0:00:02 > 0:00:05Today, our heir hunters uncover long-forgotten tales of families
0:00:05 > 0:00:07reshaped 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 > 0:00:23And 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 > 0:00:31he 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 to see
0:01:33 > 0:01:35if 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'll 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.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00Talking to neighbours can give you an insight to the background
0:02:00 > 0:02:02of the deceased. It's a two-edged sword
0:02:02 > 0:02:05because sometimes you could get information which might be
0:02:05 > 0:02:06a bit misleading.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09But, invariably, a neighbour who knew
0:02:09 > 0:02:12the deceased for a number of years would have snippets
0:02:12 > 0:02:15of information that, initially, would be really helpful to us.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18HE KNOCKS ON DOORS
0:02:19 > 0:02:21She lived at number 21?
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Anne Harris, who worked as a shop assistant,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27was born into an immigrant Jewish family.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29They were very much East Enders
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and, with a thriving Jewish community in London's East End,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34would have felt very at home on the local streets.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Anne, growing up in East End,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40would have seen an awful lot of changes over her life.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43She was born in Poplar in 1916.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45That area was booming when she was born,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47but it's went from boom to bust.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50But, through the tough times, locals stuck together.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52Anne living here would have enjoyed...
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Well, a sense of community.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58The East End is well-known for its camaraderie.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01It's a place where people mix,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05where migrants from all communities get together.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07There was a very big Jewish community here because
0:03:07 > 0:03:10in the north part of this Beaumont Square
0:03:10 > 0:03:12was the London Jewish Hospital
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and that would have attracted an awful lot of the community to there.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19There was a synagogue there. There was kosher kitchens.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Nearby, Ewart's had little luck with his research
0:03:23 > 0:03:26in the block of flats that Anne used to call home.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Fingers crossed, I really do hope I get a neighbour to speak to.
0:03:31 > 0:03:32He's not giving up.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37After 25 years on the road, he knows that patience is a virtue.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41How long have you been living here?
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Finally, Ewart's found a neighbour who remembers Anne's family.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50She's just provided him with a vital piece of information.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Anne had a brother, Jack, who lived with her in this block of flats.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Take care. All the best. Thank you.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59To us, it's a massive help.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01I mean, she's given us a brother,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04the name of the brother, you know...
0:04:04 > 0:04:07And he lived here as well, so it's...
0:04:08 > 0:04:10..it's good information to us.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16On the whole, it's been a good day, you know.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19I think we're nearer to finding family now...
0:04:20 > 0:04:22..which is the main objective.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26In the office, case manager Gareth Langford has been hard at work
0:04:26 > 0:04:29trying to crack Anne Harris' case.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32With just a few clues from Ewert
0:04:32 > 0:04:35and a relatively common surname to deal with,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38the job of tracking down the right person is a tricky one.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40So, when the government legal department released
0:04:40 > 0:04:44the information, they gave us some basic details.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Anne Harris, passed away in 2013.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49We know that she'd been married
0:04:49 > 0:04:51and we know that her maiden name was Myers,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54but we're obviously still dealing with a Harris surname.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59The first task is to locate Anne Harris's marriage certificate,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02so the team can begin to build her family tree.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06We know that she was married to Norman David Harris,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08but we're not too interested in him.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10We're really interested in Annie.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15And she's known as Annie Myerovitch and she's 32 years old, a spinster.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19She's living in...in the Poplar area
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and she's the daughter of Lewis Myerovitch,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24who's a lost property dealer.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26So, there's quite a lot of information there.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29We've got an address that will be really useful to us, but,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32most importantly, we've got some new names. The next step, really,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34was locating that all-important birth certificate.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38What made this search tricky was the fact that
0:05:38 > 0:05:40her name is Anne Myers,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44but, erm...Myers is obviously anglicised, so Myerovitch,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48so the family may switch between Myerovitch and Myers,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51so that makes the search that much harder.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55So, finding her birth is a lot harder because you need to do
0:05:55 > 0:05:58several searches rather than just one straight search.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00So, I found her birth.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04She was actually born in the September quarter of 1916
0:06:04 > 0:06:06in Mile End.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10And, on the birth certificate, Anne was registered as Annie.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14We have a great deal of difficulty when families change their name
0:06:14 > 0:06:19in identifying not only their original surname,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22but often the first names as well
0:06:22 > 0:06:26because they often will anglicise the first name.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30This is especially the case with Jewish families who,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33during the wars, often changed their name
0:06:33 > 0:06:37so the names appeared more...British, I'd say.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42So, with Anne's name confirmed, and her birth certificate found,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46the next step is to locate her parents' marriage.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48And, from this, the family tree can grow.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Once found, it showed that Anne's father had also
0:06:53 > 0:06:56anglicised his first name on her marriage certificate.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00They married in Mile End in December quarter of 1915.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05Her father was Lazarus Myerovitch and her mother was Kate Maginsky.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Armed with both Anne's parents' names,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11the next step is to find brothers and sisters for her.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14And after Ewart's initial detective work,
0:07:14 > 0:07:19the team verify that she did have at least one brother - Jack Myers.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24He was born in 1923 and we couldn't find any other records for him.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26We couldn't find a marriage record,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28but what we did locate was his death record.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32He passed away on 13th February, 2009.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Again, living in Tower Hamlets, so he hadn't gone far.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Doesn't look like the family have moved anywhere, really.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Jack Myers was an East Ender through and through.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47And, as the team delve deeper into his past,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51they discover that, as a young Jewish lad, aged just 13,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54he had become embroiled in a clash with antifascist demonstrators
0:07:54 > 0:07:59on his home turf, spurred on by the terror Jews were facing in Europe.
