0:00:02 > 0:00:04Today, our heir hunters uncover long-forgotten tales
0:00:04 > 0:00:07of families reshaped by conflict.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11From there, you might be able to find a death...on mortality.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16The first case has its roots planted firmly in London's East End...
0:00:16 > 0:00:19It looks, at the moment, like that stem is dead.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23..and a second unearths family members who were heroes of war.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27I feel very proud of my father, because...
0:00:27 > 0:00:31..he went through such a lot to give us what we've got today.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36It's a tough life on the front-line for the heir hunters.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Today, heir hunters at London-based probate genealogist firm
0:00:52 > 0:00:54Fraser & Fraser are working on a case advertised
0:00:54 > 0:00:58on the government legal department's unclaimed estates list.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02When someone dies with no obvious next of kin,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04and without leaving a will,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08the search begins for beneficiaries to inherit their estate.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10So, you end up with more than one.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12We might be lucky.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Anne Harris was born on 10th August, 1916, in East London,
0:01:16 > 0:01:22and she died on 26th March, 2013, in Tooting, aged 97.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Anne spent most of her life in the East End,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30so travelling researcher Ewart Lindsay has been sent
0:01:30 > 0:01:33by the team to her last known address in Stepney,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35to see if he can find neighbours who knew her
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and who can provide clues to her life.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43First of all, I will speak to immediate neighbours...
0:01:43 > 0:01:47to...to where Mrs Harris lived.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52Then I'll extend it out to neighbours, you know,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55beyond where she used to live.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58He's not giving up.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02After 25 years on the road, he knows that patience is a virtue.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06How long have you been living here?
0:02:06 > 0:02:10Finally, Ewart's found a neighbour who remembers Anne's family.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15She's just provided him with a vital piece of information.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Anne had a brother, Jack, who lived with her in this block of flats.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Take care. All the best. Thank you.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23To us, it's a massive help.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I mean, she's given us a brother,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29the name of the brother, you know...
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And he obviously lived here as well, so it's...
0:02:33 > 0:02:35..it's good information to us.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41On the whole, it's been a good day, you know.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43I think we're nearer to finding family now...
0:02:45 > 0:02:47..which is the main objective.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50In the office, case manager Gareth Langford has been hard at work
0:02:50 > 0:02:53trying to crack Anne Harris' case.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56So, when the government legal department released
0:02:56 > 0:03:00the information, they gave us some basic details.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Anne Harris passed away in 2013.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04We know that she'd been married,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07and we know that her maiden name was Myers,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10but we're obviously still dealing with a Harris surname.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15The first task is to locate Anne Harris's marriage certificate,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18so the team can begin to build her family tree.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22We know that she was married to Norman David Harris,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26but we're not too interested in him. We're really interested in Annie.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31And she's known as Annie Myerovitch and she's 32 years old, a spinster.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35She's living in... in the Poplar area,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37and she's the daughter of Lewis Myerovitch,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39who's a lost property dealer.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42So, there's quite a lot of information there.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44We've got an address that will be very useful to us, but,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47most importantly, we've got some new names. The next step, really,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50was locating that all-important birth certificate.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54What made this search tricky was the fact that
0:03:54 > 0:03:56her name is Anne Myers,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00but, erm...Myers is obviously anglicised, so Myerovitch,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04so the family may switch between Myerovitch and Myers,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07so that makes the search that much harder.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10So, finding her birth is a lot harder, because you need to do
0:04:10 > 0:04:13several searches rather than just one straight search.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15So, I found her birth.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20She was actually born in the September quarter of 1916
0:04:20 > 0:04:21in Mile End.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25And on the birth certificate, Anne was registered as Annie.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30We have a great deal of difficulty when families change their name
0:04:30 > 0:04:35in identifying not only their original surname,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37but often the first names as well,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42because they often will anglicise the first name.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46This is especially the case with Jewish families who,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49during the wars, often changed their name
0:04:49 > 0:04:53so the names appeared more...British, I'd say.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58So, with Anne's name confirmed, and her birth certificate found,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01the next step is to locate her parents' marriage,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04and from this, the family tree can grow.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Once found, it showed that Anne's father had also
0:05:09 > 0:05:11anglicised his first name on her marriage certificate.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16They married in Mile End in December quarter of 1915.
