Adopted Worcester woman meets Canadian family after DNA match

Reta Michael with her son, her husband, and her Canadian family

An adopted woman, 80, who never met her father has found a whole new family, thanks to a DNA kit.

Reta Michael, from Worcester, had been aware her biological father was a Canadian airman who served in the UK in World War Two.

Apart from his name and where he had served in the UK, Mrs Michael knew nothing - until her husband and son gave her a DNA kit for Christmas.

That gift changed her life by giving her a whole new family in Canada.

"I've found the missing half of my life and I couldn't be happier," Mrs Michael told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

Mrs Michael was born in June 1943, in a home for unmarried mothers that her mum Pauline Peel was staying at in Hackney.

"It was just as if we'd known each other forever," Mrs Michael said

"My mother was then a 21-year-old, naïve, and frightened young woman from Yorkshire," Mrs Michael said.

"As it was shameful to have a child outside marriage in those far-off days, her family refused to allow her to go home, and were adamant that I should be adopted."

Her biological father, Donald Dell, served under Guy Gibson in Bomber Command at Woodhall Spa Airbase in Lincolnshire, where Mrs Michael's mother was stationed in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

"He didn't want to know when mum told him she was pregnant, and my mother was completely without support, which is why she was in the home," Mrs Michael continued.

Later Mrs Peel married a man from her hometown - Trevor Peel - who she had planned to marry before they were both recruited into the RAF.

She became a typist with Bomber Command, while he became an aircraft engineer in the Middle East.

Despite not being the father, Mr Peel told her not to even consider having her child adopted and on his return formally adopted her daughter, bringing her up as his own child.

'Miraculous match'

Mrs Michael did not know the circumstances around her birth until she turned 11 and she did nothing about it for many years, concerned it would hurt her family to press them for more details.

Apart from knowing that his name was Donald D, Mrs Michael knew little about her father until she received the MyHeritage DNA kit from her husband and son for Christmas five years ago.

Initial DNA results did not tell her anything exciting, but she soon received an email from a relative on her father's side, who by pure chance had gone to MyHeritage himself, as he searched for family members.

Mrs Michael burst into tears and told her husband: "I'm home. I think I'm home."

Her relative, David Dall, told her they had an extraordinarily large genetic match and they soon realised they were first cousins, which Mrs Michael called "miraculous".

"We then exchanged email addresses, so that we could talk some more — and five years down the line, we have never stopped talking," Mrs Michael said. "It was just as if we'd known each other forever."

Mrs Michael is now very close with her cousins, David and Deborah. Also pictured is David's wife, Ina

Mrs Michael discovered her father had been the radio operator on a bomber shot down by the Nazis in January 1943, six months before she was was born.

He was the only crew member to survive.

Mr Dell then became a prisoner of war in a camp in Poland, where he remained until the Russians moved in and the prisoners were marched across Germany, until the ones who had survived, Mr Dell included, were rescued by the Allied Forces.

Emaciated and exhausted, he was flown back to England and was taken to hospital until he was fit enough to be returned to his family in Canada.

Mrs Michael met her half-sister, Anna, before Anna passed away

Following further communication, Mrs Michael was made aware that not only had she found her cousin but she also had three aunts and a half-sister, Anna, who she met in Canada before Anna passed away.

Mr Dall was eager his cousin should be welcomed into the family with the same pleasure and warmth he had shown toward her.

Since then, the family has grown close, making up for lost time by visiting places rooted within their family history including Ireland, which is Mr Dall and Mrs Michael's grandmother's place of descent.

'Like a sister'

Alongside trips to Canada and Ireland, they have been able to attend special birthdays and occasions and even meet other mutual family members which Mr Dall had found.

"Now I almost take them for granted, like they've always been there," Mrs Michael said.

In particular, she is close to her cousin Deborah Siddall, who she talks to every night, and people have even struggled to tell them apart in photographs.

Ms Siddall said: "She's like a sister to me. Sometimes it's like we're the same person."

Mrs Michael concluded: "For me, it wasn't only a journey of 3,000 miles but 76 years. It's the adventure of my life — discovering the part of my life I had never known."