0:08:01 > 0:08:02It was the mid-1930s.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05There was high unemployment, and poverty,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08and people were turning to extreme political parties.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13In Italy, in Germany, fascists had taken power.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17In Spain, there was a bloody civil war going on with fascists
0:08:17 > 0:08:19struggling to take power there.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22And, in Britain, the British Union of Fascists,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26a new fascist political party, was set up by Sir Oswald Mosley.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Mosley was a British politician and a close ally of fascist Italy.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35Aged 22, he became the youngest MP in the House of Commons.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39He formed the British Union of Fascists in 1932
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and wasn't a fan of multicultural Britain.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45There were immigrants in East End from all over Europe,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47from Germany, from Italy,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and there was a big population of immigrant Jews in the East End,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54and these were the scapegoat for the British union of Fascists.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57They blamed the Jews for the economic problems that were
0:08:57 > 0:08:59hitting the East End so very hard.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03The final straw was in October 1936, when the British Union of Fascists
0:09:03 > 0:09:06planned a march through the streets of the East End.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09It was a deliberately intimidatory act.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13It was October 4th and 100,000 counterdemonstrators came
0:09:13 > 0:09:17to the streets of the East End to protest against the fascist march.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20There, they blocked Cable Street in an attempt
0:09:20 > 0:09:21to bring the march to a halt.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26There were 10,000 policemen on duty that day to try to force a way
0:09:26 > 0:09:29through for the fascists to march because they had a right to march -
0:09:29 > 0:09:31that was their legal right.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34But Jack Myers and his fellow protesters
0:09:34 > 0:09:35were successful in their mission.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Eventually, the police realised that the popular feeling in East End
0:09:39 > 0:09:41was against this march
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and they re-routed it, and the march fizzled away.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48But the march left around 175 casualties in its wake
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and the unruly events of that day have since been dubbed
0:09:52 > 0:09:54the Battle of Cable Street.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56It was a historic day for the East End
0:09:56 > 0:09:58because it was the first time that people came together
0:09:58 > 0:10:00from all different communities,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03young and old, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and non-Jew
0:10:03 > 0:10:06came together to defend the streets of the East End
0:10:06 > 0:10:09as a place where people must live and could live together.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Back in the office,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14the hunt for Anne Harris's relatives was continuing.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17The team were looking further into Jack's life to see
0:10:17 > 0:10:20if he had provided any heirs.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23From the information on his record, we know that he was a market trader.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26And...
0:10:27 > 0:10:30..that it didn't look like, from the death record,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33that he had any family, or certainly no children.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37So, the trail for Anne's heirs had reached a dead end, with both
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Anne her brother Jack passing away with no immediate next of kin.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45But it wasn't long before a new clue came to light that would bring
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Anne Harris's case back to life.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Initially from our research,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52we believed Jack was the only sibling of the deceased.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54But, looking at the records,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57and the information that was coming through, it transpired that there
0:10:57 > 0:11:01was, in fact, another sibling of the deceased, Barnett Myers.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11Up and down the land,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14heir hunters are on the trail of beneficiaries of people who
0:11:14 > 0:11:18have passed away with no apparent next of kin and leaving no will.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23In an attempt to collate clues and grow family trees,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26they hope to be led to their living heirs.
0:11:26 > 0:11:27Hello?
