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War veterans' emotional search to find long lost friends
Homeground: We'll Meet Again, BBC TWO, Thursday 20 June, 7.30pm
The
Second World War brought people together in the most extraordinary
and powerful of circumstances and created some of the most remarkable
friendships during troubled times.
Sadly
many lost touch after the war but a special BBC project, spanning
Britain and reaching into the farthest corners of the world, has
helped to bring long lost wartime buddies back together.
Now, some of the most moving and emotional of these attempts to
re-kindle past friendships are to be featured in a landmark BBC
TWO documentary, Homeground: We'll Meet Again, Thursday, 20 June
at 7.30pm.
Since
the We'll Meet Again project launched in November 2001 stories of
heroism, friendship and sheer human endurance have emerged.
The
campaign involved BBC Local Radio listeners from all over Britain
working together to re-unite wartime friends and colleagues.
Hundreds of people responded to appeals for information on the 39
stations and people from around the globe made contact through the
We'll Meet Again website - www.bbc.co.uk/meetagain.
Homeground
follows five of these stories as former service personnel go in
search of friendships past - with one of them receiving the surprise
of a lifetime.
Stan
Yule, a 92-year-old from Stockton-on-Tees, was on a mission to gather
up all seven of his Lancaster bomber crew.
In 1945 the crew flew on a dangerous assignment during which the
plane lost an engine. The crew only just managed to make it home
by the skin of their teeth. Stan, who was the navigator, never forgot
his wartime comrades and their daring exploits.
Now, 57 years on one of them journeys from the other side of the
world to be with Stan once again and give him the suprise of his
life.
The
first success of We’ll Meet Again happened within hours of
the broadcasts on local radio on Remembrance Sunday 2001.
John Coward from Preston wanted to contact Dolf Perkin, who he trained
with as an RAF pilot in the USA. The programme shows their emotional
re-union as they meet up for the first time since the war.
The
last time Bletchley Park code breaker Jo Lewington was due to see
her friend Frances Harvey was at Frances' wedding. But Jo, now an
81-year-old living in Reading, missed her train, arrived too late
and never saw her friend again.
Jo makes an appeal to find Frances on BBC Radio Northampton - the
town where Frances once lived - recollecting memories of their work
together at Bletchley Park and the wartime dances that they used
to go to.
Roy
Clarke, a former radio operator now living in Market Rasen, looks
for his buddy with whom he shared an inspirational story of heroism
and endurance.
Having been shot down over Berlin, Roy was captured by the Nazis
and sent to the Stalag 6 prisoner of war camp. It was here that
he met Sid Cawkwell - one of the first POWs to be captured during
the war. Later they moved to Stalag 3 - the camp made famous in
the film The Great Escape.
They
made several attempts to escape and finally succeeded in 1945, escaping
from the Death March on the way to the Bavarian Alps. In total they
spent a year together fighting for their survival.
Roy makes an appeal on BBC Radio Humberside and visits the last
known address of Sid at Ancaster Avenue, Hull. But can he find the
man he went through so much with?
Former
corporal Ronald Thompson, a 78-year-old now living in Southampton,
has a very special photograph of three young corporals 'Tommo',
'Frankie' and 'Percy'.
They found themselves fighting together during the war and were
inseparable. Today Ronald and Norman Franklin search for 'Percy',
whose last known address was Croydon and, as the cameras follow
them on their quest, the pair remain ever hopeful that they can
bring the photo back to life.
Producer
Ashley Potterton said: "The programme epitomises many of the
wonderful stories and the amazing friendships from the Second World
War. It really does bring home how people relied on each other to
survive the war years and just how those frienships have stood the
test of time."
Notes to Editors
Details of the emotional reunion
party planned for wartime buddies
We'll
Meet Again is a Redman Films production for BBC TWO.
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