The man on the left is my great grandfather Charles William Radcliff. The man on the right is Argial (Agg) Messenger. These two men have two connections that I'm aware of. First, Argial's aunt Isabelle Blanche Messenger was married to Charles' uncle Edward Henson Radcliff. Second, Charles' wife, my great grandmother, was a great granddaughter of Jasper D Messenger, who was Argial's grandfather.
The photo is labeled World War II 1942. It's unclear whether this picture was taken before or after these two men went to war, but given that my great grandfather was 27 and Argial was 31 at the time the picture was taken, I'm assuming this was taken after they got home since they would have most likely went to war at younger ages.
I actually met my great grandfather a couple times when I was a child, but the memories are kind of vague. While I have saw a few pictures of him in his later years, this is the first picture I've saw with him as young man. I was surprised to see that my grandfather looked like him. I see some of him in my dad as well, although to a slighter extent.
I just came across your blog via Geneabloggers. It must be interesting to pour through all these photo treasures. This one is cool and I'm loving his boots! I would suggest that if this was truly taken in 1942 that it was before they left for war because we didn't join the war until late 1941. Just a thought. I look forward to seeing more of your photo finds!
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather. After thinking on it for a while, I started suspecting the same thing. My great grandmother is still living (she's 97) so I'm tempted to call and ask if she remembers the picture.
DeleteNice photo and story. O have a lot of my dad's photos from the same time period. It never gets old going through those photos.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Jim
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