THREAD
I’ve just had possibly the most extraordinary meeting of my life. A year ago, I posted this story about how my grandparents met - a New Zealand officer who married a Lebanese woman in Egypt at the end of WW2
I’ve just had possibly the most extraordinary meeting of my life. A year ago, I posted this story about how my grandparents met - a New Zealand officer who married a Lebanese woman in Egypt at the end of WW2
About a month ago, a man in New Zealand commented on that post, with this photo of my grandparents, asking if they were my family. He told me my grandfather’s personal photo collection was at NZ national library
Now I’m covering the #RoyalTour, I’ve been able to meet up with him. This is him: Mark Cousins. His grandfather Clarence was my grandfather’s orderly. He died in the war, but sent letters home saying how much he liked my grandfather - which prompted Mark to investigate
So nearly 80 years after he died, and about 16 years since my grandfather died, their two grandsons met up today in Wellington. In fact, Mark was in touch with my grandfather in 1994 - he sent him this letter - but then the trail went cold. Now we’ve finally met
They are incredible. The Anzac experience in northern Egypt. My grandparents courting in 1940s Cairo. My mum as a baby in Libya, Iraq and Lebanon (they moved around a lot after the war)
My mum seems to have one a beauty pageant when she was about 10 in Cairo. I’ve never seen these photos
This was probably the most incredible moment - and very emotional for me
So, Major Harold Claridge, from the New Zealand Royal Engineers - decades after you left this place for war, your grandson came home and rediscovered your history. You’ll never be forgotten
PS - This is the photo that made me cry. My grandmother gave this photo to my grandfather as he left Cairo in 1940 to go to war in Alamein. ‘Don’t forget me,’ it says. I won’t.
