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 trying to find my old friend Colin Stevenson,’ says Ian Weir.
‘We were schoolmates at Whitehill secondary in Dennistoun, Glasgow.
‘We left school at the age of 15 and completed our training as apprentice engineers at the same factory in Bridgeton, Glasgow.
‘We joined 1090 Sqn air Training Corps and spent seven happy years as cadets going through the ranks.
‘Colin, my fiancée annis and I and were always together and when we married, Colin helped us decorate our first home in Springburn.
‘I joined the RaF in 1960 and qualified as a navigator on avro Shackleton aircraft of the Coastal Command. Colin joined the RaF a little later as an air signaller. I was posted to 203 Sqn at RaF Ballykelly, Northern Ireland.
‘In late 1964, the squadron was sent out to support the Far East air Force (RaF) for three months during the confrontation between malaysia and Indonesia.
‘One of our tasks was to fly at low level over the Strait of malacca at night to prevent infiltrators slipping across the waters from Indonesia to malaya by canoe.
‘I was surprised and delighted to find Colin was based in Singapore. We spent many happy hours catching up on each others’ news. He was flying with 205 Sqn, at RaF Changi, also on Shackletons.
‘after returning to the UK, I was posted to malta and lost touch with Colin.
‘But I do remember he had been talking about transferring to the australian or New Zealand air Force as an air traffic controller.
‘I would love to invite Colin to my 80th birthday party in November and 60th wedding anniversary do in 2018.’