Grown-up ‘War
Babies’ seek
their fathers

VANCE Pennington spent 32 years searching for his American GI father. Norma Clarke managed to find hers, within, within seven, and a former airhostess Barbara Cowin is still looking.

Three people, now in their forties, who grew up believing their real father was the man their mother had married. As, in hundreds of similar cases, they were in fact their step-fathers.

Their desperate urge to find their ‘other half’ has helped by TRACE – Transatlantic Children’s Enterprise – which was setup by former GI bride Pamela Winfield, and has united more than 600 couples.

In the run up to the invasion of France there were an estimates one million American servicemen in the United Kingdom who brought glamour into the drab lives of many English women. For many it was a one night stand, others enjoyed a loving relationship, and some married.

Those women who were abandoned were forced to deceive their husbands, fiances and even the children themselves. In those days unmarried mothers carried a social stigma, and GI’s who did try to contact their girlfriends were often stonewalled by the girl’s mother. Pamela Winfield, whose marriage was successful until her husband died tragically and she returned to England, said those mothers were now aged and dying. ‘They feel they want to confess to their children who are stunned and bewildered. Until they find their real father they don’t feel whole’, she explained.

TRACE provides contacts in America. ‘Then it’s up to the people concerned to do the leg work.’ She added.

Vance began seeking his father when he was 16 and thrown out of the home where he suffered both mental and physical abuse from his step-father. ‘He was a prominent Labour MP wielding power and influence.’ Recalled Vance. ‘ I hated him.’

His mother already had two sons plus a rocky marriage when she met the handsome American serviceman. ‘They lived as man and wife for Three years.’ Vance was born in 1946. A month later the GI returned home with the intention of sending for his British family when he got divorced.

But that never happened and instead Vance and his half-brother was put into a children’s home until his mother could manage to support three sons. ‘When my mother eventually got us out we were confronted with a strange man who told us he was our father.

‘So began an unhappy childhood with constant beatings. His mother, who had divorced her first husband, did nothing. This man was her only means of support.’

She had told Vance who his real father was when he was quite young. Kicked out of the house Vance wrote letters to anybody in the USA named Pennington. One important clue was his birth certificate with his father’s name and serial number.

He got married but it didn't last long. His wife divorced him because he was talking to much looking for his father.

Vance joined TRACE and as the final piece of the puzzle fell into place he was in for a shock. His father was dead. He had shot himself in 1972. ‘I sobbed my heart out. I had searched for so long, now I would never see or speak to him.’

Compensation was his father’s family, and after contacting them Vance met them last year (1994). He also visited his dad’s grave.

Vance said he head always felt more American than English. Now he hopes to begin a new life in the USA later this year.

Norma Clarke’s family knew her genetic father was a GI but nobody told her, although she had suspicions. After many denials from her mother she finally confessed seven years ago. She died six months later.

Armed with his name and few details, Norma finally pinned him down living in Weatherville, California. ‘I wrote to him several time but he didn't reply. I got very cross and wrote a final curt letter.’

An unexpected telephone call in May of 1993 from her half-brother confirmed that Larry was alive and well. A year later, Norma and her two children, made an emotional visit. ‘We got on so well’, said Norma who has written a book about her search.

In 1991 Barbara Cowin (49) discovered her real father was not the dead RAF hero she believed. ‘It was the most incredible feeling and I thought ‘So who the hell is?’

Only recently did her mother confess her indiscretion. Together Barbara and TRACE are following up leads.

‘I must continue. It is my right,’ she declared