Family: 'A stranger emailed me saying he was my son'
- Published
John Pritchard had no idea his son Carl Benson existed for more than 50 years
Imagine receiving an email from a total stranger saying he was your son.
That is exactly what happened to 78-year-old John Pritchard, who found a shocking message from a man he had never heard of.
Carl Benson, 56, said he sent a sample of his DNA to an ancestry website, with the results revealing a bombshell.
"You and I have a 100% DNA parent/child relationship," he told John.
"I would dearly love the chance to talk [or] meet with you to put the final pieces of the jigsaw together."
John could not believe what he was reading.
Born in the seaside town of Porthcawl in Bridgend county, John was one of many babies fathered during World War Two by American GIs.
His father was wounded just after D-Day, and when he returned to Wales, he was told to "clear off" by John's grandfather.
"My grandfather had convinced my mother that if she went to America, he would keep me and kick her out. He said there's no way you will ever be allowed to come back to me and live in Wales," he said.
After his mother remarried, John was taken into care after abuse from his stepfather, spending much of his childhood living in care homes across south Wales.
Carl Benson and John Pritchard at the wedding of Carl's daughter
Due to a lack of schooling, he only learned the alphabet at the age of 10, and left education aged 15, to work as an engine cleaner on trains in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.
He moved out of Wales aged 16 to train as a railway driver in Didcot, Oxfordshire, where he would stay for five years.
There, he met Carl's mother. But after a fleeting romance, the pair went their separate ways.
John then met Jill, the woman who would become his wife, and started a successful business - completely unaware of Carl's existence.
That was until 18 October 2021.
"A few years ago my son Jason decided to get me a DNA test for fun for as a Christmas present," said John.
"I did it, but never followed it up, it was just interesting to see the background."
'Hi, I'm your son'
Little did he know that test would allow Carl to trace his biological father on a genealogy website.
Carl did a DNA test, and through John's cousin, created a family tree which led back to him.
"I got in contact with John's cousin through a guy called Mick Henry, the chair of the Brighton and Hove genealogical society," said Carl.
Carl Benson and John Pritchard recently went on a trip to Normandy in France together
"He went through all the data, found his cousin and asked her if she could ask John if I could reach out.
"She said yes, and that's when I sent the bombshell email saying 'hi, I'm your son'."
On the other end of that email was John, sat behind his old Windows Seven computer.
"I fully understand that this is potentially a total bombshell and a result that neither of us had ever expected to come across," it read.
"But what I will say is that this all happened well over half a century ago and there is nobody on my side who can be hurt by this revelation.
"I would dearly love the chance to talk/meet with you to put the final pieces of the jigsaw together."
'Everything fitted into place'
Despite his surprise, John called Carl the next day.
The call started with: "Hi Carl, it's John here, I thought it would be best to rip the plaster off."
Carl said: "We chatted unusually naturally, and it became very obvious that we shared very similar backgrounds, traits, beginnings, likes, dislikes."
After asking about Carl's mother, John said he knew "straight away that everything fitted into place".
From their initial phone calls and email exchanges, Carl told John he also had two more granddaughters, who are now in their 20s. A month later, the pair decided to meet up for lunch in London.
"The hardest thing was when I met him, because I was on the train thinking 'what is going on here?' I'm on a train travelling to London to meet my father," said Carl.
"It was just the most surreal journey of my life. I met the guy: same height as me, big hands and I thought crikey, this is right and wrong on every level.
"We got on like a house on fire. I was just very grateful that he was even alive, and he could have said 'I don't want to know'.
"You talk about nature versus nurture. We've got the same sense of humour, we're both into motorbikes, we're both into fitness. It's uncanny you can be so similar to somebody you've actually never met."
John said despite not knowing Carl until recently, he was "very proud of him", and the pair were making up for lost time.
Last year, John attended the wedding of Carl's daughter - his granddaughter - and he and Carl went to France together.
Carl Benson at his grandfather's graveside in Normandy
"We've just been over to Normandy, and spent five days there seeing where my father and his grandfather served," said John.
"We had a private guide for three days who took us round the cemeteries and beaches on the American side, and plotted both of Carl's grandfathers' graves."
For their next trip, the pair are planning to go to New York next year.
Now living in Bromley in Kent, John has three children, and six grandchildren.
"He's a great guy, we really hit it off. It's just sad that we've lost 55 years - but that's life," he said.
"I felt sad that he could have been my son from the start, but he's a lovely guy, with a lovely family and I only wish I'd met him many, many years ago."
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