0:11:29 > 0:11:32It's the case of retired factory worker Lesley Palmer
0:11:32 > 0:11:35that the team from Finders in London are working on today,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38after it came to them via a private referral.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42THEY CHAT INAUDIBLY
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Lesley sadly passed away in a care home
0:11:47 > 0:11:52in Hatfield in Hertfordshire aged 85 in 2009.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Ryan and the team have limited information to kick off
0:11:57 > 0:11:59their search for potential heirs.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03In the instruction, we received his date of birth, date of death
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and his last known address.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Yes, that was a long shot anyway.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10We thought he owned his property, and we were working
0:12:10 > 0:12:13on the assumption that the estate was worth over £100,000.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18But since Lesley died over six years ago, it would mean Ryan
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and his colleagues would have to work a little bit harder
0:12:21 > 0:12:23to unearth more clues.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28No, on there, you might be able to find a death...on mortality.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32It can cause some issues for us in terms of trying to find out
0:12:32 > 0:12:34more information on the person.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38This can be because the staff have moved on from the care home
0:12:38 > 0:12:41that the person was resident in, or it may be as simple as neighbours
0:12:41 > 0:12:45have moved away from the area that the deceased person had lived.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50While Ryan and the team are hard at work in the office,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53travelling researcher Howard Kleinberg hit the road on the hunt
0:12:53 > 0:12:56for new information about Lesley Palmer from his neighbours.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02It's the team on the ground who can bring in invaluable clues
0:13:02 > 0:13:05when the team in the office are faced with a tricky case.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Sometimes, you may know where someone lives.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11But unless you're confident of their name,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13you can't actually find out a phone number,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16so knocking on the door is always the best bet
0:13:16 > 0:13:18to try and confirm that.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And neighbours and people in the local area who may know them.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Howard's been pounding the streets in Hatfield
0:13:25 > 0:13:28where Lesley Palmer lived, but to no avail.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32We've been to the address which he did live at. No-one at the address.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Knocked on a couple of neighbours' addresses.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Not too many people knew much about him, to be honest.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44He was a bit of a loner. Wasn't aware of his marital status, really,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and weren't aware of visitors that he was having.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Although the job of a travelling research is a crucial one,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52it doesn't always bear fruit.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59It's a bit sad inasmuch that the guy was obviously known...
0:13:59 > 0:14:03but people are either reluctant to talk about him
0:14:03 > 0:14:05or he wasn't that well-known.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10After his tour of the neighbourhood, Howard is none the wiser
0:14:10 > 0:14:13about the life and circumstances of Lesley Palmer.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18This lands even more weight square on the shoulders
0:14:18 > 0:14:20of the search back in the office.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The first step for us was to find his birth entry.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28There were none in Hertfordshire, so we had to look further afield.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36We knew that he was born in the December of 1923.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39However, he was born right at the end on 24th December -
0:14:39 > 0:14:41that's Christmas Eve -
0:14:41 > 0:14:44and I imagine they would not have been able to register his birth
0:14:44 > 0:14:46until the following year.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49We jumped to the March quarter of 1924.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51We saw that there were three Lesley Palmer's born
0:14:51 > 0:14:55in the March quarter of 1924 without a middle initial.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58There was one in Barrow, one in West Ham and one in Bristol.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03We narrowed it down to the one in West Ham, as Lesley
0:15:03 > 0:15:05passed away in Hertfordshire,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and this appears to be the closest location.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11The birth certificate is the key to unlocking the door
0:15:11 > 0:15:14to Lesley's past and to getting the search well off the ground.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19When Lesley Palmer's birth certificate came through,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23we were able to see that his father was Enoch Palmer
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and that his mother was Julie Palmer, formerly Robinson.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29The occupation of his father was a bootmaker.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Finally, the heir hunters had set off on the road which would
0:15:34 > 0:15:38hopefully lead them to Lesley's heirs.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41They now knew that he hailed from the East End of London,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45and could start building a picture of his life and where he grew up.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48I think the area was, back in those days,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52was a very tightknit community.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56Everybody down the street used to speak to each other and say hello,
0:15:56 > 0:16:03know everybody's names...and, yes, it was a good community to live in.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07People didn't move, in those days, didn't move too far away
0:16:07 > 0:16:09from where their...
0:16:09 > 0:16:13where their parents and grandparents were born and brought up.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Now they knew who Lesley's parents were, the team could put
0:16:18 > 0:16:22the information to use to find out if they'd had any other children.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26First, they had to find a record of his parents' marriage.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28There's an Enoch Palmer marrying a Julie Robinson
0:16:28 > 0:16:33in the September quarter of 1912 in West Ham.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Given that Lesley's parents were married in 1912
0:16:36 > 0:16:39and he was born in 1923, we would anticipate there may have been
0:16:39 > 0:16:42some children born within that timeframe.
