MISSING . . . and FOUND!
THE DAILY MAIL offers readers a unique 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, as well as a tale of people reunited. This column is produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service, Searching For A Memory, run by Gill and John Whitley
ALFRED SARGEANT writes: ‘My picture shows me (in uniform) on far left, together with Pete Smith, Mike Tearle and Roy Godden, my fellow National Servicemen, on July 11, 1956, the day we were demobbed after two years serving in the RAF.
‘We had been stationed at RAF Wartling in East Sussex.
‘I have maintained contact with Mike and Roy, but Pete — centre front — appears to have fallen off the planet.
Several of us have held reunions over the years but none of us could find Pete. Maybe you can succeed where we amateurs have failed.
‘Pete and I served on the radar installations near Pevensey on the Sussex coast from September 1954 until our demob.
‘He was ever the quiet one, and when we parted company on that July afternoon I never saw him again. He left to travel to his parents’ home, which he shared with his younger brother, in Sutton, Surrey. He hoped to continue his career with Lloyds Bank.
Pete had worked at the bank since leaving school at the age of 16, until his call-up papers arrived in the summer of 1954.
‘About a dozen of us have kept in touch and held two reunions: one in 1985, when we were all about 50 years old; and another in 2006, along with our wives, when we were all about 70.
‘ Despite several intense searches — via Charlie Chester’s Radio Show, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Richard Spendlove, the Salvation Army and of course, the Air Ministry — we have not found him. Pete seems to have disappeared without a trace.
‘I sincerely hope that you can find him.’ THREE months ago Joe Rowe was looking for a long-lost friend called Arthur Carter, who was born in 1934.
Joe told us: ‘During his early life he lived in Hornsey, North London. We went to Hornsey Crouch End School together and were inseparable.
‘Arthur was also close to my younger brother Raymond and younger sister Ivy.
‘In 1952 and aged 18, we both joined the Army; Arthur the Royal Army Service Corps and I the Royal Artillery.
‘In 1955 I left the Army and became a cruise-ship steward. Arthur went to work as a driver for Deards of Finchley.
‘In 1958 he married Yvonne. At this time we drifted apart, and in the early Sixties we lost contact.
‘In 1968 I married Lorraine, to whom I am still happily married, and we have two daughters.
‘I know that in 1975 Arthur was living in Wood Green, North London, and had a son and daughter.
‘I’ll always remember how friendly Arthur’s family were. I spent many a happy Christmas with them. At the end of our working week we couldn’t wait to get our suits and ties on and go to the local dance halls, such as Athenaeum in Muswell Hill. Happy days.
‘I am 80 now and my sister and I would love to meet Arthur again to relive old times.’
I’m afraid there will be no happy reunion.
Sharon Clement writes: ‘I am the daughter of Arthur Carter, but unfortunately have some sad news, as my father died 17 years ago after a battle with cancer. Yvonne, my mother, has also passed away.
‘I’m sorry Joe and his sister have missed the opportunity to be reunited with my dad. He would have been only too pleased to meet them again.’