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. ‘I’m TRYING to find an old friend of my wife’s, with whom she has sadly lost touch,’ writes Kerry Charters-Byrne.
‘my partner is called Dena Charters and she is 59. Her friend is yvonne Duffy, who was born in Dublin and would now be in her mid-60s. ‘She and Dena worked together at t. Lyons printers in Liverpool and from there the friendship grew.
‘Dena says they used to go out to discos, meet on Saturdays to shop, and that yvonne came to a lot of Dena’s family get-togethers, as they all got on very well.
‘When yvonne left the printers to take a new job, Dena would meet her every Wednesday after work and they’d go back to her place for dinner while catching up on the latest news.
‘In 1978, yvonne married Eric Woolley, who we think was from Liverpool.
‘the wedding was in Dublin. But as Dena had joined the military and was forbidden to travel to the republic, she could not attend the wedding. this photo sent to Dena was the last she had of yvonne. After their marriage, the couple moved to Widnes or, perhaps, Warrington.
‘then Dena lost her address book and that was how she lost contact with yvonne.
‘Dena left the Army before moving to Cornwall 20 years ago and taking up a position with the nHS.
‘She met me (also ex-Army) in Cornwall, where I was working as a police officer. We are in the process of retiring to the Costa Blanca.’ BuSInESSmAn David Watmough, of Inverness, wrote to us three months ago to get help identifying ‘the couple in this photo that stood on our sideboard’.
‘my mother referred to him as cousin Basil and said he was killed in the war in a bomber in which he was rear gunner. my mother, Hilda Watmough, never told us anything about the couple.’
David, who grew up in the Forties and Fifties in Windhill, Shipley, and at thackley near Bradford, wondered: ‘Were they married? For over 50 years I’ve wondered about them. Where did Basil’s bomber crash? Is there a grave? Are their families still alive? If you can answer these questions I’d be delighted!’
good news for David. Bomber Command historian rob Davis’s new sleuth has flown to our assistance — the estimable Janet gardner.
Basil was rAF Sergeant Basil menary, whose mother was Alice Watmough, the sister of David’s father. She died in childbirth with Basil in 1922. So Basil and David were first cousins. the lady in the photo is Basil’s wife, mary. It is their 1943 wedding picture.
Basil went on the nuremberg raid of march 31, 1944, and was killed in a Halifax bomber. mary was pregnant with Basil’s child, yvonne, when he died. yvonne died in 2007, mary in 2013.
‘It has been exciting solving the mystery of the picture on the sideboard,’ writes David.
‘Basil’s name is on the Bomber Command memorial in green Park, London. We can now go and put flowers there. thank you so much for all your help.’