0:16:42 > 0:16:43But, given the First World War,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47there may have been a gap prior to Lesley being born.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50There maybe wouldn't have been as many children to that marriage
0:16:50 > 0:16:52as there would have been at any other time.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57World War I disrupted families,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00as fathers were enlisted to fight for their country -
0:17:00 > 0:17:02exactly what happened to Lesley's father
0:17:02 > 0:17:04nine years before he was born.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08At the war's root was Britain and the Allied forces going
0:17:08 > 0:17:12head-to-head with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Enoch Palmer enlisted in the army and, after only four months
0:17:17 > 0:17:20on the front line, he was taken captive by the Germans.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26He was held in an allied prisoner of war camp
0:17:26 > 0:17:28called Giessen near Frankfurt.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31He was captured on 12th February, 1916,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34when the enemy mounted a large trench raid
0:17:34 > 0:17:38against the position that his unit was holding north of Ypres.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42He was one of 39 men captured on that day.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45They were the lucky ones.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47A number of their comrades perished.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Prisoners of war were not uncommon in these times,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53and, although the men were glad to be alive,
0:17:53 > 0:17:55life in captivity was tough.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57The conditions in the prisoner of war camps
0:17:57 > 0:17:59generally were fairly harsh.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04Little food, little comfort, men were living in unheated huts
0:18:04 > 0:18:05and that sort of thing.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Luckily for Enoch Palmer,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11his time as a prisoner of war wasn't as bad as it could have been.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17The accounts of Giessen show that it's one of the better camps of all.
0:18:17 > 0:18:18Very large.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Huts were built to accommodate the men, thousands of men.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27But, over the years, other facilities were added which
0:18:27 > 0:18:33at least gave some social life to prison camp day-to-day existence.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Even so, as the war continued, conditions deteriorated.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Germany itself also began to struggle economically
0:18:44 > 0:18:48as the war went by, with increasing shortages of food, in particular,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52and, naturally, this feeds down to the prison camps.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56If the population around is not eating, then you can bet
0:18:56 > 0:19:00the prisoners of war are going to feel the sharp end of that shortage.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Not knowing how Lesley's father was, the worry for his mother Julia
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and the rest of the family was unimaginable.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Enoch would have been able to communicate with his family
0:19:12 > 0:19:14only very infrequently.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17There was a possibility of sending letters home,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21but he knew full well that there was a censorship regime going on
0:19:21 > 0:19:24and what he was allowed to say was going to be very limited.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Some men managed to escape,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28but, for those who didn't,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33their liberation came with the end of the war, on November 11th, 1918.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37In many, many of the cities, towns and villages of the country,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40civic receptions were held to welcome them home.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Little parties, street parties, things going off in town halls
0:19:44 > 0:19:46and the like to welcome the prisoners of war back.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Enoch's nearest and dearest were thrilled to have him home
0:19:50 > 0:19:52and he slipped back into family life.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Although a picture was coming alive of Lesley Palmer's father,
0:19:57 > 0:19:58it didn't help the heir hunters
0:19:58 > 0:20:01in their quest to find his living relatives.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04The search was still on for any siblings.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Maybe get us a couple of certs and see.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Once we had Lesley's parents' marriage certificate,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16we established that both of his parents were aged 25 in 1912.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Using that, we knew we had a definitive end date
0:20:19 > 0:20:22to the birth search for any siblings of Lesley.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26That took us to 1932, so we were really seeing
0:20:26 > 0:20:31whether there was anybody else born in West Ham within that timeframe.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36In 1932, Lesley's mother Julia would have been 45,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39so the search for siblings of his continued.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42And, as investigations rolled on,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46some surprising new facts about his family history came to light.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Interesting for us that we found out that Lesley's father
0:20:49 > 0:20:53and his brother both fought against the Germans but in different wars.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57What he's seen in those five or six years...
0:20:57 > 0:20:58- Yeah.- ..must have been terrible.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Every year in Britain, thousands of people get a surprise
0:21:11 > 0:21:13knock on the door from the heir hunters.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16You tend to sort of think to yourself, "Well, I'm not sure
0:21:16 > 0:21:19"if this is real or not." So it was quite a surprise.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Today, we've got details of two estates on the
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia list that are yet to be claimed.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32The first case is that of Constance Sylvia Burleigh Martin,
0:21:32 > 0:21:39who died in Newport on the Isle of Wight on 29th June, 1993, aged 77.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47She was born on 21st July, 1915, in Plumstead, London.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Interestingly, she had two aliases -
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Constance Sylvia Gingell and Constance Sylvia Burleigh Gingell.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Her parents were Londoners, Lancelot Augustus Hand Gingell,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03who died in 1954 in Sydenham,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06and Dorothy Martin, who died in Lambeth.
0:22:11 > 0:22:17The next case is that of Peggy Lisney, who died on 26th June, 1993
0:22:17 > 0:22:19in the London Borough of Sutton.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24She was born in 1924 in Hendon, which was then in Middlesex,
0:22:24 > 0:22:30on either 15th July or 3rd August, with the name Daisy William.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37She was informally adopted and given the name Peggy Lisney.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40As this was before the 1926 Adoption Act,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43it was carried out without legal sanction
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and adopted children did not have the rights of natural children.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51However, it also means adoptive relatives
0:22:51 > 0:22:53can benefit from her estate.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57If you think you might be related to either of these people,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00you would need to make a claim on their estate
0:23:00 > 0:23:02through the government legal department.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Once again, the names of the cases we are trying to solve
0:23:05 > 0:23:07with your help today are...