0:05:16 > 0:05:22Her father was Lazarus Myerovitch, and her mother was Kate Maginsky.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Armed with both Anne's parents' names,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27the next step is to find brothers and sisters for her.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30And after Ewart's initial detective work,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34the team verify that she did have at least one brother - Jack Myers.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40He was born in 1923, and we couldn't find any other records for him.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42We couldn't find a marriage record,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44but what we did locate was his death record.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48He passed away on 13th February, 2009.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Again, living in Tower Hamlets, so he hadn't gone far.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Doesn't look like the family have moved anywhere, really.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Jack Myers was an East Ender through and through.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03And, as the team delve deeper into his past,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07they discover that, as a young Jewish lad, aged just 13,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10he had become embroiled in a clash with antifascist demonstrators
0:06:10 > 0:06:14on his home turf, spurred on by the terror Jews were facing in Europe.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18It was the mid-1930s.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21There was high unemployment, and poverty,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and people were turning to extreme political parties.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29In Italy, in Germany, fascists had taken power.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33In Spain, there was a bloody civil war going on with fascists
0:06:33 > 0:06:35struggling to take power there.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37And, in Britain, the British Union of Fascists,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41a new fascist political party, was set up by Sir Oswald Mosley.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Mosley was a British politician, and a close ally of fascist Italy.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Aged 22, he became the youngest MP in the House of Commons.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55He formed the British Union of Fascists in 1932,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57and wasn't a fan of multicultural Britain.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01There were immigrants in the East End from all over Europe,
0:07:01 > 0:07:02from Germany, from Italy,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06and there was a big population of immigrant Jews in the East End,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10and these were the scapegoat for the British Union of Fascists.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13They blamed the Jews for the economic problems that were
0:07:13 > 0:07:15hitting the East End so very hard.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19The final straw was in October 1936, when the British Union of Fascists
0:07:19 > 0:07:22planned a march through the streets of the East End.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24It was a deliberately intimidatory act.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28It was October 4th and 100,000 counterdemonstrators came
0:07:28 > 0:07:33to the streets of the East End to protest against the fascist march.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36There, they blocked Cable Street in an attempt
0:07:36 > 0:07:37to bring the march to a halt.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42There were 10,000 policemen on duty that day to try to force a way
0:07:42 > 0:07:45through for the fascists to march because they had a right to march -
0:07:45 > 0:07:47that was their legal right.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49But Jack Myers and his fellow protesters
0:07:49 > 0:07:51were successful in their mission.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Eventually, the police realised that the popular feeling in East End
0:07:55 > 0:07:56was against this march,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00and they re-routed it, and the march fizzled away.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03But the march left around 175 casualties in its wake,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07and the unruly events of that day have since been dubbed
0:08:07 > 0:08:09the Battle of Cable Street.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11It was a historic day for the East End,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14because it was the first time that people came together
0:08:14 > 0:08:16from all different communities,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19young and old, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and non-Jew
0:08:19 > 0:08:21came together to defend the streets of the East End
0:08:21 > 0:08:24as a place where people must live and could live together.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27Back in the office,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30the hunt for Anne Harris's relatives was continuing.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33The team were looking further into Jack's life
0:08:33 > 0:08:36to see if he had provided any heirs.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39From the information on his record, we know that he was a market trader.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42And...
0:08:43 > 0:08:46..that it didn't look like, from the death record,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48that he had any family, or certainly no children.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53So the trail for Anne's heirs had reached a dead end, with both
0:08:53 > 0:08:58Anne her brother Jack passing away with no immediate next of kin.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00But it wasn't long before a new clue came to light
0:09:00 > 0:09:03that would bring Anne Harris's case back to life.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08It came to light that the executor of Jack Myers' estate,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10when he died in 2009,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14was a Neil Myers. Sharing the family name, who was he?
