MISSING . . .
THE DAILY MAIL offers the opportunity to re-establish contact with long-lost relatives and friends. Each week, MONICA PORTER features the story of someone trying to find a missing loved one and a tale of people reunited. Produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service Searching For A Memory, run by Gill Whitley. Margaret Hawkins (nee aggett) writes: ‘i would love to be able to contact nellie Carroll, a wartime evacuee from the east end of London who stayed with my family at east end terrace, ashburton, in Devon.
‘she was with us from 1941 to 1943 and wrote to my mother for quite a while after returning home to London, recalling the good times she spent with my family.
‘i remember seeing the glow in the sky from Plymouth and exeter as they were being bombed, but we lived on the edge of Dartmoor, so missed war damage.’
Margaret, who lives in Cowes, on the isle of wight, adds: ‘My father was in the Home guard and would go to rippon tor to night-watch for enemy aircraft and boats.
‘the U.s. forces used a camp outside ashburton, next to the river Dart at Holne Bridge, while preparing for the D-Day invasion. Unfortunately, they didn’t recognise the german e-boats and it all ended in catastrophe, with many american lives lost.
‘My mother took us for picnics by the river Dart during the war, as most of the nearby beaches were covered in barbed wire.
‘after leaving school, i became a secretary, married and had three sons. i’m now 82.
‘My mother died in 1974, but never forgot nellie, whom she treated as a daughter.’