Searching for Reginald

[Raymond65]

Dear Sir, Madam,
My search for my family is now cold.
But I’m still searching for my Granddad in England of Scotland and / or related family.
My name is Raymond Wijers; born in Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
I’m a son of Gerrit Wijers, born in Nijmegen in the Netherlands, September 23th 1945. His address at that time was Grotestraat 65, Nijmegen
The mother of my dad was named “Dien Melet”.
Ma Grandma Dien Melet had a relation with a soldier named Reginald Bernard Vincent or Reginald Vincent Bernard. The relation lasted from November 1944 until probably April 2th 1945, because Reginald was a soldier of the 49th West Riding Division (nickname Polar Bears). That has been told in my family.
After ma Grandma “Dien” deliver her son Gerrit at September 23th 1945, there was some contact with Reginald and his family by letters. They also sent some baby clothes to the Netherlands. I don’t know whether there was a denial about the relationship and the baby from Reginald.
From the side of my Grandma there was in the years after 1945 less contact, because she got a relationship with a Dutch guy, named “Jan Wijers” and married him in 1946
That man was jealous in everything. He has forbidden my Grandma to have contact with England and he destroyed every photo and other correspondence. Out of this marriage they got a son and a daughter. The son is born December 19th, 1947.

I’ve been searching since 2005.
At that time, I had contact with an association in The Netherlands, who were able to search for war-veterans. They were able to tell me that Reginald after World War II went to Scotland. There he should have created a family in which he got a daughter. She would be a half-sister of my Dad!
The person involved with the search in England/Scotland had told us that the half-sister didn’t like to have contact with us. According to the person involved, Reginald would have died between 1986 and 1988. If there is any truth about the daughter, some people must still have a relationship with Reginald and his family.
Maybe there will be still some family of my father and myself.
After 2005 I’ve tried to contact with several military organizations in the UK but with no results. Maybe it was because of my bad English language at that time, but in general they answered me: “because of privacy rules we’re not allowed to give you any information”
Only one of them, the veterans of the Polar Bears have investigated into their files but couldn’t find Reginald Bernard Vincent.  There is a possibility that Reginald did join the mentioned regiment after his own regiment had no more soldiers.
In the newspapers in June 1945 there was mentioned the second battalion of Princess Louise’s Kensington Regiment.  That regiment could have been responsible for the defending of the so-called Island of Nijmegen. Maybe Reginald has been a part of that regiment.
If you could find more details about my granddad and his family, I would be very grateful. Finally, it would be clear for my mind to know more about my ancestry and history.
Thank you in advance for your efforts and meanwhile
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,


Raymond Wijers,
Van Elsstraat 8

[MaxD]

Raymond - welcome

The major difficulty from the military records point of view is that service records from the Second World War are still held by the Ministry of Defence and can only be released to non-family members under certain conditions.  Only limited information is given and you have to know the man's date of birth or service number and have his death certificate. So the privacy rules are the rules of the Ministry of Defence.  Even if you were able to see his records, any family information would be from war time so perhaps long out of date.

The 2nd Battalion Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment was part of the 49th Division from 1943 so it may be that was his regiment.

In the contact you had in 2005, was it clear that his family name was Vincent or Bernard?  And where was the half sister that someone had contact with in 2005?


I am thinking that if you know the part of the country and his name, then contact with local newspapers sometimes has results.


And there is nothing wrong with your English!(Except searching - you would pronounce searging with a ch sound!).

  Perhaps the moderator can change the title, I shall ask.


MaxD

[dawnsh]

Hi Raymond

The title has been amended.

If you haven't done so already, you can register at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and search for births, marriages and deaths in Scotland. Those records are completely separate from those in England & Wales.

I had a quick look but there under all name combinations was nothing obvious in marriages and deaths.

If there had been, you could have purchased credits to see more information or pay for certificates.