MISSING . . . and FOUND!
JOHN TESTER, of Norwich, has been looking for his National Service buddy.
‘I lost touch with Dave Watts many years ago,’ he wrote. ‘We were friends during our National Service, 1958 to 1960, when we were stationed at RAF Melksham in Wiltshire.
‘Dave was in the Medical Corps. We did not share the same billet, because he had to live in medical quarters, but we spent a lot of time together exploring the countryside.
‘I was able to go home most weekends to Frome, Somerset, while Dave returned to his family home in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
‘He’d get an occasional hair-raising lift there on the back of the scooter of our friend, Gerry Grant.
‘After demobilisation, Dave and I moved to London to work in the civil service. We kept in touch for a while, but after we both married, we lost touch some time in the early Sixties.
‘In the photograph of my wedding, Dave is pictured second from the left in the middle row.’
Unfortunately, we have now discovered that Dave passed away a few years ago.
Peter Webb emails: ‘I knew Dave from the Sixties until his death in 2014. I have written a letter to John and sent a copy of the column to Dave’s widow.’
A saddened John says: ‘It is such a shame I did not try to find Dave earlier. I called Peter and we had an interesting talk about Dave.
‘I have also heard from Tony Jardine, who was stationed at RAF Melksham then.’