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Heir hunters from Fraser & Fraser in London are searching for
0:23:24 > 0:23:28beneficiaries of the late Anne Harris' estate.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Anne was the daughter of an immigrant Jewish family,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33and was born and bred in London's East End.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39When she sadly passed away in 2013, she was 97 years old.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43All the people who are migrating anywhere would have
0:23:43 > 0:23:46arrived in London and that's because it's close to the docks.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And, like most migrants, would not have travelled very far,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51so they would have settled not far from the docks.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56Anne's parents owned a tobacconist and sweet shop in Poplar,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59but, when World War II broke out in 1939,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02they knew their London life was going to change forever.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08It was in 1940 that the war really hit Anne's family
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and their fellow East Enders.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13Before then, times were tough,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16but Londoners' lives had not been in danger.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19That all changed when Hitler decided to drop bombs on the capital
0:24:19 > 0:24:21and the Blitz commenced.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26When the air campaign by the Luftwaffe to bomb London commenced
0:24:26 > 0:24:29on 7th September, the East End really was their target.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32The East End at that time was the home of the London docks,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36really one of the major, major docks in the world.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38It was also the home of many key industries,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42so the Luftwaffe really saw this as a key strategic target and,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44for the first week of the Blitz,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47they really kept their focus on the East End.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Residents had to take action to stay safe.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54The government supplied around two million tin shelters,
0:24:54 > 0:24:55called Anderson shelters,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59for people to use in their own homes to protect themselves.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04Around 27%-29% of people had their own shelters outside their home.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Around 4% of people used the underground
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and I think many people will be familiar with images of people
0:25:11 > 0:25:13queueing up to go into underground stations,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16people sleeping on underground station platforms.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19The most surprising thing is that over 60% of Londoners
0:25:19 > 0:25:22preferred to stay in their own beds during raids.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27But for those who decided to seek safety within the shelters,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30conditions were cramped, dark, cold and damp.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35This shelter would be much, much more secure
0:25:35 > 0:25:38than simply staying in your own bed during an air raid.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39If we look inside the shelter,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42you'll really be able to see how small it is inside there.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44People really were packed in.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46People would take their own heating with them
0:25:46 > 0:25:49but there wouldn't be electricity supplied to these shelters.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Living in the heart of the East End, Anne's family home and shop
0:25:53 > 0:25:56were in the area targeted by bombs.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59The family was evacuated to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire,
0:25:59 > 0:26:01where they were safer.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And, after eight dreadful months, the Blitz ended.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11May 1941, when the Germans decided that they would invade
0:26:11 > 0:26:13the Soviet Union, as it then was,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16and so the bombing fleet was required for that operation,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20and then London had a relatively calm experience
0:26:20 > 0:26:22for the next two or three years.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25And Londoners concentrated on recovering
0:26:25 > 0:26:29and rebuilding their lives, their homes and their city.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35In the office, the team was still hard at work trying
0:26:35 > 0:26:38to piece together Anne's family tree.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42After learning she had a younger brother, Jack, who had passed away,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44leaving no children,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47the search was going to move back a generation in the hope
0:26:47 > 0:26:51of finding uncles and aunts who might provide cousins and heirs.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57It was at this point that a crucial new piece of evidence
0:26:57 > 0:26:59came to the surface.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02It came to light that the executor of Jack Myers' estate,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04when he died in 2009,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08was a Neil Myers. Sharing the family name, who was he?
