Canadian family finds long-lost WW II baby in England after 81 years

Rod Anderson grew up in England always wondering who his father was. 

He was born at the end of the Second World War to a British mother. 

At 81 years old, he received a call out of the blue this year with news he never expected — his dad was actually a Canadian soldier.

"I was knocked down by it all. It was just such a shock," Rodney told CBC News. 

"Still, you could knock me down with a feather. Even today."

Anderson learned the truth about a family secret buried for generations. He was one of thousands of babies born in England and other countries where Canadian troops and allied forces were stationed during the Second World War.

WATCH | British man discovers his father was Canadian WW II soldier:

He discovered his father was a Canadian soldier — 81 years later

15 minutes ago|

Duration

6:11

In the 1940s, mothers were blamed and shamed for these pregnancies out of wedlock. Children were given up for adoption. Families were torn apart. Some parents hid the truth until the day they died. 

"My grandmother, my mother, none of them said a word," Anderson said.

Rod Anderson when he was a baby in his mother Yvonne Anderson's arms. He was born in 1945. (Submitted by Dawn Anderson)

But little did Anderson know, a family on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean spent almost two decades searching for him, hoping it wasn't too late. 

Now after a remarkable turn of events, Anderson has connected with family in Canada he never knew existed.

An 18-year search

Canadian Bethany Allen spent almost two decades searching for Rodney Anderson.

She said it all started with a "persistent" family rumour about her grandfather Charles Blakney that never went away.

"After the war, there were rumors that my grandfather had a child with a woman in England," said Allen. "Some people heard it. Some people were well aware of it. While others have never heard a whisper of it."

Blakney was married and had a baby girl in New Brunswick when he stepped aboard the HMT Andes to travel across the Atlantic to serve in England in 1942.

Charles Blakney in uniform with his Canadian wife and baby (Bethany Allen's mother). (Submitted by Linda Rowe)

His military records describe him as a "very soft spoken" and reliable solider. He served as a motor and driver mechanic with the New Brunswick Rangers until he returned home in 1945.

Rod Anderson was born in Farnham, England, that same year.

Allen requested her grandfather's divorce records from the archives in 2008. She says they contained the "mother lode of information." The documents confirmed the baby in England was indeed real.

"The moment that I saw it, I was so surprised because it was so obvious," said Allen. "It was so definitive … turned all the rumours into fact."

Bethany Allen in New Brunswick holding her grandfather's divorce records that confirmed he had a baby during the Second World War while stationed in the United Kingdom. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)

But the mystery was far from over. Allen had no idea who the baby was.

Before Allen's mother died, she asked her daughter to keep searching for her sibling overseas no matter what.

"My mother had always wanted to know that he had a good life and was happy," she said. 

Suddenly this past spring, "everything changed very quickly" when she did a DNA test through the U.S.-based company Ancestry, Allen said.

The results pointed to Rod Anderson as her half-uncle.

"I was like, oh my god, there he is," said Allen. "Oh my god, his name is Rodney!"

'I thought this is a wind up'

That same day, she managed to track down Rod Anderson's daughter, Dawn Roberts, in England.

Roberts called her dad and asked if he was sitting down.

"She said I had a phone call from a lady in Canada who said that you're her long lost relative," Rod Anderson said.

"I thought this is a wind up. It has to be. But it wasn't. You can't believe what a shock it is to get that knowledge."

Anderson had once done his own DNA test. For 50 years he tried to find the man he always suspected was his father. But in a crushing blow years ago, the test results found they weren't related.

In the end, that DNA test was the key that connected him to his newfound family in Canada.

WATCH | Rod Anderson describes a stunning call from his daughter with the news:

British man finds out at 81 his father was a Canadian soldier in WW II

15 minutes ago|

Duration

0:36

Second World War historian Jeff Noakes at the Canadian War Museum says the parents of wartime babies whose fathers were Canadian or allied soldiers often kept the details about these children hidden.

'Unbelievable amount of stigma'

There was an "unbelievable amount of stigma," he said, back in the 1940s around having children outside of marriage.

"Eighty years ago, there would have been a tremendous amount of shame for many people attached to this," Noakes said. 

"The blame also fell disproportionately on women who were involved rather than the men."

A photo of Charles Blakney taken during a family gathering. (Submitted by Bethany Allen)

Noakes said there was so much public attention around it, Canadian military commander Lt.-Gen. Guy Simonds held a news conference in 1945 to defend his troops. Dutch newspapers had written editorials about an alleged decline in Dutch morality because of the Canadian soldiers stationed in the Netherlands.

Now, decades after these parents have died and there's far less stigma, some Canadian relatives are searching for these war babies before it's too late.

Toine van der Weerden lives in the Netherlands and helps families do the detective work needed to track down the truth.

"They are always happy when they find out," said van der Weerden.

"Everybody wants to know where they come from. Where you got those gestures from, where you got your posture from."

'You've got the same ears'

Since Anderson's revelation about his father, he's connected with his 77-year-old half-sister Barb Lowe in St. Thomas, Ont. They now talk every week.

They said they felt instantly connected the first time they spoke. They both like to laugh, share the same sense of humour and joke about the mischief they got into growing up.

Lowe said he reminds her of their father, who died in 1987.

"You've got the same ears," Lowe told him on one of their calls that CBC News filmed. 

'Everything you do is a challenge, especially when you've got one arm and one eye. You have to conquer those challenges no matter how,' said Anderson. (Luke Wolagiewicz/CBC)

Rodney joked she once called them big "elephant-like" ears.

Despite never knowing his biological father, Anderson was amazed to find out he takes after him. 

Like father, like son

As a child, Anderson lost his eye and an arm in a rail accident.

In the 1960s, a government assessment found the only job he couldn't do because of his injuries was work as a mechanic. 

In true Rod Anderson fashion, he proved them wrong and became one.

Rod Anderson's photos that show his work as a motor mechanic over the years. He eventually opened his own business. (Luke Wolagiewicz/CBC)

It turns out, that's the exact job his Canadian father did for a living and during the war.

"That did surprise me. Isn't it strange?" Anderson said.

These newfound siblings can't quite believe they found each other before it's too late.

"I means the world," Lowe said. "My sister had passed away, my half-sister had passed away. And I finally found Rod. He's everything."

"Don't give up. You never know what the DNA can do."

Barb Lowe lives in St. Thomas, Ont., and said it means 'the world' to her that she's connected with her half-sibling Rod Anderson in England. She's photographed on a video call with Rod. They speak every week. (Yan Theoret/CBC)

But for this family, the mystery may not be over yet.

The divorce records that helped the Canadians find Anderson said his father had another baby in Britain during the war.

"There's still more mysteries to be had," said Allen while laughing. "There's still a search going on, and now we have two sides of the Atlantic trying to solve that mystery."

For now, Anderson's booked his plane ticket to New Brunswick this summer. 

He's bringing his granddaughter Samantha Eldridge with him to finally meet the extended family he almost never knew. 

"It'll make a difference to my children and their children and their children's children. It will go on," Anderson said.