Looking for William McEwen

[helenm263]

That posting Alan saw was from my sister.. last year. she came to an abrupt stop and couldn't get any further. That is where I stepped in and took on the challenge. I checked the photo and he is from Dennistoun but was living in Dumbarton before he was deployed to London in 1942 (that part mum forgot to tell me). I doubt that there are family in Dumbarton, but I am sure it is worth a delicate look.
I don't want to cause any upset to living family.

[helenm263]

Well, I have checked with sister and mother, the inforation got a little mixed up.Mum ws confusing Dennistoun and Dumbarton. Dumbarton is where my dad was born. Pays to write information down before we loose our memories. So I will not be searching anywhere in dumbarton for information.

[helenm263]

Well I am not sure where to go from here, I need someone to confirm This picture I have... newspapers don't want to run the story, they never return the emails or telephone calls. I have all this information and can't go anywhere with it till someone says "yep that is him". any ideas would be appreciated..

[Currie]

Hello Helen,

It’s always best to write things down, otherwise over time, stories can get a bit jumbled and often it becomes impossible to sort out fact from fiction. If you haven’t already done so, and if it’s possible, it may be worthwhile writing down or tape recording the full story of your mother’s association with Mr. McEwen and its aftermath. Even if it’s only for your own information it could be done almost as if you are writing a book about it. There may be clues that have not yet come to light.

I’m not particularly familiar with the locality but it looks as if the town of Dunbarton used to be in the County of Dunbarton. If he was actually born in the town of Dunbarton, rather than in Dennistoun, then there appears to be only one William McEwen birth there that is within the possible range of years. However for William McEwan there are a couple born about the same time as McEwen and there’s another earlier one, born 1907, which is available online. You can work out the details yourself by using the search at Scotlandspeople.

Unfortunately, obtaining a certificate of birth, especially when you know so little about the gentleman, is unlikely to prove anything, but may be good for a lead. For example, you could check the possible births, even just the information from the indexes, against the Genes Reunited database to see if any of them appear there.

Maybe even you could somehow put all the possibilities on GR and see if you get a reaction. But I’m not sure if that is possible or would be a legit way of doing things.

All the best,
Alan

[helenm263]

Well, Alan I got hold of birth certificates for both Williams in the right era and have gotten no where.. no one seems to know of him.I actually went as far as to send hand written letters wo every McEwen/McEwan in Glasgow and even to Yorkshire England. The reason being is that I have all this information on both and no confirmation that either is the man I am looking for.I send a copy of the picture with the letters. I had three responses from Glasgow and nothing from Yorkshire.
Totally frustrated now, my mother is failing in health and the one thing I could have done for her, I am failing miserably. I have had no luck even in the ww2 forums. Lots of help, but no success. Hopefully one day I will find where this man ended up. Cheers.

[Currie]

Hello Helen,

As Joette mentioned previously the most promising thing could be when the WW2 Army records are released for public access and especially if there are photographs attached. But it will probably be years before that happens. I seem to remember there was some sort of survey about the release of some post 1920 army records to Archives but I can’t remember the details.

Hopefully there’ll be photographs. Someone who has seen WW2 records may know. If they could take photographs of petty criminals hopefully the army could do the same with their soldiers. The Australian army was pretty similar and they had photos as on page 10 of this digitised item. http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNR ... de=6454940

In a forum previously referred to there’s mention of a Brazilian connection. http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.ph ... 90093.html If that story was correct maybe it would be worth keeping an eye on the Brazilian stuff that’s starting to appear on FamilySearch. https://beta.familysearch.org/s/collect ... TH_AMERICA

Best of luck,
Alan

MUCH LATER
It looks like the link to the digitised WW2 file isn’t working. The 33 page service record (WX2264) contains front and side, head and shoulders, photographs. They appear to be 35mm contact prints and there are negatives on the last page.
Alan

[Currie]

Back again Helen,

Here’s some information from the Army Personnel Centre. It doesn’t look good as far as photographs are concerned. “Only very rarely does a file contain a soldier's photograph.”
http://www.army.mod.uk/welfare-support/family/6980.aspx

This is the survey (2008) I was trying to recall. It looks like it was only about between-the-wars Service Personnel and WW2 Home Guard. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. ... ecords.htm

Alan

[helenm263]

wow Alan, heaps to search through...have scoured the South American records but have come up empty. I really think that this was a story for my grandmothers benifit. I think that it has no substance. Access to the military records would be fantastic but as you say there are none available.
Will keep plodding along surely something positive will happen. Thanks once again for your help.
Helen