0:09:14 > 0:09:19The obvious thing for us to do was locate Neil and speak to him,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22try and find out how was he connected to the deceased.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Unfortunately for us, he was living in the United States,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28and we couldn't actually track him down,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31but what we were able to do was find a birth record for him.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34And from that birth record, we noted that he had brothers and sisters.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38And, from that record, we could start working backwards
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and tie in his family to our deceased.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Neil Myers' birth records revealed that his father
0:09:46 > 0:09:50was one Barnett Lionel Myers, also known as Myerovitch.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54With these two surnames listed, the heir hunters surmised that
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Barnett must have had a connection to Anne.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Next, the team had to locate his birth record.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05The reason we had trouble trying to locate the birth record
0:10:05 > 0:10:08of Barnett was it comes back down to variants of the names.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Not only were we dealing with a variant of the surname,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14but also the maiden name. In fact, quite dramatic variants.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18So, on the normal search, he wouldn't come up.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21But now we had his Christian name, Barnett,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25we could look at all of the variants and really do a detailed search.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30And, eventually, we found his birth record in Whitechapel in 1919.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33And with Barnett's birth record in hand,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36the team managed to trace his parents.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39They discovered they were none other than Lazarus Myerovitch
0:10:39 > 0:10:41and Kate Maginsky.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Barnett was Anne Harris' brother.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47It was already known that Barnett had one son, Neil,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49so the search had finally borne fruit,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52and an heir of Anne's had been found.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55At 23 years of age,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58while his family were suffering in the Blitz in London,
0:10:58 > 0:11:03Barnett Myerovitch was a sergeant in the RAF, stationed in Cairo.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07There, he met a Jewish Egyptian girl called Miriam Moreno,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and, in 1945, they were married in Cairo.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17With this vital piece of information,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21the team could find out if Barnett and Miriam had had any more children
0:11:21 > 0:11:24in addition to Neil, who would also be heirs of Anne's.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27We established that there were four children
0:11:27 > 0:11:28from the marriage of Barnett.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33Neil, who was the one bit of the jigsaw that cracked the case.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Anne's niece Zoe remembers her aunt very clearly.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Anne was the elder sister of my father.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43We always called her Auntie Anne.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46She was a very diminutive woman, like her mother.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49I think maybe not more than 4'9", 4'10" maximum.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52My mum said she was quite a stunning woman in her day,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56because she was blonde, and had deep blue eyes,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59and, in a Jewish community, my mum said she could have had her pick.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04Although she was tiny and very fragile, she was extremely tough
0:12:04 > 0:12:06and tenacious at the same time.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Growing up in a troubled part of London, residents had to be
0:12:11 > 0:12:15thick-skinned and, as a family, the Myerovitchs stuck together.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Zoe remembers tales of Chalky's,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Anne's father, her grandfather's shop.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Back in the day, it was very well-known locally.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29It was a sweet and tobacconist's. I don't think it sold newspapers.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33People used to queue around the block for Chalky's Penny Wafers.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36And then, I think, my father went off to war,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38and the shop got bombed out.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Zoe's father, Barnett, died in 2006.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Sadly, his death signalled the end of her relationship
0:12:47 > 0:12:49with her Auntie Anne.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52After I lost my father and my mother,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56I tried to...stay in touch with her,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59and offered to make some sort of regular visits
0:12:59 > 0:13:03to ensure some of her wellbeing, and...
0:13:03 > 0:13:05she wasn't really open to that suggestion.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09So, unfortunately, as a result of that, we lost touch.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14What started off as a wild goose chase had now come full circle,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18and four nieces and nephews had been found to inherit
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Anne Harris' estate, thought to be over £5,000.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Quite satisfying, really, that we got to the heirs eventually.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Today, Zoe is glad to be reunited with memories
0:13:29 > 0:13:32of her long-lost aunt, and of days gone by.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37It is a bittersweet thing, because sometimes I would see
0:13:37 > 0:13:40glimpses of someone that I was really fond of.
0:13:40 > 0:13:41I don't have a large family.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45I was quite keen on the idea and the notion of aunts and uncles,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48and I used to quite like the way she sort of mothered me.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51For some of my childhood, she did figure quite highly.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00It's the case of retired factory worker Leslie Palmer that the team
0:14:00 > 0:14:03from Finders in London are working on today,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06after it came to them via a private referral.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Hopefully the same area, so if he was born in Hertfordshire...
