Former RAF pilot's reunion 'is superb' (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Former RAF pilot's reunion 'is superb'

THE clocks were turned back 60 years last weekend for Cirencester pensioner Francis Jarrett when he was reunited with family he never thought he would see again.

Last Sunday at the Crown of Crucis Hotel in Ampney Crucis, where Francis had lived for twenty years before moving to Cirencester, he met 19 family members from around the globe at a reunion he never expected to happen.

They had come from elsewhere in Britain, from Germany and as far afield as the USA, bringing photographs and cherished memories.

At the end of World War Two RAF pilot Francis Jarrett had lost touch with both his fiance and his family who were last known to be in a Japanese concentration camp.

A chance meeting almost 50 years after the war saw him reunited with his fiance Gloria, whom he later married.

Then earlier this year a letter arrived in the post from a niece he never knew existed - his long-lost sister's daughter.

And last weekend they met for the first time.

Francis Jarrett, 82, said: "You must put yourself in my shoes - I never expected that for the rest of my life I would have this great family, and then suddenly bingo.

"The reunion has gone superbly, no doubt about it. It has all been hugs and kisses and the whole thing is quite amazing. The hotel has looked after us all brilliantly as well.

"Irene is quite a character and it is just incredible to have her here."

Younger sister Irene, who flew over from the United States with her two daughters, said: "I have had so many mixed feelings since we found out where Francis lived.

"He couldn't contact me when the war ended because I completely cut myself off from the military after my husband died.

"I tried to write to him but so often the letters would come back return to sender. Now the emotions are so mixed.

"I mean when he wrote back to say how he could be contacted, I couldn't laugh, couldn't cry, couldn't even talk."

Irene's daughter Dodie, who was visiting Britain for the first time, said: "Maybe this story will give somebody the thought to do the same.

"It would be fantastic if it gave somebody else the incentive to look for lost relatives."