0:27:08 > 0:27:12The obvious thing for us to do was locate Neil and speak to him,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16try and find out how was he connected to the deceased.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Unfortunately for us, he was living in the United States
0:27:19 > 0:27:22and we couldn't actually track him down,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25but what we were able to do was find a birth record for him.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28And from that birth record, we noted that he had brothers and sisters.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And, from that record, we could start working backwards
0:27:31 > 0:27:35and tie in his family to our deceased.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Neil Myers' birth records revealed that his father
0:27:39 > 0:27:44was one Barnett Lionel Myers, also known as Myerovitch.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48With these two surnames listed, the heir hunters surmised that
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Barnett must have had a connection to Anne.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Next, the team had to locate his birth record.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59The reason we had trouble trying to locate the birth record
0:27:59 > 0:28:03of Barnett was it comes back down to variants of the names.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Not only were we dealing with a variant of the surname,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08but also the maiden name. In fact, quite dramatic variants.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12So, on the normal search, he wouldn't come up.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15But now we had his Christian name, Barnett,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19we could look at all the variants and really do a detailed search.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24And, eventually, we found his birth record in Whitechapel in 1919.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27And with Barnett's birth record in hand,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30the team managed to trace his parents.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33They discovered they were none other than Lazarus Myerovitch
0:28:33 > 0:28:35and Kate Maginsky.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Barnett was Anne Harris' brother.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42It was already known that Barnett had one son, Neil,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44so the search had finally borne fruit
0:28:44 > 0:28:47and an heir of Anne's had been found -
0:28:47 > 0:28:50something that was a happy surprise for everyone.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Well, to be honest, I pretty much thought the job was dead
0:28:53 > 0:28:55because it looked like there was no-one else
0:28:55 > 0:28:57in the family still alive.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00With one heir finally discovered, next, the team
0:29:00 > 0:29:03needed to find out if Barnett had any other children
0:29:03 > 0:29:07in addition to Neil, as they would also be Anne's beneficiaries.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10But the marriage certificate for Barnett couldn't be located,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13so the search had once again hit a brick wall.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16There wasn't anything coming up in England,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19so I decided to have a look and do a world search of the marriage.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Given Barnett is quite an unusual first name,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24luckily I came up with a marriage in Egypt.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29I discovered that Barnett Lionel Myers married Miriam Moreno.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33They married on 29th January, 1945, in Cairo.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36At 23 years of age,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39while his family were suffering in the Blitz in London,
0:29:39 > 0:29:44Barnett Myerovitch was a sergeant in the RAF, stationed in Cairo.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48There, he met a Jewish Egyptian girl called Miriam Moreno
0:29:48 > 0:29:52and, in 1945, they were married in Cairo.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57With this vital piece of information,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01the team could find out if Barnett and Miriam had had any more children
0:30:01 > 0:30:05in addition to Neil, who would also be heirs of Anne's.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07We established that there were four children
0:30:07 > 0:30:09from the marriage of Barnett.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13Neil, who was the one bit of the jigsaw that cracked the case.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Anne's niece Zoe remembers her aunt very clearly.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22Anne was the elder sister of my father.
0:30:22 > 0:30:23We always called her Auntie Anne.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26She was a very diminutive woman, like her mother.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30I think maybe not more than 4'9", 4'10" maximum.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33My mum said she was quite a stunning woman in her day
0:30:33 > 0:30:36because she was blonde, and had deep blue eyes,
0:30:36 > 0:30:40and, in a Jewish community, my mum said she could have had her pick.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45Although she was tiny and very fragile, she was extremely tough
0:30:45 > 0:30:47and tenacious at the same time.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Growing up in a troubled part of London, residents had to be
0:30:52 > 0:30:56thick-skinned and, as a family, the Myerovitches stuck together.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59Zoe remembers tales of Chalky's,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Anne's father, her grandfather's shop.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Back in the day, it was very well-known locally.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10It was a sweet and tobacconist's. I don't think it sold newspapers.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14People used to queue around the block for Chalky's Penny Wafers.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17And then, I think, my father went off to war
0:31:17 > 0:31:19and the shop got bombed out.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Zoe's father, Barnett, died in 2006.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Sadly, his death signalled the end of her relationship
0:31:27 > 0:31:29with her auntie Anne.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32After I lost my father and my mother,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36I tried to...stay in touch with her
0:31:36 > 0:31:40and offered to make some sort of regular visits to ensure
0:31:40 > 0:31:43some of her wellbeing, and...
0:31:43 > 0:31:46she wasn't really open to that suggestion.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50So, unfortunately, as a result of that, we lost touch.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55What started off as a wild goose chase had now come full circle,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59and four nieces and nephews had been found to inherit
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Anne Harris' estate, thought to be over £5,000.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Quite satisfying, really, that we got to the heirs eventually.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Today, Zoe is glad to be reunited with memories
0:32:09 > 0:32:13of her long-lost aunt and of days gone by.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17It is a bittersweet thing because sometimes I would see
0:32:17 > 0:32:20glimpses of someone that I was really fond of.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I don't have a large family.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25I was quite keen on the idea and the notion of aunts and uncles,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28and I used to quite like the way she mothered me.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32For some of my childhood, she did figure quite highly.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43In London, heir hunters from probate genealogists firm
0:32:43 > 0:32:45Finders have been delving into the case
0:32:45 > 0:32:48of retired factory worker Lesley Palmer.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Although he was an East Ender, Lesley moved to Hatfield
0:32:51 > 0:32:57in Hertfordshire, where he died aged 85 in 2009.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01He left no will and had no apparent next of kin.
0:33:01 > 0:33:07Yep. If you want to add all of those three possible children to the tree.