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Leslie sadly passed away in a care home in Hatfield in Hertfordshire,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20aged 85 in 2009.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Ryan and the team have limited information to kick off their search
0:14:26 > 0:14:27for potential heirs.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31In the instruction, we received his date of birth, date of death,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33and his last known address.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Yes, that was a long shot anyway.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38We thought he owned his property, and we were working
0:14:38 > 0:14:42on the assumption that the estate was worth over £100,000.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46But since Leslie died over six years ago, it would mean Ryan
0:14:46 > 0:14:49and his colleagues would have to work a little bit harder
0:14:49 > 0:14:51to unearth more clues.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56When Leslie Palmer's birth certificate came through,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59we were able to see that his father was Enoch Palmer
0:14:59 > 0:15:03and that his mother was Julie Palmer, formerly Robinson.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07First, they had to find a record of his parents' marriage.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09There's an Enoch Palmer marrying a Julie Robinson
0:15:09 > 0:15:14in the September quarter of 1912 in West Ham.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17Given that Leslie's parents were married in 1912,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and he was born in 1923, we would anticipate there may have been
0:15:20 > 0:15:22some children born within that timeframe.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24But, given the First World War,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28there may have been a gap prior to Leslie being born.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31There maybe wouldn't have been as many children to that marriage
0:15:31 > 0:15:33as there would have been at any other time.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38World War I disrupted families,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41as fathers were enlisted to fight for their country -
0:15:41 > 0:15:43exactly what happened to Leslie's father
0:15:43 > 0:15:46nine years before he was born.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49At the war's root was Britain and the Allied forces
0:15:49 > 0:15:53going head-to-head with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Enoch Palmer enlisted in the army and, after only four months
0:15:58 > 0:16:02on the front line, he was taken captive by the Germans.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07He was held in an allied prisoner of war camp
0:16:07 > 0:16:09called Giessen near Frankfurt.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12He was captured on 12th February, 1916,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15when the enemy mounted a large trench raid
0:16:15 > 0:16:19against the position that his unit was holding north of Ypres.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24He was one of 39 men captured on that day.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26They were the lucky ones.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28A number of their comrades perished.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Prisoners of war were not uncommon in these times,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34and, although the men were glad to be alive,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36life in captivity was tough.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38The conditions in the prisoner of war camps
0:16:38 > 0:16:40generally were fairly harsh.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45Little food, little comfort, men were living in unheated huts,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and that sort of thing.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48Luckily for Enoch Palmer,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52his time as a prisoner of war wasn't as bad as it could have been.
0:16:52 > 0:16:58The accounts of Giessen show that it's one of the better camps of all.
0:16:58 > 0:16:59Very large.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Huts were built to accommodate the men, thousands of men.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08But, over the years, other facilities were added which
0:17:08 > 0:17:14at least gave some social life to prison camp day-to-day existence.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21Even so, as the war continued, conditions deteriorated.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Germany itself also began to struggle economically
0:17:25 > 0:17:29as the war went by, with increasing shortages of food in particular,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and, naturally, this feeds down to the prison camps.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37If the population around is not eating, then you can bet
0:17:37 > 0:17:42the prisoners of war are going to feel the sharp end of that shortage.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Not knowing how Leslie's father was, the worry for his mother Julia
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and the rest of the family was unimaginable.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Enoch would have been able to communicate with his family
0:17:53 > 0:17:55only very infrequently.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58There was a possibility of sending letters home,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02but he knew full well that there was a censorship regime going on,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and what he was allowed to say was going to be very limited.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Some men managed to escape, but for those who didn't,
0:18:09 > 0:18:14their liberation came with the end of the war, on November 11th, 1918.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18In many, many of the cities, towns and villages of the country,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21civic receptions were held to welcome them home.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25Little parties, street parties, things going off in town halls
0:18:25 > 0:18:27and the like, to welcome the prisoners of war back.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Enoch's nearest and dearest were thrilled to have him home,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33and he slipped back into family life.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Although a picture was coming alive of Leslie Palmer's father,
0:18:38 > 0:18:39it didn't help the heir hunters
0:18:39 > 0:18:42in their quest to find his living relatives.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46First of all, we would look for other births between a Palmer
0:18:46 > 0:18:48and a Robinson in the London area.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52We can see that Enoch and Julia had three more children.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55First of all, they had Violet Isabel,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58born on 30th September, 1914.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Once we had Violet's birth certificate,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02we could then do a marriage search for her,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05but also, given that we had her full date of birth,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08it could mean we could jump another step and go directly to
0:19:08 > 0:19:12identifying a potential death cert for her.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16We can see that there is a Violet I Palmer born in 1914,
0:19:16 > 0:19:17who died in 1964.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21This would mean that she died as a spinster at the age of 50.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25With confirmation that Violet had passed away with no children,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the search moved onto her younger sister, Gladys.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34We can see there is a Gladys Palmer, who passed away in 1976 in Newham.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Gladys also passed away as a spinster at the age of 60 years old.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43So, with two sisters providing no nieces or nephews for Leslie,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45the family tree might need to be broadened to take in
0:19:45 > 0:19:48maternal and paternal cousins.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52But before they were forced to turn their search to aunts and uncles,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54there was one more name that came to light -
0:19:54 > 0:19:56an older brother of Leslie's.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01If we were going to find any close kin who'd be entitled
0:20:01 > 0:20:03to inherit from the estate,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07all our hopes really rested on the line of Ronald Enoch Palmer.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10A Ronald E Palmer's birth record was found on the birth index,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and his birth certificate was ordered.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15This was how the team would confirm
0:20:15 > 0:20:18if they had found the right Ronald E Palmer.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21He was born on 4th September, 1919.
