大象传媒

Leroy Keeping advised me to contact a Jerry O'Sadnick in Connecticut. Jerry helped to run the 390th bomb group's veterans association and he would know if Kenneth R Weaver had registered as a war veteran. He may possibly know if he was still alive or had died. I decided that I would write off to Connecticut, with the information I now had and as I drove away from Leroy's bungalow i could have reached out and grabbed the clouds. A chance meeting, and conversation with a stranger who gave me Leroy Keepings name, and look what I had now. I now had something to go on, a lead to follow through, at last I felt as if I had something. A strange feeling swept through me, an emotional feeling, that I don't think I'll ever forget and I thought to myself "If I'm going to find him and I'm not giving up, I must not give up.
On my way back home, as I passed through Parham. I turned off the main road and went and looked at the cottage. I then drove on to try and find ahte air base watchtower. Even though I knew it was closed I felt I must go and see it. I rounded the bends in the road and saw it in the distance. It was a stark, cold, windy day but I got out of my truck and walked round the watchtower. It had a strange feel to it. I looked at the tower, at the fields, and what was left of the old runways. I looked up into the grey sky, and could imagine in my mind the American planes flying back home from their bombing raids in Germany and I thought to myself "I wonder where you are Kenneth R Weaver, I wonder where you are."
I came away from the air base determined to write or call, Jerry O'Sadnick that night. When I got home I went into my back room, sat at my desk, gout out my sheet of paper from the file and added the rest of the information. Now there were more that just three words, it was starting to grow, not much, but starting to grow. I couldn't wait and phoned Jerry O'Sadnick right then. He was very helful and told me to write to him and give him all the information that I had. He told me that if Ken Weaver had registered as a war veteran he may be able to find out if he was alive, or if he had passed away. If he was alive, Jerry could not put me in touch with him but could pass on a letter from me and it would then be up to Ken Weaver to decide if he wanted to make contact. I had a strange feeling that he was alive and I also felt that he would want to make contact, even though I had never met him. I felt I knew how he would think.
After posting the letter off to Connecticut. I waited on the post every day. Every single day I looked at that doormat. Watching, waiting, looking for a reply from America. Roughly three weeks went by and sure enough the letter I had been waiting for slid through the letterbox and lay on the mat. I picked it up, tore it open and began to read. My heart dropped a little with every line I read. Ken R. Weaver had not registered as a war veteran, had never attended a reunion and no photo's could be found of him. Not even on a group photo. Jerry O'Sadnick was sympathetic and told me not to give up. A few weeks later he sent me some clippings from a reunion magazine to give me encouragement to keep on going. I thought what a nice person to have contacted in my life. I have wrote to Jerry a few times since and shall never forget the time that he took on my behalf.
At that point I did wonder if Ken Weaver had just gone home, put it all behind him, got on with his life and that was it. After all, who could blame him, he was one of the lucky one's who got to go home. Home to Pennsylvannia.
A few days later, the reply came from the Military Affairs Department in Pennsylvannia. It was just a few short lines and said that "Due to the privacy act we are not authorised to release information without the veterans consent. I regret we cannot provide you with a more favourable reply. I sat and ready this letter in my back bedroom and also looked over Jerry O'Sadnicks once again. It seemed as if it had all collapsed around me. I had worked on this for a few months and had ended up with nothing. Once again I sat at my desk looking out of the window feeling isolated and, to say the least, a touch dejected. I started to think in a different way. Perhaps he wasn't around anymore, was I just chasing a rainbow after all? For a few days I thought I had reached the end of the line. I knew in my mind I had contacted people who had more knowledge than me of military affairs and I had got nowhere. I decided to lay off for a couple of weeks, give it all a rest. Occasionally, I would get out my file which by now at least had
some letters from America added to my original piece of paper with just three words but I could not stop my eyes from burning into the name "Kenneth R Weaver". As my mind and my thinking began to level itself out, I couldn't stop thinking again, "Where are you Kenny Weaver? I feel you're out there somewhere" I could almost feel he was alive. I though back to Parham on that Sunday morning, standing on that windy runway, and wondering where he could be.
