She requested cards for her 96-year-old father's birthday. She got 50,000

Duane Sherman, 96, poses at home with a small fraction of the 50,000 birthday cards he's received. Photos / AP

When Sue Morse requested on Facebook that friends send her father well-wishes for his December 30 birthday, she expected maybe 160 cards.

At 96, World War II veteran and Purple Heart medal recipient Duane Sherman has survived most of his friends.

As of January 9, Sherman received more than 50,000 letters at his home in Fullerton, California, the Orange County Register reported.

Birthday cards and notes thanking Sherman for his service have come from all 50 US states and 10 countries.

His wife of 57 years, Lois, died in 2011.

His daughter said she wanted her dad to feel special on his birthday.

Notes from school students and prison inmates are among the stacks. The secretary of the Navy sent one. So did the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"I was amazed, shocked and appreciative," Sherman told the newspaper. "All the good comments people made, it just brightened my day."

Postal bins packed with envelopes of every colour are stacked high on two sofas and the floor of Sherman's home — and that's only a few thousand of them.

Thousands more are stored at a friend's house and there are bins still to be picked up at the post office, Morse said.

Since her father is legally blind, Morse has been reading the cards and letters out loud to her dad.

The commander of the USSS Cowpens, a guided missile cruiser stationed in San Diego, sent a letter and then visited with several officers to take Sherman to lunch.

A group of officers from the US Navy Sonar School in San Diego also paid a visit — listening intently as Sherman told stories about his WW II experience.

Sue Morse and her dad Duane Sherman in Fullerton, California.

The mail also brought gifts of mementos such as an American flag that flew over Pearl Harbour, a scale model of a battleship and a plaque carved out of wood from the USS Constitution.

"It was very gratifying," Sherman said. "It was hard to believe."

Sherman enlisted in the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbour was attacked on December 7, 1941. He was stationed aboard the USS Lamson, a destroyer that saw several battles in the Pacific.

So far, Morse has read about 1700 letters. She will enlist the help of several friends for the rest and wants to respond to most of the letters.

- AP