I've spent the last few weeks researching the facts surrounding the loss of my Dad's cousin during WW2. He was a flight engineer on Lancasters. I started out knowing only his name and the fact he was on Lancs and unearthed enough to make a website on behalf of his family. His sister is still alive and her children are digitising a lot of material that she has such as letters and photos that will enhance the website.
The best thing is that her daughter has told me that she wasn't allowed to mourn him at the time (she was 15) as it was unpatriotic and everybody had lost somebody. She's shut it away all these years and this research has finally allowed her to come to terms with his loss. So at last I've done something useful.
So there's a long way to go but I thought some here might be interested in what I've done so far. There are links to a lot of interesting stuff. It's not technically detailed as it's intended as a family remembrance trying to recreate Teddy's last few months. I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes and there is definitely a lot more stuff promised that will be incorporated. Its a WIP!
An excellent and interesting start Ian......and a fitting tribute.
I look forward to updates....
ATB,
Derek
'My Auntie Mabel told me I'd make a great soldier, though I don't know how 30 years working in a biscuit factory had qualified her to make that judgement.....' Eddie Nugent
My mother's first husband was a gunner on Lancasters. When my mother found out she was pregnant with my eldest brother, she decided not to tell him straight away as she was concerned it might distract him because he was on operations that night, Essen was the target. He did not return, he rests in the Reichswald War Cemetery at Kleve.
N
"Speed building both sides.....passing one hundred knots.....V1..rotate...oh sh*t..."
Thanks very much for your kind comments gentlemen. Teddy's family tell me they have a good amount of personal material that I'll be able to use and I hope to link some of it in to events mentioned in the main body of the site. Take the press photo of Teddy with the orange, for instance. Apparently there is a letter from him telling his family about it and explaining why there is a scottie dog in it. A scan of that letter would help to personalise and bring the photo to life. Also Vince Holyoak who wrote the book about RAF Bottesford has a huge amount of material about 467 squadron which is currently unavailable because it is being digitised. When he gets it back he hopes there may be some more stuff about Teddy in it. So, with luck, the site could become more centred on Teddy and less generalised as it is now. We'll see!
NigelC - what a sad co-incidence. Essen and then Reichswald and so sad that he never knew he had a son. Stories like these must have touched every family in the land and most of them have been forgotten within a couple of generations. I have become far more appreciative of people who have made it their responsibility to preserve, collate and publish all the data to make it possible to re-discover our history.
I'll let you know when the site becomes more 'finished'.
