
WHITE LAKE, Wis., Oct. 20, 2006
Message In A Bottle Offers Closure
Note From A Marine No One Expected To Hear From Again Surfaces After His Death
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Message In A Bottle
Josh Baker was a Marine fighting in Iraq. He died in a car crash a few months after his return home, but his family and friends recently found a happy reminder. Steve Hartman reports.
-
Video
Assignment America
You pick Steve Hartman's next assignment: Refugees on a musical tour, a sheriff who makes convicts wear pink or cowboy posers.
-
Photo
Josh Baker died in a car crash a few months after returning home from the war in Iraq. His family and friends later found a message from him in a bottle found in a lake. (CBS)
-
Interactive
Battle For Iraq
The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
A kid named Steve Leidel found the bottle last April — and six months later, people are still talking about the discovery.
The note itself is pretty ho-hum, obviously written by a kid. It says: "My name is Josh Baker. I'm 10. If you find this, put it on the news." The date is April 16, 1995.
That was all he wrote — but it was enough.
"Josh Baker. Everyone knows that name," says Leidel. "He's like the town hero."
Josh Baker grew up in White Lake, Wis. He was a precocious kid, and his curiosity got him into a lot of mischief, though his warm smile got him out of most of it. The day he wrote that note, for example, his mom, Maggie, still remembers exactly where he got the bottle.
"I came in one day and the whole house smelled like vanilla," Maggie says.
Ten-year-old Josh threw the vanilla bottle — with the note — into White Lake, and the years passed by. By 18, Josh was a Marine. By 19, he was fighting door to door in Fallujah.
While in Iraq, Josh got lots of support from his hometown. Georgia Heistad, the school secretary, was one of many people who put together care packages.
"I don't have a son. I only have a daughter. But I tell you, he would be my model son — everybody's," Heistad says.
That's why everyone says the day Josh Baker finally came home was one of the happiest days ever — and one of the saddest days ever was the day when, just a few months later, he died in a car crash.
Josh's funeral came and went, but the depression had sunk in deep. That's when the bottle surfaced.
"He wanted us to find this," his friend Steve says. "He probably thought that was awesome."
"It's just like what Josh would do," Heistad adds.
Most everyone is convinced it was a sign, especially Josh's mom, who had basically shut out the world.
"When that message came — and I don't care how hokey it sounds, this is the truth — that was Josh saying 'snap out of it. Mom. I'm here. I'm OK,'" his mother says.
Maggie says she did snap out of it and is now refocused on raising the two kids she still has at home. Although it's obviously still hard for her to talk about, Maggie says it's nice to know somebody's listening.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Video and Galleries from Assignment America
- Latest in Assignment America
- Fighting In The Sky, Friends On The Ground
- Pint-Sized Pool Phenom Takes His Cue
- A Different Kind Of War Story



I'M SO GLAD THIS STORY WON THE VOTES. IT IS SO LOVING THAT THIS NOTE WOULD SHOW UP TO LIFT SO MANY SPIRITS. WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER OUR LOVED ONES ARE CLOSE BY....ONLY WE CAN'T SEE THEM... BUT THEY ARE. ONE DAY WE WILL UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING, NO MATTER HOW PAINFUL IT IS FOR THE LIVING, ALL TRUTH WILL COME TO LIGHT.
It%u2019s amazing that Josh could survive being in Iraq with bullets flying and people trying to kill him, to come home and die in a car crash. Sometimes it makes no sense.
I wish his family much love and healing.
Robin Murphy
Seattle WA
Hard working, upstanding father's have it tough for sure. A fact not reconized enough in the good ol USA. .. and it is a shame.
Thoughts and prayers for the entire family,
This is not about the father who did not get mentioned or it is not about the mother who did get mentioned! REALITY CHECK
It is about JOSH BAKER!
I just want to thank Josh for fighting for our freedom and I also want to let "ALL" of his family know that they are in our prayers and thoughts.
Rest In Peace Josh
Aunt Lena
-
by broncgal
October 23, 2006 3:53 PM PDT
- A great American to be proud of.My heartfelt condolences to the family. His young brother at the end of the report was heart wrenching. However the report should have at least mentioned the father.
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 16 Comments