大象传媒

October 2002 I was looking for a holiday on the net in Normandy for my wife and I. We planned to visit the war graves and memorials to the D-Day landings. During my search I came across The Commonwealth War Graves web-site which had a search engine so knowing that all my relatives had survived the war I keyed in my own name " George Whillans". Imagine my surprise when it produced one and only grave with my name on it. After the initial shock I decided to research it. My namesake was a 19 year old Canadian soldier who was killed on the 15/08/1944 outside Caen 6 month after I was born.I spent a year researching his background with the result I now e-mail his cousin in Alberta and have been in touch with his brother and sisterinlaw who are both still alive. The final part of this story was October 2003 when my wife and I visited his grave in Normandy and were able to take photos which we sent to his relatives in Canada because none of them have ever been able to visit him. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life to stand there in front of his grave and tried to imagine the feelings of a 19 year old so far from home who gave his life so I could have the freedom to write this story.

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