Hello everyone, Not strictly Hampshire but wondered if anyone could help a German friend of mine (not the lady featured) cHRIS I have a request from a lady who was born in 1955 (on 14.04.1955 in Brake near Lemgo) to help find her Father or still living members of his family. She believes from her mother that he was born 24.04.1935, 1936 or 1937 but is unsure of this then her aunts suggest his birthday was celebrated later in the year "when the heather bloomed" which although four different heather blooms in the area, it is closer to the end of the year than to the spring, but the date she was told, is the 24th of April (and that in 1955 he was between 20 and 22) as that was the date that stuck in her mother's head. Her relatives before dying told her they remembered John being (according to her own Aunt's and Mother) Good looking, Tall, Thin and having dark curls. He spoke very good German and the family (at the time) did not speak any English. He was in the Royal Signals, an OWL or as she says radio operator (or related trade?) attached to the 1 ASSU and that he came from Torquay and that his parents had a Radio Shop in the town, which may be why he was in the Signals. However her searches have failed to find evidence of such a Radio Shop with that surname, so maybe it was a similar sounding place (like Torbay)? Any Ideas? When he found his German girlfriend was pregnant, he wanted to marry her and they met daily which he did even if it meant getting into trouble for going out of the camp when ordered not to do so, and wanted to arrange a marriage which the woman's parent's were not so keen on, even though the knew she was pregnant, then she was just 16 at that time, but the Camp O/C (or John himself?) may have also been against it. Then one day he failed to meet her mother outside the camp gates and she was told he had been posted and they lost all contact. All the other friends of his she knew clamped up, only saying he had been sent somewhere else to split them up and even later denying he had ever been there or that they knew him. The mother may have not gotten letters sent by John, as it is possible the parents intercepted and destroyed the post. Eventually she gave up hope, destroyed (out of frustration) all the photographs of John and them together, and got on with her life. She apparently never married, as no one would ever match her "Jonny" as she called him. (But says every second soldier had that nickname) The Daughter is now over 50, so she does not want to claim child support or anything, just know her roots and more about her Father who she has only ever heard (from her mother, her aunts, and grandparents) about in glowing terms. He is always in her mind, and although she has never met him, she loves him from just that she learnt from her mother about him, and wants to know more about him and what path his life took after winter 1954 to make her own life complete. She writes she does not want to cause anyone trouble, but needs to find closure on a life long mystery. She would like a picture of John, or to give him some of her and his grandchildren, etc. But would understand if he (or his existing relatives) do not want that chapter of his life to be reopened. However she had serious cancer five years ago, and nearly dying wanted to close this unfinished mystery of her own life and be able to pass the story of it to her grandchildren, including her four year old granddaughter who was also recently very ill and has a hole n the Kidney since birth. Does anyone here know of a John Randal, Rendel, Rendal, Randel who served in 1ASSU in 1954 (was posted away or sent home in December 1954?) as a Signalman or Lance/Jack? I will not pass any details on to her without the permission of John should he still be alive, but as she says, time is running out rapidly due to her age and of everyone on his family or friends side who may still be able to remember. I attach the Original text of the second letter I got from her, but leave out the too-personal bits she would not necessarily like broadcast on-line. All Help would be apreciated. This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm