Hi everyone, first post here. I'm hoping I might be able to get some advice from you all. I'm trying to identify my great grandfather and possibly track down any living descendants of his. I've just moved to Canada so I'm within driving distance potentially. My family is from the UK, specifically Wales and England. My grandad's father was an American who was in the Wales at some point during the war. The limited information I have is what has been repeated by the family through the years, it's the only information I have. So, I feel I need to assume it's somewhat accurate and see if it leads to anything. The information I have is.... First Name: Charlie/Charles Surname: Campbell Other alias: Chuck Home Location: Maine, USA UK Location: St Athan, Wales. This is a RAF base on the south coast of Wales. Not far from the capital Cardiff. Not sure on dates. My grandad was born in 1945 so it would have had to be before that. Occupation: something relating to aviation. The story is he was a pilot and he might have even been downed or injured during the war. I can't be sure of this though. It could be possible that he was a navigator, engineer, Bombardier, ground crew, etc, etc. Not sure if he was Navy or Airforce. Other info: The story goes that he was in contact with my grandads mother once after the war, so I'm assuming he made it back to the US. That's everything I have to go on. I'm trying to figure out the best way to find out which US forces were in st Athens during the war, I've tried reaching out to the ministry of defence but that didn't go anywhere. I'm trying to search the name Charlie Campbell with military records for Maine to potentially identify possible candidates. I'm open to any other suggestions if anyone has done this kind of thing before. I have also ordered a DNA kit from ancestry to hopefully get some solid findings.
Trying to help, just to confirm, was it RAF St Athan??? I can’t find a RAF stations St Athens?? Also, you probably don’t know if he served with RAF or RCAF or American forces. Just asking as a LOT of Americans joined he RCAF/RAF during the war I’ve already starting looking at all my sources, and it quite a common name, so haven’t found any clues yet RAF St Athan had many different RAF units, one of them being a Flight Engineer school RAF St Athan & Wartime Training – Royal Air Force Flight Engineer & Air Engineer Association
Sorry it is St Athan, my phone auto corrected. I'll edit the original post now. I don't know if he joined the RAF etc. We've always just been told "he was an American pilot" it's very vague I know.. I wish we had more information to work with.
Dan, I work both forums…….so far I haven’t been able to find anything about US units at St Athan. I’ve been trying my sources but I also know a American researcher (out of Texas) that does extensive work on US citizens who joined the RAF/RCAF or allied air forces. As you say, he may have been in the USAAF, so he may be able to help. I’ll contact him
Dan, checked with my US friend, and here’s his answer: Checked through all my RAF, RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF, and SAAF records along with transfer to USAAF records, have 6 Campbells, but no Charlie/Charles and none from Maine, but I will still keep checking. So, were still both looking, but without some other clue we may not be able to help, but possibly another member her might, or a member on ww2talk.com. The members on ww2talk.com have more knowledge in respect to anything happening in England during WW2, so someone may have a clue Dan, a suggestion…….have you considered one of the DNA sampling sites, such as Ancestry.ca or .com I personally have done this and it’s quite amazing what you can find…..if a link to a “Campbell” popped up, using Ancestry you can then connect to those links and quite possible find family tree’s that may give you a clue on your “grandfather”. My wife also did this and now she has a “new” sister that she never new about (and it’s wonderful, we have a great relationship with her)……as I said, a suggestion only
Thank you very much, it really appreciate the time you and your friend have taken to look into this. I really wish I had more information to work with. Or at least know 100% that what I have currently is actually legit info. I have an ancestry.ca DNA kit in the mail. I'm hoping it's here by next week. I've got my fingers crossed that it's going to help create some connections for me.
