Paderborn April/May 1978. Do you know this German woman?

Hi, I'm Katherine. My mom is Marlies/Maria from Paderborn. She conceived me with a British solder that, according to 23andMe genealogy test, is from the greater London area. I am hoping someone recognizes her.

Disclaimer, I have no fairytale notion of instant family but having been raised in the US as the child of a Native American veteran, I'd like to finally get resolution to what I had suspected since I was 8 years old and get some information/history of my paternity.

Thank you in advance! Pictures attached are my mom when she was a teen (she was 23 in April/May 1978) and one of me last year (hope I uploaded correctly).



UPDATE 7/2/21: I have located a half brother via MyHeritage and messaged him. He is in the UK. My message to you, I have to say when it comes to your children, be honest! Give them the facts and let them make up their own minds with the information. Lying/gaslighting/denying, it always catches up to you in the end. "The truth shall set you free." If your kid is smart, they will eventually find out anyways. Now soldiers, I grew up in the US military, I get it! Many men are going to find out they have children they never knew about. Don't be afraid and please don't deny reality. Someone else may need closure and/or resolution. Talk honestly about what you're afraid of because I get that too. Like I said, I have no fairytale notions of a family reunion. You can be open-minded and have good boundaries. Thank you

Welcome,
Yes photos are shown ok.

Alan

Hi,
You need to develop a family tree for the matches you have that seem to connect to the man concerned.

Try Facebook Group 'DNA Detectives' who have searchers on there who have experience of this sort of search.
Margaret

Nice looking lady. Hope you find what you're looking for.

Not a tremendous help, but I'll put this out there. My regiment, 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars, moved into the Infanteriekaserne (Alanbrooke Barracks) in October 1979.

We replaced, iirc, 1st Battalion The Queen's Regiment.

Let's just say they left a reputation behind them, and Paderborn became a desirable posting without a resident infantry battalion.

I half suspect The Queen's recruited in London, but I could be way wide of the mark.

You took over from 3 R ANGLIAN.  They recruited from Norfolk/Suffolk and the surrounding areas.  There were probably a few Londoners in that Bn.   I know of two of them who stayed on, one since deceased but the other was Chris Atkins who ran 'Onkel Tom's Kabin', a favourite with your old Regt.  He went on to have a photography business based in Barker Bks.  That's all closed now so I've no idea where he is.  I last saw him in Armagh when he came out to do some photos for the roulement unit who were PB based.  That was in '97.  No idea what he is up to now but if he's still this side of the turf, I'd imagine that he was still in PB.

I've no idea what the R ANGLIAN were like in PB, but when you left you were replaced by a bunch of shaved chimps in the form of the QLR. PB went right down the swannie during their stay.

Rocky wrote:

You took over from 3 R ANGLIAN.  They recruited from Norfolk/Suffolk and the surrounding areas.  There were probably a few Londoners in that Bn.   I know of two of them who stayed on, one since deceased but the other was Chris Atkins who ran 'Onkel Tom's Kabin', a favourite with your old Regt.  He went on to have a photography business based in Barker Bks.  That's all closed now so I've no idea where he is.  I last saw him in Armagh when he came out to do some photos for the roulement unit who were PB based.  That was in '97.  No idea what he is up to now but if he's still this side of the turf, I'd imagine that he was still in PB.

I've no idea what the R ANGLIAN were like in PB, but when you left you were replaced by a bunch of shaved chimps in the form of the QLR.  PB went right down the swannie during their stay.  

I'll take your word on 3 R Anglian, but with respect I'm not convinced (especially having 1 next door at Catterick in training, and 2 next door in Tidworth. The two night have been the other way round). Had R ANGLIAN been relative to three almost consecutive postings, I'm sure it would have stuck. Having transferred to RAPC, I later did my ASP course with a former 1 Queens who remembered Alanbrooke.

Chris turned up recently, he's a member of the 15/19H Facebook group and we chat periodically. He and R ANGLIAN rings a bell. I hadn't realised he'd got out that recently. If I go and look at the current poor Facebook page, I can probably tell you where he is. Wait out on that.

And yes, I heard that QLR destroyed the Army's reputation in Paderborn after we left. I went back with family in 96 and found razor wire atop the fence I used to scale. A LI battalion was resident. I wondered then whether the razor wire was to keep miscreants out or in.

Chris left the army in the mid 70s.  When he came out to Armagh he was a civvy. He'd sold the pub and went into photography. He'd been at it for a few years by that time. Not sure how long after he left the Army that took ownership of Onkel Tom's but it was a good bar.   I'm sure that it was the ANGLIANS before you.  I say so, because quite a few of the local lasses had kids by them so they featured high in conversation.  Usually because they'd buggered off back to the UK never to be seen again.

AlienFTM wrote:

Rocky wrote:

You took over from 3 R ANGLIAN.  They recruited from Norfolk/Suffolk and the surrounding areas.  There were probably a few Londoners in that Bn.   I know of two of them who stayed on, one since deceased but the other was Chris Atkins who ran 'Onkel Tom's Kabin', a favourite with your old Regt.  He went on to have a photography business based in Barker Bks.  That's all closed now so I've no idea where he is.  I last saw him in Armagh when he came out to do some photos for the roulement unit who were PB based.  That was in '97.  No idea what he is up to now but if he's still this side of the turf, I'd imagine that he was still in PB.

I've no idea what the R ANGLIAN were like in PB, but when you left you were replaced by a bunch of shaved chimps in the form of the QLR.  PB went right down the swannie during their stay.  

I'll take your word on 3 R Anglian, but with respect I'm not convinced (especially having 1 next door at Catterick in training, and 2 next door in Tidworth. The two night have been the other way round). Had R ANGLIAN been relative to three almost consecutive postings, I'm sure it would have stuck. Having transferred to RAPC, I later did my ASP course with a former 1 Queens who remembered Alanbrooke.

Chris turned up recently, he's a member of the 15/19H Facebook group and we chat periodically. He and R ANGLIAN rings a bell. I hadn't realised he'd got out that recently. If I go and look at the current poor Facebook page, I can probably tell you where he is. Wait out on that.

And yes, I heard that QLR destroyed the Army's reputation in Paderborn after we left. I went back with family in 96 and found razor wire atop the fence I used to scale. A LI battalion was resident. I wondered then whether the razor wire was to keep miscreants out or in.

Alien mate you’re not wrong about the QLR after you lot left Paders, we 3RTR stayed on for a few more years and finally left in 86 after a fab seven years there! They, the QLR certainly lowered to tone of the place!