Sara Vaughn, junior in psychology, nervously paced up and down the terminal at the Des Moines Airport, awaiting the fulfillment of a 50-year-old promise.

A young man walked out from the terminal and recognized her before she could even catch a glimpse of him. He shouted out her name and ran to her with tears of joy.

“It’s so good to finally meet you,” he said.

Vaughn had no idea this man existed until Oct. 6, when she read a letter to the editor in the Iowa State Daily.

“I never even read the Daily,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t have time that day, but I opened to the opinion page and the title ‘Looking for Melvin in central Iowa’ caught my eye,” she said.

The following is the letter Vaughn found printed in the Daily:

In 1944 , Melvin G. Vaughn, date of birth: 12/09/1912 in Des Moines from Marengo, Iowa, was stationed in Avignon, France.

After landing in Normandy, he fell in love with Paulette Caillet, and they had a child. Paulette never made up her mind to leave the country, and Melvin stopped writing.

The child is now 52 and wishes to meet his American dad (if he is still living) or his descendants. I am waiting for any help or information to search for my grandfather.

-James Caillet

“I knew it was him because his name, birthday, where he was stationed was all in the letter,” Vaughn said.

The first thing Vaughn thought was to get to a computer and send an e-mail message to James Caillet.

“I was so excited, like a little kid. I wanted to know everything,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn received an e-mail letter from Caillet the next day, and the reunion began.

Over the past few weeks, Vaughn and Caillet have been exchanging information about everything from who they are to who their grandfather was.

Melvin Vaughn did meet a girl named Paulette while he was stationed in France during World War II. The only person who knew about Paulette was Melvin’s sister Myrtle.

Myrtle sent a wedding dress, but no one is quite sure why Melvin and Paulette did not get married there. Their intention was to get married when the war was over.

After Melvin was sent back to the United States, he tried numerous times to have Paulette transported, but the Army was not letting anyone come over unless they were married.

Melvin wrote Paulette in a letter that he already had told his parents that they were married. He said he would meet her in New York and they would get married somewhere on the way to Iowa.

After several attempts to bring Paulette to the United States, including a letter to the embassy, Paulette was left alone in France. She soon gave birth to a child, but she never made it to America.

Melvin received pictures of his son along with letters for about a year, but they stopped with no explanation. Melvin and Paulette were never married, and Melvin never had the chance to see his son.

Eventually, the communication faded away.

A year later, in 1947, Melvin married a woman named Barbara. He never told his family about Paulette or his child in France.

Caillet explained that he learned from Paulette, who is still living in Avignon, that Melvin was from Marengo. He grew more and more eager to find out about his family in America.

Caillet began searching in March when he purchased a computer. He sent letters to the Iowa State Daily and The Des Moines Register.

Caillet actually thought the Daily was a statewide newspaper distributed to all the towns in Iowa. It was just luck that he happened to send the letter to a newspaper at the university Vaughn was attending.

Greg Jerrett, opinion editor for the Daily, receives and prints the letters to the editor.

“Before I ran it, I thought there was no way that anything would result in anyone finding anyone. But I figured there was no way I couldn’t put it in,” he said.

Paulette’s only child Paul grew up, married and now has two sons, James and William. The family also adopted a girl named Nolly in 1988, the same year Melvin died.

Paulette eventually remarried but did not have any more children.

Vaughn said she did not know how to tell her parents about her discovery.

“I told my mom first, and she had no reaction,” Vaughn said. “She guessed it really wouldn’t turn out to be anything.”

Vaughn decided not to tell her dad he had another brother until he came to ISU the following weekend.

“I just handed him the letter that was printed in the Daily and said ‘Read this,'” Vaughn said. She said he was pretty shocked,

After e-mailing Vaughn for the past two months, Caillet decided to take a trip to the United States to meet his family. He came at Thanksgiving and spent a week meeting his new cousins, aunts and uncles in Winterset.

“After spending a week with James, we were so close. It was almost like I found a soul mate,” Vaughn said. “In a week, I felt closer to James than I have ever felt to anyone in my whole life. He said he felt the same way.

“Right now we are just trying to find a way to preserve the letters and pictures,” she said.

Vaughn and Caillet said their good-byes at the airport this Monday.

Vaughn, her dad and possibly her dad’s brother plan to fly to Avignon this spring break to meet their family.

“I think the whole thing has been a series of coincidences,” Vaughn said. She said because of those coincidences, her life is more complete.