I decided to get started again, try to get a lead, try to get something, try my hardest to find him. Just as these thoughts where running through my head, out of the blue one morning there was a letter from America laying on my doormat. It was from Jerry O'Sadnick. He had thought of another possibility, something else I could try, another man that may be able to help me. Once again the fire came back into my system. I grasped at another chance to try again. The address was Philadelphia, and the man was Carl Admaczyk. It was an organisation called V.A.R.O. the Veterans Affairs Records Office. Jerry wrote that is was worth a try, but they may be reluctant to pursue my problem for fear that it may get complicated. But I knew I must try, the worst possible thing I could get was a let down and I already knew what that felt like. I sat down and prepared my letter. I wrote down everything I knew and posted it off to America once again, thinking that this could be it. This could it the break I was looking for. Could this lead me to my father? Everything was boiling up inside me and I knew I would need patience to wait for a reply.
Two weeks passed, enough time for Carl Admaczyk to have received my letter. Another week no reply, another, and then another. Having had let downs with the other sources. I decided not to wait any longer and to phone V.A.R.O> I rang Philadelphia, and got through to Carl Admacxzyk. After a brief conversation as to who I was we started to talk about my letter. Carl told me he had looked through the letter a couple of times and had been thinking what to do and how to try and deal with the situation. He said the amount of time it could take could be colossal and that there where literally thousands of Weavers in America, the name was like Smith in England. He was a friendly man and said in a softer voice "Roy, what you are trying to do is not impossible but it is almost virtually impossible. There are all those people with the name Weaver and you're looking for just one of the them, who may not even be there. Our organisation hasn't got that amount of time available, we can only help to a certain extent." Then he wished me well and the best of luck in my search and I could tell he really meant it.
Kenny Weaver. I was saying the name and writing it down so many times now it almost seemed as if I did know him. I had thanked Carl Admaczyk for his help and interest and put the phone down on another dead end. I sat down and began to think in great depth. I thought about what he had said and wrote it down. Thousands of Weavers and I'm looking for just one. I stared at the piece of paper and wondered if I really did stand a chance of finding him. People kept telling me that all the odds were stacked against me but I couldn't and wouldn't let it go, it was something inside me keeping me going. Even with the let downs and when I got mixed feelings, something pulled me out of it. The week went by and another weekend was upon me. I was busy on the Saturday and when the Sunday came around I did the usual and studied the file and read the letters. Suddenly, out of the blue, a thought struck me. If I walked down a road that went nowhere I would turn around and go back to the beginning. So I got out my first piece of paper and looked at it but this time from a different perspective. The call up address, the fifty year old address, was it worth a try? An address that old, it had been staring me in the face all the time I must have been blind, I had looked right through it. I think my train of thought had got fixed on military matters, veterans, reunions and organisations such as V.A.R.O> who I thought could help me track him down. Now I had nowhere else to go except that old address so I thought "I'll write to it, No, I'll ring it up and see what happens." After all the worst that could happen would be they could say sorry we can't help you. I rang international Directory Enquiries, told the operator the address in Pennsylvania and what it was about and asked if he could give me the phone number. He said he would check it out for me and after a short while he was back. He apologised and told me that the address was still there but nobody called Kenneth R Weaver lived there anymore. My heart sank and then he spoke the gold words and they rang loudly in my ears "Hang on I may be able to help you ..." and he checked out all the Weavers in that town, Apparently there were several in the area but only one Kenneth R Weaver and he wasn't ex-directory. So he gave me the number and wished me luck.
