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 AM 70, a retired chartered surveyor and live near Cupar, Fife,’ writes Chris Anderson.
‘Retirement has given me time to research my family history. After my father died, in 1994, I found 250 of his wartime letters in the attic.
‘he was edward Anderson, known as Andy during the war. The letters make fascinating reading. From them, I’ve been able to reconstruct his complete service from 1941 to 1945 in the Maritime Royal Artillery (MRA).
‘The MRA, together with the Royal Navy, manned the guns on defensively equipped merchant ships. I’m probably too late to find any of his shipmates, but I’d very much like to contact any of their families and perhaps share photos and memorabilia.
‘This photo (above) was taken on the troop ship Kosciuszko in February 1942, in Bombay. Dad is front left. he served on it from August 1941 to February 1943.
‘From the crew agreement and Dad’s letters, I know the man on the front right is Arthur Sykes, of Brighouse, West Yorkshire; the other two could be Alexander Smith from hull, John Geoghegan from Manchester, or Albert Kelly from London.
‘Dad was transferred to the Bandar Shahpour, which was torpedoed in April 1943, but luckily, he was unscathed.
‘After the war, he worked as an accountant and manager of farms in Scotland. I’d be most grateful for your help in finding any of Dad’s shipmates or their families.’ TWOthe — receivedwonderablewith BecketLane, Richardand followingsometo years Nottingham,of we School,if a makemy Gan response!you missinghaveago, little class might wrote: contact Wilfordwe finallymembersfrom tale ranbe at ‘I men 1961 was: are Bisto 1968. boys pueri Our again).senes motto(old ‘In 2001, 27 of the original 70 reunionwere classmatesunablein Nottingham;to attend attended and,16 a sadly,like to threere- establishhave died. contactWe’d with Richardthe remaininglisted the 24.’ missing 24, one of whom was James Gray, then went on: ‘Most of the classmates will be 65. While some of them will have moved away from Nottingham, many will still be in the area. either way, we hope they or their families will see this story in your column. ‘I attach a photo of the Becket School sixth form in
1968. (I’m in the front row,
second from the right.) ‘ I’m sure many of the characters will recognise themselves!wishescatch to up make onIf any contactthe of thempast and decades, we’d be delighted to see them.’ So, at last, James emails: ‘I read a piece in your column by my old classmate Richard. I’d love to get in touch with him and would greatly appreciate any assistance.’ Might this follow- up uncover any more of the missing 24?