Family of WW2 aviator traced in cricket cap appeal

A photograph of Sgt Slater kept by his niece

The relatives of an aviator who was killed in World War Two have been located following an appeal.

Last month, Norton Woodseats Cricket Club in Sheffield asked for help to trace the family of RAF observer Geoffrey Slater after coming across his cricket cap.

His niece, Dr Mandy Jones, got in touch with the BBC after seeing the online article by chance.

The 63-year-old, from Lincolnshire, said being reunited with her uncle's cap would be "unbelievable".

The cap, which was found during a clear-out, included a description which said Sgt Slater had lived at 1 Backmoor Crescent in Norton, Sheffield, and attended High Storrs Grammar School.

He was the son of Harold and Ivy Marie Slater and had three siblings called Leslie, Betty and Barbara.

Dr Jones said out of all the siblings, only Betty, 97, was still alive.

She said her uncle Leslie died in the early 1990s while her mother, Barbara, who was 19 years younger than Sgt Slater, died in 2017.

Archive records show Sgt Slater was one of a crew of five who were killed after their aircraft was shot down over the Dutch village of Slagharen on 6 October 1942.

A telegram sent to the family by Sgt Slater

"I believe the Dutch people gave the family the story - and I don't know if there is truth in there - the aircraft was shot down, the men landed by parachute and surrendered but they were shot anyway," Dr Jones recalled.

She said her uncle's death affected the entire family, in particular her grandfather Harold Slater, a former Hull City player.

"My granddad was always a very fit person but when Geoffrey died, he took it very badly and became quite ill," she said.

"I don't think he was ever the same again."

Despite the passage of time, she said her uncle had been "kept alive" in the family's memories.

The cap is currently on display at Norton Woodseats Cricket Club

She now hopes to make contact with the cricket club to thank them for their efforts to try and reunite her family with the cap.

Abbas Shah, the club's treasurer, said he was delighted Dr Jones had come forward.

"We can't wait to get in touch and invite her to the club where her uncle played all those years ago," he said.

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Sgt Slater died aged 22 in 1942