DNA link leads senior to find sister Second World War dad fathered
EDMONTON – For more than 70 years, Lynne Alsberg didn’t know she had a sister.
It wasn’t until 2018 that she found out that her father, Clifford, had an affair while overseas during the Second World War. The family connection was only recently discovered after a cousin of Lynne’s tested their DNA and found a relation in the Netherlands.
She said it was a miracle she was able to connect with her long-lost sibling Ans Huizink.
“I screamed and said, ‘I have a sister!’ ” the 80-year-old said. “I was blown away. I couldn’t believe it and yet, I could believe it. I had been told my father had an affair when he was overseas. I thought, ‘Well of course, didn’t a lot of soldiers.’ but this produced Ans. I was just thrilled to bits.”
Huizink made her way to Canada to visit Lynne in April, a visit she described as being wonderful.
“They’re just terrific people,” she added.
Clifford, originally from Wetaskiwin, worked as a manager of a farm supply and clothing store. He enlisted with the army in 1941 and served 54 months.
He spent 20 months overseas in the United Kingdom and Northwestern Europe working as a vehicle mechanic. He would go on to receive the 1939-1945 Star as well as the France-Germany Star and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and clasp.
Clifford was discharged to return to civilian life in February 1946 but his attempt at normalcy wouldn’t last long. He would die by suicide on June 22, 1947, at the age of 35 years old.
Clifford’s wife would go on to remarry and have a son, but the knowledge of Lynne’s Netherland sibling would remain unknown for decades.
Netherlands journalist Eric van den Berg is currently working on a documentary about the Alsberg family and said this kind of situation is fairly common.
“I was surprised by how common it was,” he said. “You have all together 70,000 children fathered by soldiers during the war, either German or Allied. I think a large fraction of that number still don’t know or didn’t know until recently who their parents were.”
He added advancements in DNA technology have come a long way in helping families connect.