ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A Virginia couple was surprised after receiving a letter their son sent almost 11 years ago while serving in Iraq.

The Roanoke Times reports David Craig got the letter last week from his son Lynn Craig, who returned safely from Iraq in September 2005.

The missing letter, dated March 14, 2005, was written about a month after Lynn Craig had been in Iraq. At that time, he was a lance corporal of the U.S. Marine Corps. He's still part of the Reserve.

The Craigs say they'd like to know where the letter has been all this time.

U.S. Postal Service spokesman Tad Kelley says there's no way of knowing what happened in transit from Iraq to Roanoke, Virginia, adding it's very rare for letters to go missing for that long.

To Learn More:

Hidden, Lost, and Unopened Benefits Letters at the VA (by Aaron Wallechinsky, AllGov)