0:20:21 > 0:20:28Again, confirming his parents' names as Enoch and Julia.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It gives us Enoch's occupation as a boot repairer.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33From having Ronald's birth certificate,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36we then had a look to see if we could find any marriages for him.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Given his age and his father's military background, we had to
0:20:39 > 0:20:44bear in mind that he may also have been involved in active service.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Now, the good thing was, when we found his marriage entry in 1945,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51we could see that, luckily, he survived the war.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54He came back and married Hazel, who was about six years his junior.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58We could then hope they may have had children.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02If they had, they would be Leslie's nieces or nephews, and his heirs.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08Luckily, we found out that himself and his wife had one son
0:21:08 > 0:21:13called Brian in 1946, and another called David in 1949.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17With the existence of Leslie's nephews confirmed,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21it didn't take long to track them down to Essex.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24My uncle Leslie was
0:21:24 > 0:21:27a part of my life in the early part of my life.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30We had some holidays together, we had some nice times together.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Unfortunately, we drifted apart and had become estranged,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37so it was quite a shock out of the blue
0:21:37 > 0:21:40when the heir hunters actually phoned me.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43When I was younger, I can remember him being caring
0:21:43 > 0:21:46and wanting to talk to you, and everything.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49I can remember him being slim.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Always in a suit and a tie.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I suppose it was quite upsetting, really, that we found out
0:21:55 > 0:21:57that our Uncle Leslie had passed away.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00It would have been nice to have talked to him,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and for my family to have met him,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06to have known that he was part of our family as my uncle.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10After much hard work, the heir hunters were glad
0:22:10 > 0:22:14they'd finally succeeded in finding Leslie's next of kin.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Unfortunately, though,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20the earlier estimate of his estate turned out to be wrong.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Leslie didn't own his property, as they had believed.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It was a few thousand pounds, but, obviously,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29this is still a welcome sum of money for anybody to receive.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31There was just two heirs.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35In terms of our involvement, it was still a successful case for us.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38The biggest reward that I feel is actually making
0:22:38 > 0:22:42some sort of contact and put some extra links in the chain
0:22:42 > 0:22:46of his existence with my own father,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and the rest of the family.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Leslie's case has made Brian and David consider
0:22:53 > 0:22:54their own family history.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Their father, Ronald Enoch Palmer, died in 1993, and
0:23:01 > 0:23:05at the forefront of their thoughts is his experience of World War II.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10He volunteered to join the Army, to go and fight for his country.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16He served in Africa, North Africa. He dropped in Arnhem in a glider.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20He came out, fortunate to get out of Arnhem.
0:23:20 > 0:23:27And then he went to Palestine. And, from Palestine, he was demobilised.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31I feel very proud of my father, because...
0:23:31 > 0:23:34he went through such a lot to give us what we've got today.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41With the memory books opened,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Leslie's nephews have come to the Royal Artillery Museum in London
0:23:45 > 0:23:50to learn more about their father's time spent fighting for his country.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Paul Evans is the librarian here,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and has access to Ronald Enoch Palmer's war records.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59So, what we have, originally, he enlists,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and he goes to the 50th Anti-tank Training Regiment,
0:24:02 > 0:24:04so he was going to be an anti-tank gunner.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07So that's his first fighting unit, OK?