0:33:07 > 0:33:08The team have discovered
0:33:08 > 0:33:11his parents were Enoch Palmer and Julia Robinson,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and were now looking to see if Lesley had any siblings.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18First of all, we would look for other births between a Palmer
0:33:18 > 0:33:20and a Robinson in the London area.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24We can see that Enoch and Julia had three more children.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27First of all, they had Violet Isabel,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30born on 30th September, 1914.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Once we had Violet's birth certificate,
0:33:32 > 0:33:34we could then do a marriage search for her,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37but also, given that we had her full date of birth,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41it could mean we could jump another step and go directly to
0:33:41 > 0:33:44identifying a potential death cert for her.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48We can see that there is a Violet I Palmer born in 1914,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50who died in 1964.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54This would mean that she died as a spinster at the age of 50.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57With confirmation that Violet had passed away with no children,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01the search moved onto her younger sister, Gladys.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06We can see there is a Gladys Palmer, who passed away in 1976 in Newham.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Gladys also passed away as a spinster at the age of 60 years old.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14So, with two sisters providing no nieces or nephews for Lesley,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18the family tree might need to be broadened to take in maternal
0:34:18 > 0:34:21and paternal cousins, meaning a much bigger workload
0:34:21 > 0:34:23for Ryan and the team.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29We knew that the Palmer family was very large and we knew...
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Well, we know from experience that Robinson is not a very easy
0:34:33 > 0:34:36surname to work with, so, at this point, we're slightly
0:34:36 > 0:34:40concerned as to how this case may escalate out of control.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44But before they were forced to turn their search to aunts and uncles,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47there was one more name that came to light -
0:34:47 > 0:34:49an older brother of Lesley's.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53If we were going to find any close kin who'd be entitled
0:34:53 > 0:34:55to inherit from the estate,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59all our hopes really rested on the line of Ronald Enoch Palmer.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03A Ronald E Palmer's birth record was found on the birth index
0:35:03 > 0:35:06and his birth certificate was ordered.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08This was how the team would confirm
0:35:08 > 0:35:10if they had found the right Ronald E Palmer.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14He was born on 4th September, 1919.
0:35:14 > 0:35:20Again, confirming his parents names as Enoch and Julia.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23It gives us Enoch's occupation as a boot repairer.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26From having Ronald's birth certificate,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29we then had a look to see if we could find any marriages for him.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Given his age and his father's military background, we had to
0:35:31 > 0:35:36bear in mind that he may also have been involved in active service.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Now, the good thing was, when we found his marriage entry in 1945,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43we could see that, luckily, he survived the war.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47He came back and married Hazel, who was about six years his junior.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50We could then hope they may have had children.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55If they had, they would be Lesley's nieces or nephews and his heirs.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00Luckily, we found out that himself and his wife had one son
0:36:00 > 0:36:06called Brian in 1946 and another called David in 1949.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10With the existence of Lesley's nephews confirmed,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13it didn't take long to track them down to Essex.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17My uncle Lesley was
0:36:17 > 0:36:19a part of my life in the early part of my life.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21We had some holidays together,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23we had some nice times together.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Unfortunately, we drifted apart and had become estranged,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30so it was quite a shock out of the blue
0:36:30 > 0:36:32when the heir hunters actually phoned me.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36When I was younger, I can remember him being caring
0:36:36 > 0:36:38and wanting to talk to you, and everything.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41I can remember him being slim.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Always in a suit and a tie.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47I suppose it was quite upsetting, really, that we found out
0:36:47 > 0:36:49that our uncle Lesley had passed away.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53It would have been nice to talk to him, and for my family
0:36:53 > 0:36:55to have met him, to have known
0:36:55 > 0:36:58that he was part of our family as my uncle.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03After much hard work, the heir hunters were glad
0:37:03 > 0:37:07they'd finally succeeded in finding Lesley's next of kin.
0:37:07 > 0:37:08Unfortunately, though,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12the early estimate of his estate turned out to be wrong.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Lesley didn't own his property as they had believed.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19It was a few thousand pounds, but, obviously,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22this is still a welcome sum of money for anybody to receive.
0:37:22 > 0:37:23There was just two heirs.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27In terms of our involvement, it was still a successful case for us.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31The biggest reward that I feel is actually making
0:37:31 > 0:37:34some sort of contact and put some extra links in the chain
0:37:34 > 0:37:39of his existence with my own father,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42and the rest of the family.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Lesley's case has made Brian
0:37:44 > 0:37:47and David consider their own family history.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Their father, Ronald Enoch Palmer, died in 1993 and
0:37:53 > 0:37:57at the forefront of their thoughts is his experience of World War II.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03He volunteered to join the Army to go and fight for his country.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07He served in Africa, North Africa. He dropped in Arnhem in a glider.
0:38:07 > 0:38:13He came out, fortunate to get out of Arnhem.
0:38:13 > 0:38:19And then he went to Palestine. And, from Palestine, he was demobilised.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23I feel very proud of my father because...
