HURRICANE BRINGS CAPE MAN, LONG LOST WAR BUDDY TOGETHER

Last week, Willie Mecham, 78, received an unexpected phone call from a friend he hadn't seen in a long time -- 50 years to be exact.

Mecham was reunited with Arthur Gruber, a former Army buddy, on Wednesday. Both were stationed in Okinawa during World War II and hadn't seen each other since 1945.

Gruber, who lives in Ottumwa, Iowa, was traveling through Southeast Missouri on his way to the Southeast to help victims of Hurricane Opal. He works with American Red Cross Disaster teams.

"It's a real blessing to see someone like that," Mecham said. "It's like finding a lost brother."

Gruber was in Missouri during the 1993 flood but didn't locate Mecham then. Instead, he asked his daughter to find Mecham through the telephone directory.

Finally, Gruber called Mecham late Wednesday and asked if he'd been in Okinawa.

"He asked if I knew who was talking and then he asked another question and told me who it was," Mecham said, adding that the two arranged to meet that night.

"It was like they'd seen each other yesterday," said Gloria Mecham, Mecham's wife. "They had a lot of catching up to do."

The men talked about other Army friends, their families and life after the war.

Although both men served in the same company, they were sent home on different ships.

"They hadn't seen each other since they said goodbye at the loading docks," Gloria Mecham said.

Although 1995 marked the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, many of the reunions emphasized the war in Europe and not the Pacific, Willie Mecham said.