I sat for a few minutes. I had a telephone number at last, a contact who appeared to be a strong lead. Suddenly a thought sprang into my mind. What if they were a close family and I'm turning up unwelcome on the doorstep? What if he's in bad shape and a shock like this is too much, could I be throwing a family into turmoil? All of a sudden, when I had got what I wanted, my head was filling with doubts and what ifs. I eased down and cleared my mind of negative thoughts so I could focus on the positive. I picked up the phone and dialled the number, it rang for a few seconds and then I heard the voice of a teenage boy say hello. I asked him if Kenneth Weaver was around and he said "That's my Dad, I'll go and get him for you" At that moment my mind flashed, his Dad? I'm talking to a teenage boy, the balance is all wrong and then hi sfather was on the phone. I told him I was calling from England and that my name was Roy, I said that I was sorry to trouble him but would he be Ken Weaver who was based in England during the Second World War. He was ok and friendly straight away and said "Hell buddy, I'm fifty three, I was born in the war so I missed out on that one. And my middle name is Robert, but what's it about, I may be able to help you. I told him that I hoped I wasn't wasting his time, but the Kenneth R Weaver I was looking for would be in his middle or late seventies and would be in England during the Second World War. He replied "You could mean my dad, he was in the Eighth Army Air Force in the Second World War stationed in England but I'm not sure where. I hesitated and wasn't really sure how to approach the subject. I decided to say "Ken, can I talk to you on a delicate subject?" He replied that of course I could. I asked what the situation wasa with his mum and dad and he instantly replied "Hell my mom and dad divorced about seven years after the war. Dad moved out to California and mom and the rest of us stayed here in Pennsylvania. Us kids never left our home town. What's this about anyway Roy?
I said "Ken I think there is a strong chance that you and I could be brothers but I've got to confirm it somehow" I paused to hear his reaction and then I heard him say the total opposite to what I was expecting. I thought he would question it but instead he said to me "Roy, I really hope this is true. I have two sisters and no brother, and I would have always liked to have had a brother. I'll ring my mother and find out what she knows." and then he spoke the words that almost made the telephone fall from my grasp. As I felt my system drain he said "I'll give you dads phone number, he lives in a trailer home in the desert in California". I stammered out "He's still alive? YOu mean to say he's still around?" Ken said "He sure is he's seventy seven, in reasonably good shape and he can take it. Give him a ring and see what he's go to say." He gave me the Californian phone number so I thanked him and told him that i would ring him straight back and let him know the outcome. Ken then said to me "By the way, my dads name is Kenneth Roy Weaver"
I put the phone down, looked at the California number that was straight in front of me and I swear to God that my blood reached boiling point. At least I had it, the closest I had ever been. This must be him, it had to be him. A sobering thought had entered my mind. Rejection, could I take rejection after all of this? I picked up the phone, put it down then picked it straight up again. I slowly began to dial the number, it rang at the other end only about two or three times but it seemed to me like it was ringing forever and echoing away into the distance. Then I heard an older mans voice, "Hello this is Ken Weaver ..." Somehow I got started , although my voice seemed to lack strength and was fading with every word.
"Ken, I'm ringing from England" He said "Yeah what's this about?" I replied I'm checking on wartime personnel, would you help me for a few minutes?" He said sure he could, what did I want to know? I began by asking if he was based in Parham in Suffolk during the war. "Yeah, sure I was" He said "Were you in the ground crew of the 570th squadron? "Yes sir" he replied "What's this about?" I asked Ken, do you remember many of the people from that time? "Why yes I do" he answered "Do you remember a lady, her name was Lou, Lou Ellis?" "I remember her very well" came his reply. At this point I thought I had eased into it enough, Ken I said "Lou gave me the middle name of Roy and from what my sister tells me, I think there is a strong possibility that we coud be father and son .." I stopped talking just as if I had dried up. I waited with my heart thumping like a sledgehammer. Afer just a few seconds, Ken slowly replied "It's more that just a strong possibility. I don't know how long you have been seaching partner, but it's over now. You've found the man you're looking for"

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