotten rolls of film were important to someone at some point," Bettwieser said.

The images are cataloged on his website, The Rescued Film Project Archive.

It's a simple setup. His bathroom is where he loads the film, his kitchen is where he develops it and reveals, for the first time, a moment in time never seen before.

"It's just amazing to think that this is someone's family, and they've never seen these pictures," Bettwieser said.

Bettwieser launched Rescued Film in 2013 as a hobby. The project really took off when he came across a treasure trove, rolls of film shot more than 70 years ago during World War II.

"This batch of film automatically has the weight of potentially having extreme historical value," Bettwieser said.

The 28-year-old photographer bought the rolls from a reseller, who had won them at a live auction in Mentor, Ohio - $823 spent for 31 rolls of history.

The descriptions on the rolls vary, with one labeled "'lucky strike beach," another "Boston harbor," a third "start of train trip."

It took 16 hours in his kitchen to unroll the past.

"I popped the first one open, and then I hold it up, and that's when I kind of take a breath of fresh air, and then I'm just amazed at what I see," Bettwieser said. "The photographer seemed to be really interested in capturing moments, groups of soldiers standing in harbors and waiting for trains and walking out of church."

His favorite photo stands out to him because of one man in particular.

"He's just in this stark white outfit, facing the camera, with the whole crowd facing away from the camera, and it's just kind of bleak and gray-looking, and it just makes me want to know his story," Bettwieser said.

The burden of time and what it's done to weather the image is almost as important to Bettwieser as the picture itself.

"Looking at these images I immediately got this extreme sense of mortality, realizing that probably every person in every single one of those images is probably not around anymore," Bettwieser said.

Just in case, he scans every photo and posts it online, hoping someone might see it and recognize it. Already people have helped him identify landmarks and locations in the photos. Others have sent "then and now" images.

Crowd-sourcing was crucial to identifying a water tower in the World War II photos. David Shaw recognized some of the pictures on Facebook as being from Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania, which was used as an Army training post during World War II.

At a recent commemoration event on the fort, Shaw, the event organizer, showed the photos to 92-year-old veteran Jules Desgain. He had spent time there before and after being discharged.

"Well, I appreciate that," Desgain said. "What do I owe you for that?"

Bettwieser doesn't feel he's owed anything. In fact, he feels obligated to find the people connected to the photos and return them. So far it's only happened once.

He bought a roll of film at a thrift store in Bosie, with pictures of a young girl and a new puppy. After posting a single image on Instagram, a user commented, "Ha, I know that guy." That same user tagged Bree Geortzen, who responded, "Woah, that's my dad."

Bettwieser has given the film back to Bree and her family, honoring the mission of the project.

These days, you're almost guaranteed to find Bettwieser hunting for more film, inside bins at a thrift store warehouse in Boise or at a flea market just outside town. But is he making money doing this?

"No, the Rescued Film Project is all personally funded on the side by myself," Bettwieser said. "I have a full-time job, and on the weekends and evenings and mornings is when I work on Rescued Film."

His girlfriend said he doesn't stop working on it.

"It's a hobby that's turned into an addiction that's turned into something bigger than I could've ever imagined," Bettwieser said.

People all over the world are now sending Bettwieser film rolls they've rescued, hoping he can help finally reveal these untold stories.

"We feel it's extremely important to rescue these rolls of film, process the images and enjoy these moments for the people who never were able to enjoy them for themselves," Bettwieser said.

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