'I found my cousin in Cairo during the war'

Veteran Percy Chafer never knew what happened to his cousin during World War Two - until his story was revealed in The National Archives

After 104 years of living, there was not much that was new to World War Two veteran Percy Chafer from London.

But one thing that always remained a mystery was what happened to his cousin Fred Stredder during the war, after they met by chance in a cafe in Egypt.

He and his family finally uncovered more about Fred's time as a prisoner of war thanks to records at The National Archives.

Now on Remembrance Sunday, his family hopes their experience will encourage others to have conversations and share their own stories - to make sure their memories never die.

The family's journey through the past began when former gunner Percy, from Pimlico in central London, shared his story of landing on Sword Beach with the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army.

This made his cousin's daughter Jaqueline realise how little she knew about her own father.

All she knew was that Fred was a prisoner of war, and had escaped before being recaptured - so BBC Breakfast took them both to the archives to find out more.

Cairo chance meeting

When Fred and Percy left London for the war, they thought they might never see each other again - but one photograph was the stuff of legend in Percy’s family.

It showed Percy and Fred's cameos, overlaid on the pyramids of Cairo, and hinted at an unbelievable story Percy told of a chance meeting when Percy had been a Desert Rat - a group of British soldiers who helped to defeat the Germans in North Africa during the war.

Shortly after they bumped into each other in Egypt, Percy, right, was told his cousin was missing, and later found out he had been a prisoner of war

"We were sitting outside, and one of our comrades made a remark that there was a man looking at me, and I looked over and thought I didn't know him and couldn't recognise who he was," Percy said.

"And then he walked towards me, and the very words he said to me were, 'Are you Percy Chafer?' So I said 'yes', and he replied, 'I'm your cousin Fred', which really took me aback.

"I thought, well, I've come all this way, and I've got to meet my cousin - found him in Cairo of all places!"

More than 2,000 miles from home, the cousins bumped into each other for a moment and then went their separate ways.

Just talking about the encounter revealed a new part of their stories to Jacqueline, who said: "I didn't I didn't know you two met in Cairo; that was amazing."

Then Percy received the news he hoped he would never hear.

Percy, right, sitting at the table where be believes me met his cousin in Cairo. The identity of the other man in this picture is unknown

"We went back up the line, and the next thing I knew was my mum had written to me saying that Freddie was missing," he said.

Finding a white card with a fingerprint, Jacqueline read it and explained: "It's a card that gives all the information about my dad and where he was held as a prisoner of war, finally in Lamsdorf, which is on the border of Germany and Poland.

"It gives details of the dates that he was captured, of his army number, his prisoner of war number... it's even got his thumbprint there. Oh, that is amazing!"

That thumbprint made at Stalag 8b inspired Jacqueline to search for more answers in a Facebook group for relatives of prisoners of war.

The document features black print in German, handwriting in blue ink about Fred, and a black ink fingerprint

Escaping in disguise

It was in that group that she was handed a second document, which showed her dad was previously held in Camp 70 on the east coast of Italy.

For Jacqueline, that shed light on another story that Fred had chosen to tell her.

"He said he’d escaped with a friend called Stephen. They escaped, and they disguised themselves as Italian fishermen.

"They had their ears pierced and were probably quite tanned from their time in Egypt, where he was, and they escaped."

Jacqueline’s mother Sally told her when Fred came home he had lost eight stone, which Percy estimated was half his cousin’s bodyweight

Despite his daring and disguised escape, Fred was eventually recaptured.

Dates on other documents suggest Fred may have taken part in the brutal Long March towards the end of the war, when prisoners were forced to leave the camps without provisions and walk across war-torn Europe during one of the harshest winters on record.

'He lost eight stone'

Jacqueline’s mother, Sally, told her when Fred came home he had lost eight stone, which Percy estimated was half his cousin’s body weight.

Percy said it was common not to want to discuss the trauma of war decades ago, but told Jacqueline after Fred came back. "He was very quiet, and usually your dad was very bouncy and laughable; would have a good laugh, but that had all gone."

"He was fun and barrel of laughs - that wasn’t the dad I knew," Jacqueline said (Fred is pictured with his wife Sally)

Seeing her dad's thumbprint helped Jacqueline understand Fred’s journey from the soldier he was to the father she knew.

"It answers a lot of questions now. He was fun and a barrel of laughs - that wasn’t the dad I knew," she said.

"He was very solo. He drove for a long time in a lorry, and I think he was with his own thoughts a lot."

Fred died in 1993, and the day Jacqueline and Percy visited the archives would have been his birthday.

Percy said by sharing the stories of those who fought, "it keeps things alive"

Jacqueline said if her father was still alive, he would be "very proud of Percy, no doubt about it, the same as I am", and proud that his own story was shared, too.

Percy added by sharing the stories of those who fought, "it keeps things alive doesn't it... never forget, never forget them".

Percy died peacefully at home on 16 October, weeks before his 105th birthday - but he and his cousin's stories will live on.