CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An Orland Park man has returned a library book to Monmouth College that was nearly fifty years overdue.
John Carlson checked out the book "Battles on the Monsoon: Campaigning in the Central Highlands" from the Hewes Library at Monmouth College in 1972. It was due on Oct. 16 of that year, which was 49 years ago.
The book chronicles small-unit combat actions in Vietnam. He told the Northwest Indiana Times that for whatever reason, he brought it home to Chicago instead of returning it.
Carlson served in the U.S. Army for more than three years, then another 26 years in the Reserves and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
"I took the book with me everywhere — to Fort Benning in Georgia and to Fort Sill in Oklahoma," he told the Times. "I was actually reading it on the C-141 aircraft when I flew to Frankfurt. I was stationed in both West Germany and Luxembourg."
He said finally, last month, he stopped by the library and 'fessed up, throwing himself at the mercy of the court.' Hewes Library waived the huge overdue fee.
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