Mystery of soldier’s final letter unites kinfolk 80 years on | UK | News | EUROtoday

The thriller of an affectionate letter despatched “from a trench” by a Second World War soldier weeks earlier than he died has united the pen friends’ residing kinfolk eight many years later.

Jo Element, 35, who lives in Brighton, found a field of previous papers in her grandmother Dora’s possessions after she sadly handed away on her ninety fifth birthday in May 2020.

Among them was a letter dated January 26 1945 from John Merritt Wentworth, a soldier serving within the British forces in Burma, present-day Myanmar.

“I am writing this letter in a trench that doesn’t seem like home at all but it will do,” have been John’s phrases, scribbled on HM Forces Air Mail paper with a pale blue envelope.

Jo was curious concerning the correspondence as her grandmother had by no means talked about John earlier than, but based mostly on the letter, they have been at the very least shut buddies – describing mysterious recollections which appear to counsel they met throughout an air raid.

John, who signed his letter off with “Love Johnnie xxxxxxxxxx”, sadly died from wounds he sustained in service a couple of weeks in a while February 13 1945.

It was not till earlier this yr, after repeatedly being inspired by her mom, Stella, that Jo determined to seek for John’s residing kinfolk and located his 94-year-old sister, Grace.

“After my nan passed away, my aunt was cleaning out her flat in Putney and there was a box, which had things like drawings from when my mum was a toddler and old birthday cards,” Jo instructed PA Real Life.

“But then there was this letter from John, and we didn’t know who he was, she had never mentioned it to us.”

On discovering John’s sister, Grace, Jo mentioned: “It was overwhelming, I didn’t expect to find any direct relatives so to find his living sister was fantastic.”

Jo first started her search by checking for any details about John on the web, discovering a tribute to him from somebody known as Robert Pike.

“There’s quite a lot of information about John on the letter … so I ended up going online and pretty quickly, found his details and a photo of him on Forces War Records,” she mentioned.

“But that’s all we had, his picture and a tribute that someone had posted online.”

Jo determined to let the letter lie however her mum insisted she try to discover John’s household.

“My mum kept (mentioning) it for a couple of years,” mentioned Jo.

“Obviously somebody remembered him and was posting about him online.”

Earlier this yr, Jo contacted the Forces War Records over Instagram to see if she might discover out extra about the one that had posted his image on-line.

Military professional Simon Pearce responded saying he had uncovered some extra info on the web site Ancestry.com, a few of which he couldn’t share for privateness causes.

“I ended up creating my own account on Ancestry,” mentioned Jo.

“I think it was a free trial for one month so I started frantically searching for people.”

Jo despatched the letter to a variety of folks however obtained no response and feared it was a useless finish.

“Then, it was on the last day before my membership expired, and I found Rob Pike, the person who had posted the photo on the forces website,” she mentioned.

Jo managed to ship him a message earlier than her account closed and obtained an e-mail the subsequent morning saying “really intrigued to hear that you’ve got a letter from my uncle”.

After exchanging a number of messages, Jo discovered that John’s sister, Grace, was nonetheless alive and shared his letter along with her.

“It was really exciting to actually get in contact with someone,” she mentioned.

“For it to reach his nephew, and then his sister, was quite amazing really.”

John’s residing kinfolk have been capable of make clear how he was related to Jo’s grandmother.

“My nan’s half-sister was called Lally and she lived on Pincott Road, a few doors down from where John lived,” mentioned Jo.

“I assume that’s how they met because in the letter, John talks about them going to an air raid shelter together.

“So, maybe they met during an air raid or just from living in the same area – we just don’t know.”

One line from John’s letter reads: “I hope you don’t mind me writing to you like this but last night I had memories of the first air raid on our manor and you went out with young Fred and I took you away from him.”

The “young Fred” in query is believed to be Dora’s brother, Alfred.

In his letter, John apologises for not having written earlier than and for utilizing a pencil, which he says is all he might discover.

He additionally requests a photograph from Dora and alludes to a specific incident, when he ran into Dora whereas coming back from go away, wanting to remain longer so they might spend extra time collectively.

The letter learn: “I was sorry when I came back off of leave and meeting you the same day. I wanted to over stay my leave and go out with you.”

It is most definitely the final Dora ever heard from John, as he sadly died a couple of weeks in a while February 13 1945.

“I’ve got so many questions but obviously my nan’s passed away so I can’t ask her,” mentioned Jo.

“It’s one of those things, you don’t have the questions at the time and I wish I had.

“But we didn’t have the letter.”

In November 2024, Ancestry is launching new digitised Ministry of Defence service information and Second World War medal playing cards in partnership with The National Archives.

To mark Remembrance Day, the corporate is providing free entry to the information which comprise greater than 1.5 million photographs and 150,000 service information.

For extra info go to: www.ancestry.co.uk/c/remembrance-day.