Too late for GI's reunion

Jacob Elias, of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, contacted the Citizen to ask if we could help trace Betty Forshaw who he met when he was stationed in Chorley during the war.

Jacob, who served as a gunner on a bomber, said he met Betty in the Queen's Arms, but lost contact after returning to the USA.

Following an appeal in the Citizen last week, we heard from a Mrs Betty Dunn who said she was told Betty had died.

Mrs Dunn, aged 72, who lives off Harpers Lane, in Chorley, said: "I worked with Betty in Waterworth's fruit shop in Fazakerley Street. I was only 15.

"She married a Scotch lad. His name was Jack Nicholls. She had one or two children. She was friendly with a woman who lived in a bungalow next to St Joseph's Church, Harpers Lane."

It seems that Betty came back to Chorley with her husband and lived here for a while before moving to the Blackburn area, although she returned to visit on occasion.

Glaswegian Mrs Dunn said that around 10 or 12 years ago, she spoke to a woman who knew Betty, and informed her that she had died.

Mrs Dunn said she read the story in the Citizen and thought it a shame that Jacob was trying to trace her. She added: "Betty and I were work colleagues. Sometimes I would see her, not very often, outside. We were friendly but not mates. She was older than me."

When told of the sad news, Jacob replied that he was hoping she was alive so he could "see her and give her a kiss for old time's sake."

He said: "She will always be in my fondest memory. Her picture hangs on my wall, her lovely face tells me I was lucky to know her for a short while, all too short."

He concluded: "The next time I come to Britain I will definitely come to Chorley and visit you. You cannot know how I appreciate your efforts to help me. And I would like to see Chorley again, for it holds some lovely memories for me."

Jacob, who wrote a novel entitled War and Women, about his experiences as a gunner flying out of England, has donated a copy to Chorley Library.