Travel with Angela Lansbury: November 13th, Armistice Day. I remember Harry and wonder if I will ever visit El Alamein Museum

Sunday, November 13, 2022

November 13th, Armistice Day. I remember Harry and wonder if I will ever visit El Alamein Museum

On Armistice day and every day I recall Harry Godfrey, known as Val . because he was born on Valentine's Day in 1919.

He died in 1941 at El Alamein. The plane he was in was shot down and a couple of people survived but he was not one of them.

He was 22 years old.

He was married to my late mother, Netta, for 6 months.

Her father, Paul, had to go round to the boys' parents to tell them. Paul said as soon as Harry's parents opened their front door to him and saw his face they knew the bad news.

Netta had to keep the letter saying he was missing, presumed dead, in order for her to re-marry. After she died, I found it.

During WWII she later married my father.

Netta on her wedding day to my father.

I went to the 80th birthday party of a distant relative. One of her relatives pulled out a lot of family photos.

He said, 'This is her, this is so and so. I don't know who this couple are.'

I gasped, 'That's my parents! It's their wedding photo.'

'Are you sure it's them? It doesn't look like a wedding photo. She isn't wearing white.'

'It was wartime. Hard to get white. And not suitable. It was her second marriage. She lost her first husband in the war.'

'Would you like the photo?'

'I'd love it. Thank you. Are you sure?'

'Yes. It doesn't mean anything to me. But it's your parents and it means a lot to you so you should have it.'

For ancestry.com I have separated the picture of my father and mother to give each of them their separate entry in the family tree.

Bride Netta's wartime wedding.

My husband has used computer aided software to enhance the photo of her, making it sharper, and another programme to add colour. She had a sallow skin and brown eyes. Regardless, the likeness is good and I makes her look lovely, which she was, always smiling like me.

Netta Lansbury, wartime wedding photo. Colour enhanced by Trevor Sharot.

Always smiling around people, who are a fun distraction. Sad sometimes, when alone. When the past creeps up.

My mother died in the year 2000. I had been hunting for details of her husband for years, since then. I only recently found his Harry's obituary which does not mention my mother.

If his family have any descendants, I would love to hear from them. I would have liked a picture of my mother's marriage to him.

Where could I visit connected with him? The El Alamein cemetery has his name on the wall. Just a name. That's all.

Wikipedia has several photos of the cemetery and the museum and tanks on display.