6:30am Friday 16th January 2009
By Kirsty Whalley
The daughter of an RAF pilot who was killed when his plane crashed in the Malaysian jungle knew nothing about his death.
Edward Robert Talbot, 28, was on a target marking mission with two crew members and ten passengers when his plane crashed in 1950. They were all killed.
The Ministry of Defence sent an expedition of over 100 people to recover the remains of the 13 victims in November last year.
They have been trying to locate family members of the deceased so that they can match the remains through DNA testing.
They sent out an appeal for Robert Talbot’s wife Thelma, and daughter Linda to come forward as they could not find them.
Diana Speller read about the tragedy and the appeal in the Croydon Guardian and decided to do some detective work of her own on website Genes Reunited.
She managed to contact a Linda Banham who she thought might be Edward Talbot’s daughter.
When Mrs Banham did not reply to her initial emails she persisted and managed to get Genes Reunited to contact Mrs Banham personally.
Her hard work paid off when she found out that Linda Banham and Linda Talbot were the same person.
Mrs Banham, a university lecturer, contacted the paper and told us how overwhelmed she was.
She had no idea her father had been killed in the Malaysian jungle.
She said: “I was told almost nothing about my dad as a child. My mother’s brother knew him and sometimes talked about him to me. He said that we shared a lot of characteristics. Apparently we are both quite moody.”
Linda was just two years old when her mother received news of her father’s death.
“My mother has something of a second sight. Apparently, when she was younger she knew when the telegram arrived exactly what it said. She told her mother word-for-word what was in it.”
Mrs Banham, who does not speak with her mother very often, said: “A few times I have wanted to ask questions but always too intimidated to bring up the subject.”
She said that she will try and attend her father’s re-interrment ceremony.
Mrs Speller told the Croydon Guardian: “I am so thrilled to have been a part of this search and so happy to know that my perseverance has paid off and Edward Robert Talbot's family finally know where he is and he can be laid to rest at last.
“Linda didn't know what happened to her father and so, after getting over her disbelief that this was all a wind-up, is very happy to have now read the articles on the net all about her father and the people who have been looking for her.”
Do you have any war stories to tell us? Contact the Heritage Desk on 0208 330 9559.
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