A Long shot as have very little information

[Meggiejayne]

I am trying to trace the possible father of my mother in law. As family history goes my mother in law was lead to believe that her father was her mothers first husband...until her mother died and letters surfaced in her effects. Unfortunately after a family feud my MIL's sister destroyed the letters and photos before she had a chance to see them. However she did pass on a few facts.

It would seem that a Jack Cooper from Toronto was stationed in Newick, E Sussex just before the D-Day landings. He was a frequent visitor at my husband's grandmothers' house and it is believed that the daughter born in January 1945 was in fact his daughter. We are trying to access service records of the person we thought to be her father to see if he was home on leave in April 1944 to rule him out.

We know that Jack survived the D-Day landings and returned to Canada after the war as letters were sent from him to Emily after the war and toys/dolls were sent for the new baby. Letters also came from Jack's mother to thank the family for being so kind to Jack during his stay in the UK.

Unfortunately thanks to a family feud these letters were destroyed and we have no idea of when or where they were sent from and this is the only information we have.

I'm not sure if it is possible to find out what unit he may have been in or anything else from this limited information.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Melanie

[Milliepede]

Is her mothers first husband named as the father on her birth certificate?

[manawakian]

DNA tests of your husband and a select group of his second or third cousins should prove whether his grandmother's husband was his biological grandfather.

[eileenwilson]

You may not be able to obtain Jack Cooper's service records as currently you need to be able to prove that  he is deceased.

Found a couple of references in the Toronto newspaper of the day.  One was for the death of a C.W. "Bill" Cooper of Cooksville (near Toronto), on active duty in France; names his brother Jack Cooper with the RCAF.  His parents were Mr. & Mrs. C.A. Cooper of Cooksville.

There is a reference to a Sgt. Jack Cooper from Toronto who was in Italy in early 1944.  There is a picture of him with the news story. He has a noticeable dimple in his chin. A story from February 1943 with the same picture talks about a Lance Corporal Jack Cooper, aged 25, a paratrooper. Names his parents, Mr. & Mrs. William Cooper of Duncannon Street.  He had been home for a surprise visit. A member of the First Special Service Force -- he was part of a US paratrooper squad.

Another story in February 1945 tells the tale of a group of Canadians holed up in a farmhouse in Germany after being cut off from the rest of their group -- Capt. Jack Cooper was listed amongst the names from Toronto.

[eileenwilson]

In the Last Post Magazine, published by the Canadian Legion, there are three Jack Coopers noted in the list of deceased members:

COOPER Corporal Jack Royal Canadian Army Service Corps Ontario, Canada March 29th, 2003 (no age given)
COOPER  Jack Royal Canadian Artillery Coboconk, Ontario, Canada July 9th, 1991, aged 78 
COOPER Colonel Jack C.  Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 29th, 1995, aged 84 

[Meggiejayne]

Thank you for all that information - certainly a lot to look into. We know that Jack was army rather than air force so that rules first one out.

The service records we are trying to get hold of are those of Charles Richards - the man my mother in law was always led to believe was her father (he is named as father on her birth certificate). However family hearsay (not always a good thing to follow) says that he was overseas around the time my mother in law would have been conceived - hence why trying to get hold of his service records to see where he was in April 1944. We know Jack was around Christmas '43 and the months afterwards.

Its just a shame these letters were destroyed because then we would have had a name and address of Jack's mother.

Its confusing for my mother in law - the father that brought her up was not her father (Charles having died shortly after the end of the war and Emily remarrying) and then she finds out the man she believed was her father may not have been.