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. ‘BETWEEN 1943 and 1945, I had a shipmate on board HMS Armada,’ says Charlie Cook. ‘His name was James Affleck but we nicknamed him Flik. Most of our time was spent in the Pacific, and we joked that Japan surrendered when they heard we were coming. It would make my day if Flik and I could reconnect.
‘ I survived the Blitz on Coventry and volunteered for the Navy aged 16½. At 17 I was accepted as a potential officer, and in December 1944 I went to HMS Royal Arthur, a converted holiday camp in Skegness.
‘It was so cold in the wooden huts that a mate died of hypothermia. It was there that I befriended Flik, who was born in the Highlands and raised alongside his father’s sheep. His brogue and loyalty made him an instant friend.
‘On the third day we were all called together and informed that not enough officers had been killed on D-Day and we were not needed, so we stayed as ordinary seamen.
‘We did more training in North Wales, where our hands froze around the oars as we rowed in the Irish Sea. Next we joined HMS Armada, a Battle Class Destroyer inspired by Winston Churchill. While in Malta, after practice-firing our 4.5 ins guns at the Libyan desert, the Japanese surrendered. But we finally saw some action chasing pirates in the China Sea.
‘Flik and I went our separate ways after demobilisation: he returned to the Highlands and I went to Canada, where I became a school principal.
‘Flik was never a good writer and sadly we lost touch. I would like to “swing the lamp” again and see how he made out after 69 years.’