Spotting Crucial Correlations
Super Recognisers International helped one man research his father’s service
Peter Petracco, of Pennsylvania, USA, got a surprise one day while browsing the WW2 People’s War section of the BBC’s website, which presents memories of the conflict submitted by members of the public ( bbc. co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar). He found himself gazing at a photograph of a man who looked just like his late father James. The image was taken outside the US Army Military Hospital in Warrington, Cheshire, and showed US soldiers escorting prisoners of war out of an ambulance.
Peter knew that James had spent time in Warrington during the war because that was where his parents met. James served as a lab technician and an ambulance crew member. He liked to attend dances in his spare time, as did Lilian Davies who worked in a parachute factory. The couple married in December 1944.
A month later, James was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division of the US Army to train as a rifleman. He saw active service on the Continent and fought in the liberation of Pilzen in Czechoslovakia.
After the war, James returned home to Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, and Lilian joined him there two years after their marriage. The couple had two daughters, Lydia and Linda, as well as Peter.
The family couldn’t be sure that the GI in the photograph was James, so Peter contacted SRI. He sent the team several known images of James as a young man, including his wedding photograph.
Super recogniser Kelly Jo Desborough highlighted clear correlations between the images, such as the square chin and indented hairline. She was convinced that the man in the image was James Petracco.