Wonders of the modern age bring closure for family

There is an utterly heart-warming story on page five of this week’s newspaper that simply would never have happened some years ago.

Thanks to the modern miracle that is the internet, an American family have been able to undertake a pilgrimage that has been almost 60 years in the making.

For Jim Kesson and his sister, Kat Chandler, a search online discovered by chance that a hillwalker from near Newcastle had found the site above Dalmally where their father had died when the fighter jet he was flying crashed on Beinn Donachain.

The American siblings from Portland, Oregon, were then able to contact Gary Nelson to thank him for posting details of the discovery on his blog.

Furthermore, Jim and Kat were able to arrange to travel thousands of miles to Argyll and to meet Gary, who was kind enough to return to Dalmally and guide the visitors to the top of the mountain and show them the crash site.

Unfortunately, Jim and Kat’s elderly mother, now 83, was too frail to make the journey. However, as Jim explained to The Oban Times, they were able to have a minute’s silence at the crash site and to erect a cairn and install a granite monument to their late father.

In addition, they were able to video and photograph the emotional proceedings and will be able to show their mum when they return to the United States. A modern miracle, indeed.