0:38:23 > 0:38:27he went through such a lot to give us what we've got today.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33With the memory books opened,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Lesley's nephews have come to the Royal Artillery Museum in London
0:38:37 > 0:38:42to learn more about their father's time spent fighting for his country.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Paul Evans is the librarian here
0:38:44 > 0:38:48and has access to Ronald Enoch Palmer's war records.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52So, what we have, originally, he enlists,
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and he goes to the 50th Anti-tank Training Regiment,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56so he was going to be an anti-tank gunner.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59So that's his first fighting unit, OK?
0:38:59 > 0:39:01But that's in the United Kingdom.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03He was at Dover, Dover Castle, for a while.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06- Would that be the time he was at Dover Castle?- Yes.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08That would fit very nicely indeed.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11I think that's where he got a Defence Medal for that.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14There's the 39-45 Star, he gets the Italy Star,
0:39:14 > 0:39:15he gets the War Medal,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17the France and Germany Medal and the Defence Medal.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20So, we know, at some point, he's in Italy.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22We know, at some point, he's in France and Germany.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24And we also know he also does three years
0:39:24 > 0:39:26defending the United Kingdom, so we know that.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28He then passes a trade test
0:39:28 > 0:39:33- and is qualified for the appointment as an equipment repairman.- Yes.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38OK, so that's his job. He's now repairing all the equipment
0:39:38 > 0:39:41that anti-tank regiment and battery are using.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43That's everything, from compasses up to guns.
0:39:43 > 0:39:48From 1943 to 1945, he's with the 1st Airlanding Light
0:39:48 > 0:39:51and they are part of the airborne forces.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Now, air landing goes with the airborne forces,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56so by glider and by parachute.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58What else did he tell you?
0:39:58 > 0:40:01He didn't actually tell us what his progress in his career
0:40:01 > 0:40:03through the Army at all.
0:40:03 > 0:40:04He just came out with snippets.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07It's the development of the airborne forces,
0:40:07 > 0:40:08he's been involved in it from day one.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12But although Ronald Palmer was a member of the airborne forces,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15his wartime experience was not spent in the air,
0:40:15 > 0:40:17like David and Brian believed.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21We know he's an equipment repairman.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24He's not in the glider. He's not the assault troops, OK?
0:40:24 > 0:40:28He's going by ship, later. He's the support staff.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32On 17th September, 1944,
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Allied troops joined forces in the Battle of Arnhem.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40The largest airborne and glider operation in history
0:40:40 > 0:40:44saw 5,000 aircraft descend on the Dutch city.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48Their aim was to advance into Germany and end the war.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53The combined air and land mission
0:40:53 > 0:40:55was known as Operation Market Garden.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Ronald Palmer was part of the operation and arrived by road
0:41:01 > 0:41:03after the landings had taken place.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06So when we thought he landed in the gliders, he didn't.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09- He was trying to provide them with equipment.- That's it.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11He'd got Germans to the left and right of him
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and everybody's shooting at him.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16- So where he thought he was, he wasn't.- He wasn't.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21Unfortunately, Operation Market GARDEN was not a success.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The Allied forces failed and couldn't advance further.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29On the ground, Ronald and his fellow soldiers had arrived late
0:41:29 > 0:41:31and were greeted with casualties of war.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34He's with the tanks trying to get there.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37- Trying to get through to the...- He's the rescue party at the other end.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39They didn't get there.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41They're the party that didn't get to Arnhem,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45but when they got there, he got there in time to get the survivors,
0:41:45 > 0:41:49so he did a vital role rescuing the survivors.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51They reckon that, if they'd have took Arnhem, that would have
0:41:51 > 0:41:54- shortened the war, and it would have saved a lot of lives.- Absolutely.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57The mental pressure would be immense on him.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01It must have been really tough, really.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04- He has not had a good war. - No, he hasn't.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08What he's seen in those...five or six years...
0:42:09 > 0:42:10..must've been terrible.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13After the failed mission in Arnhem,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16the brothers know their father was posted to many more countries with
0:42:16 > 0:42:20the 1st Airborne Regiment before the war ended and he was sent home.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25He found it hard to talk about. He wouldn't talk to us about it.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Yes, absolutely. He doesn't want to remember it.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Thanks very much for going through the history.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32- No problem, my pleasure. - Yes, thank you, Paul.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34And for putting it all together.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38Not only had the sad event of Lesley Palmer's passing reconnected him
0:42:38 > 0:42:42with his estranged nephews, but they'd also been given
0:42:42 > 0:42:45the gift of adding to their own family history.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51It's all about memories, things that can...
0:42:51 > 0:42:55we can look at, and see our uncle and our dad together.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58That'll be better for us to see
0:42:58 > 0:43:00rather than what any money could give us, really.