0:24:07 > 0:24:08But that's in the United Kingdom.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11He was at Dover, Dover Castle, for a while.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14- Would that be the time he was at Dover Castle?- Yep.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16That would fit very nicely indeed.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I think that's where he got a Defence Medal for that.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21There's the 39-45 Star, he gets the Italy Star,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23he gets the War Medal,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25the France and Germany Medal and the Defence Medal.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27So, we know, at some point, he's in Italy.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30We know, at some point, he's in France and Germany.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32And we also know he also does three years
0:24:32 > 0:24:34defending the United Kingdom, so we know that.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36He then passes a trade test,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40- and is qualified for the appointment as an equipment repairman.- Yeah.
0:24:40 > 0:24:46OK, so that's his job. He's now repairing all the equipment
0:24:46 > 0:24:48so that anti-tank regiment and battery are using.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51That's everything, from compasses up to guns.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56From 1943 to 1945, he's with the 1st Airlanding Light,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and they are part of the airborne forces.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Now, air landing goes with the airborne forces,
0:25:01 > 0:25:06so by glider and by parachute. What else did he tell you?
0:25:06 > 0:25:09He didn't actually tell us what his progress in his career
0:25:09 > 0:25:10through the Army at all.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12- Right. - He just came out with snippets.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14It's the development of the airborne forces,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16he's been involved in it from day one.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20But although Ronald Palmer was a member of the airborne forces,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23his wartime experience was not spent in the air,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25like David and Brian believed.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28We know he's an equipment repairman.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33He's not in the glider. He's not the assault troops, OK?
0:25:33 > 0:25:35He's going by ship later. He's the support staff.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40On 17th September, 1944,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Allied troops joined forces in the Battle of Arnhem.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48The largest airborne and glider operation in history
0:25:48 > 0:25:52saw 5,000 aircraft descend on the Dutch city.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Their aim was to advance into Germany and end the war.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00The combined air and land mission
0:26:00 > 0:26:03was known as Operation Market Garden.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Ronald Palmer was part of the operation, and arrived by road
0:26:08 > 0:26:11after the landings had taken place.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14So when we thought he landed in the gliders, he didn't.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17- He was trying to provide them with equipment.- That's it.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19He'd got Germans to the left and right of him,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21and everybody's shooting at him.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23- So where he thought he was, he wasn't.- He wasn't.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29Unfortunately, Operation Market Garden was not a success.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32The Allied forces failed, and couldn't advance further.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36On the ground, Ronald and his fellow soldiers had arrived late,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39and were greeted with casualties of war.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42He's with the tanks trying to get there.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45- Trying to get through to the...- He's the rescue party at the other end.
0:26:45 > 0:26:46They didn't get there.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49They're the party that didn't get to Arnhem,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52but when they got there, he got there in time to get the survivors,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56so he did a vital role rescuing the survivors.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59They reckon that, if they'd have took Arnhem, that would have
0:26:59 > 0:27:02- shortened the war, and it would have saved a lot of lives.- Absolutely.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04The mental pressure would be immense on him.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08It must have been really tough, really.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11- He has not had a good war. - No, he hasn't.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15What he's seen in those...five or six years...
0:27:16 > 0:27:18..must've been terrible.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20After the failed mission in Arnhem,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23the brothers know their father was posted to many more countries with
0:27:23 > 0:27:28the 1st Airborne Regiment before the war ended and he was sent home.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33He found it hard to talk about. He wouldn't talk to us about it.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Yep, absolutely. He doesn't want to remember it.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Thanks very much for going through the history.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40- No problem, my pleasure. - Yes, thank you, Paul.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42Puts it all together.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46Not only had the sad event of Leslie Palmer's passing reconnected him
0:27:46 > 0:27:49with his estranged nephews, but they'd also been given
0:27:49 > 0:27:52the gift of adding to their own family history.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58It's all about memories, things that can...
0:27:58 > 0:28:03we can look at, and see our uncle and our dad together.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05That'll be better for us to see
0:28:05 > 0:28:08rather than what any money could give us, really.