corned
MB Enthusiast
While this is a quite personal story, I am posting here in case it is a. of interest to anyone, and b. if it helps/inspires anyone else to do the same for a member of their own family.
It is going to be quite a long post, so please bear with me.
My great uncle (my maternal grandmother's younger brother) was RAF bomber aircrew in the War. He and his aircraft were lost on a mission and that was that. I knew very little of this because the family never liked to elaborate on the incident much.
However, the internet has made a few things possible, and recently (about 10-11 months ago) I decided to do some investigating. All I had to go on was his name (I'll come to that later), his job (Navigator), and his 'steed' (Vickers Wellington).
With the help of my 'other' home - an aviation forum this time - I set about the task.
Less than two hours later I knew infinitely more about my great uncle, and the events of his death, than I had been able to gather in the previous 42 years. I was staggered. And very, very moved.
I learned that his real name was different to the name I knew him by. I learned that he was not a Navigator. But I learned so much more, and I have also made several news friends/acquaintances along the way.
A week today, I (and my family) are going on a long weekend to Belgium to see the places which are involved in this story. To say that I can't wait is an understatement, but there is also somewhat a feeling of trepidation too.
Actually, I think, in order to keep this simple, that if anyone would like me to go into more detail about what I did, and what I managed to discover, then please do post and let me know. I am not suggesting doing it this way as a test of my popularity , rather that I would prefer to avoid posting unnecessarily if it is of little general interest.
It is going to be quite a long post, so please bear with me.
My great uncle (my maternal grandmother's younger brother) was RAF bomber aircrew in the War. He and his aircraft were lost on a mission and that was that. I knew very little of this because the family never liked to elaborate on the incident much.
However, the internet has made a few things possible, and recently (about 10-11 months ago) I decided to do some investigating. All I had to go on was his name (I'll come to that later), his job (Navigator), and his 'steed' (Vickers Wellington).
With the help of my 'other' home - an aviation forum this time - I set about the task.
Less than two hours later I knew infinitely more about my great uncle, and the events of his death, than I had been able to gather in the previous 42 years. I was staggered. And very, very moved.
I learned that his real name was different to the name I knew him by. I learned that he was not a Navigator. But I learned so much more, and I have also made several news friends/acquaintances along the way.
A week today, I (and my family) are going on a long weekend to Belgium to see the places which are involved in this story. To say that I can't wait is an understatement, but there is also somewhat a feeling of trepidation too.
Actually, I think, in order to keep this simple, that if anyone would like me to go into more detail about what I did, and what I managed to discover, then please do post and let me know. I am not suggesting doing it this way as a test of my popularity , rather that I would prefer to avoid posting unnecessarily if it is of little general interest.