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WW2 Children of American Airmen

WW2 Children of American Airmen

Posted: 24 Feb 2015 1:17AM GMT
Classification: Query
What is the best process to follow to locate a child who was fathered by an American airman during WW2? It is unknown if the child was placed for adoption or if the mother married someone else and raised the child. The mother and American Air Force flier did not marry - a rumor persists in a family that a child was fathered in either Norfolk (near Norwich), or Hampshire (near Southampton) in 1943 / 1944.

Re: WW2 Children of American Airmen

Posted: 24 Feb 2015 10:06PM GMT
Classification: Query
This post was deleted by the author on 20 Apr 2015 2:04PM GMT

Re: WW2 Children of American Airmen

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 2:33AM GMT
Classification: Query
Another option for unwed mothers was the sometimes unpleasant Mother and Babies Homes. Here are a couple links to websites about the homes. Quite a few unwed mothers have thier children taken from them after giving birth in these institutions, and is is extremely diffuclt if not impossible to find records of the births.

http://www.motherandbabyhomes.com/

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/unwed...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/oct/31/familyan...

Re: WW2 Children of American Airmen

Posted: 23 Mar 2015 7:13PM GMT
Classification: Query
If the father was in the Air Force it is more likely to be Norfolk than Hampshire as the majority of US Air Force stations were in East Anglia (Hampshire - Southampton) had SHAEF HQ, the US Navy in great numbers and almost as many Army units. Netley (Army) Hospital was taken over by the US Forces as their main medical facility in the area. Wherever the baby was born, Mother's home or not, it would have to have been registered, under the Mother's name if the father was "unknown" or otherwise not mentioned, as it was/is a criminal offence not to register a birth. If the child was adopted a new birth certificate in the new name would be issued but the original record would not be removed although it might be impossible to obtain a certificate. So if you know the Mother's name and the date of the birth you should be able to look it up in Free BMD.
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