Laughter and tears at John’s family reunion

Jun 12 2009 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

BACK home after a mission to the USA to be reunited with his long-lost sister, Scone octogenarian John Ireland told the PA of an emotional month filled with laughter and tears.

John (82) said goodbye to Alma, two years his senior, on New Street Station, Birmingham, 60 years ago. And then the siblings lost touch until a few months ago, thanks to the Salvation Army.

When the former Black Watch soldier, who has no living relatives in this country, contacted the Salvation Armys Family Tracing Service, he little expected to be flying to the USA a few months later to meet the family he never knew existed.

Using the scant information Mr Ireland could provide about his sister after she left the country to become a GI bride, the Salvation Army not only reunited brother and sister, they also gave John the opportunity to meet Almas son and daughter and their children and grandchildren.

Thanks to the Salvation Army, life has turned around for us both, said John.

My sister had lost both her husband and her son within a year and had felt a lot of sadness. And Ive been on my own since my wife died. I was very close to Alma when we were kiddies and now we have each other again and I have a whole new family.

After Alma left Britain to marry her US Army officer, the couple moved all over the world until finally settling in Topeka, in Kansas State, to where John flew at the end of April.

John was met at Kansas Airport by Alma and her daughter and a television crew! Even on the plane the reason behind Johns flight had got out and the pensioner was given VIP treatment and plenty of media coverage.

John was delighted to find his sister in excellent health. He said: For 84 I have never seen anyone move like her. I was amazed how she gets around.

Time went very quickly, especially the last two weeks, which just flew by. It was a great experience.

Plans now are for John to make a return visit before the end of the year and possibly for Alma to come across to Scotland in the spring.

In the meantime, letters and photographs are winging across the Atlantic in great numbers, everyone keen to nurture and strengthen the family ties which the Second World War had so heartlessly torn apart.