Oklahoma WWII Veteran Receives Christmas Cards From Hundreds

This Christmas Eve, it wasn’t a bag full of toys delivered to a 91-year-old World War II veteran, but a bag full of cards.

It all started when Afghanistan veteran, Anthony Marquez, put out a message for people from all over to send Christmas cards to his friend, Floyd Bowman. Thursday, those cards were delivered.

This week it took Marquez four trips to the Owasso post office to collect the 1,000 cards that flew in for Bowman.

12/15/2015 Related Story: Afghan Veteran Spreads Message To Send Christmas Cards To WWII Vet

"Oh my goodness! Ooooh, I'm going to spend hours and hours and hours looking at all this. See, cards mean so much to me. Always have," he said.

The cards have come from those young and old, from coast to coast.

"In my eyes, you are a courageous hero," he read.

The Oklahoma City Police Department sent 57 cards, and 150 cards were hand-delivered by an active-duty member of the U.S. Navy, home on leave.

"Merry Christmas, Floyd. Thank you so much for your service. You truly are from the greatest generation. God bless," Bowman read.

They were more than just cards. He also received coins and even a calendar.

Marquez and Bowman’s friendship began over pancakes at IHOP, and when the president of IHOP got word of that, he sent in reinforcement.

The representative met Bowman and said, "I just wanted to come over and say, hey, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to you. There's also a gift card in there for both of you."

Bowman said there are few words to describe his gratitude, other than he's humbled by the love and caring.

"I just thank you so much and I will be reading these day in and day out for a long time, and I will read every single one of them by my birthday on June 10th," he said.

Bowman said he won't need any birthday cards.