(and anyone else who is interested),
When I was staying with my father (2008 - 2015)
at his house in Darwin, (Northern Territory, Australia),
I observed a great deal about him.
And some interesting things came to light.
I was brought up to believe,
that he was one of three children,
born to a shearer and his wife,
at Scone, New South Wales, Australia,
the family later living at St George, Queensland, Australia,
where he grew up.
But, when I was observing his behaviour,
I came to realise, that he had been through the London Blitz.
Because he is still living in that moment of time,
when his world collapsed.
He said to me, that he had come from a wealthy family.
But, if you were to ask him, he would probably deny it.
Having put the pieces together,
this is what I think happened.
He was nearly 3 years old,
and eagerly awaiting Christmas,
and his birthday party, which was a week after,
with his little sister, who was 6 months old.
But just before Christmas, one evening,
his mother was playing on the piano,
and there was a knock at the front door.
There was an urgent conversation,
and she had to go,
hurrying out to the waiting motorcar.
My father went to the window,
and watched it leave.
Not so long after, in the evening,
my father was in his bed,
with the Chinese nanny sitting nearby,
at a table next to the window.
This was in London in the Blitz,
so the windows were all covered with black curtains.
All of a sudden,
a bomb exploded outside the window,
blowing it in and killing the nanny.
My father may have been thrown from his bed,
and could have received a head injury at this point.
This was during a particularly heavy bombing raid,
such that the streetscape that had existed previously, was obliterated.
In the morning,
all that was left of my father's world,
was a ruined shell of a house, himself, his sister, and the dead nanny.
His mother never came back for him and his sister.
(She may have tried, but we don't know)
They stayed in the house like this for maybe 3 weeks,
until someone found them
and took them to a welfare point.
I think they stayed there for a couple of months,
and then they were shipped to Australia as war orphans,
believing that their family was dead.
So, was their mother dead ?
I did a little bit of research on the internet,
and I found some things that resonated with me.
That,
the house that my father and his sister lived in,
was part of the American Embassy in London.
That,
their parents may have had the surname, "Yull-Stuart".
My apologies to this family if this is not the case,
but I suppose only a DNA test would confirm that.
That,
my grandfather, may have been Captain William Yull-Stuart,
who was killed in a bombing raid, while helping the communist leader,
Tito, in Yugoslavia during WWII,
and who was involved in special operations.
My father followed in these footsteps.
Apparently, the man who may have been my great-grandfather,
was married to a Hungarian Baroness.
I would like to make clear,
that I have no political persuasions,
and am not interested in "The Spy Game".
As, I'm not in a position to do this at present,
I would welcome anyone's interest in investigating this further.
Some facts are -
My father's name - Ross Keith Pengilley
Born - 3 January 1938
My father's sister's name - Ailsa ( Mary? ) Pengilley
Born - 4 June 1940
Birth records could possibly be lodged at GOSH
(Great Ormond Street Hospital), in London.
My father was born with a hole in the heart,
being what is called a "Blue Baby",
and had to have a life saving injection into the heart,
which he still bears the large round scar of, today.
A nurse tending to him, called him "Dook",
which may be an accent on the word "Duck",
which became his nickname to this day.
My father, his sister and I, all have/had Autism and/or Dyslexia.
(My aunt has passed away from pancreatic cancer)
If any of the Yull-Stuart family happen to read this,
would these details fit with any family members that you know of ?
text (c) Katherine Stuart 2016
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