Wartime family history quest leads to Anchor’s 103-year-old Jack

Tracing your family history has become a national pastime. And Simon Kovach knows that better than most as his quest to find out more about his late grandfather takes him to Timken Grange care home later this month to meet a 103-year-old resident.

Simon is set to meet Jack Waterfield, an armed forces veteran who may have served with Simon’s grandfather Alec Sykes in the Special Erection Party in Gibraltar during the Second World War.

Alec sadly passed away in 1992 but it was recently transcribing his wartime diary that led to Simon beginning to piece together his grandfather’s life and his research has led him to believe that Alec and Jack may have known each other or even served together.

Alec’s diary describes his time as an LAC (Leading Aircraftman) Fitter and starts from 20 October 1942, running with regular updates until 28 May 1946. It is a gripping, fascinating and frequently harrowing first hand graphically described account of wartime service on the front line, accompanied by numerous contemporary pictures.

Simon - himself a former RAF pilot and Squadron Leader - is now set to visit Jack at his home at Anchor’s Timken Grange care home in Duston, Northampton, for lunch on July 18 and hopes to learn more about wartime in Gibraltar and North Africa through the memory of one of the last surviving veterans.

The transcription appears to refer several times to a “Jock” but grandad Alec’s writing is not always clear and it could be Jack Waterfield that Alec was referring to. As part of his quest, Simon also recently met with two authors who had interviewed Jack about General Sikorski’s fatal plane crash in 1943. The authors believed one of the pictures in Alec Sykes’ diary to be Jack and passed on his contact details to Simon.

Simon, based in Weston-under-Redcastle in north Shropshire, asked Anchor colleagues at Timken Grange to pass on scans of Alec’s diary to Jack and the 103-year-old wrote with enthusiasm to Simon in response and invited him to visit – which has led to the meeting on July 18.

Jack wrote:

If you want to see me some time, I can explain all to you, I have lots to tell about North Africa, Italy and the short time in Palestine after war in Europe.

Louise Mulvany, Home Manager of Timken Grange, said:

It really is a lovely story and hopefully Simon will be able to learn a lot more about Alec’s wartime life and they might be able to work out whether Jack and Alec knew each other or served together. Who knows what will come out of their meeting? So the story is very exciting for everyone who has been touched by it.

Timken Grange care home is a contemporary residential care home, providing luxurious and comfortable facilities set in private landscaped gardens. Ideally located in the historic village of South Duston. To find out more about the care home, visit here.