HOLIDAYMAKERS Pam and Peter Tuffnall were among the many who last month watched the parade in Okehampton marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day.
They were pleased to see it. Both their fathers had served in the armed forces in the second world war.
When the Tuffnalls returned home to Chorley, Lancashire, they told their next-door neighbours of the wonderful time they had in Devon. The neighbours immediately decided to take a break there themselves.
When they came back they brought with them a copy of the Times with its picture spread on the D-Day parade. Pam Tuffnall eagerly read the coverage and was amazed to see a picture showing RAF veteran George Heathman ? the name rang an immediate bell. Her father, Alan Grimes, had shared a tent with someone of that name for more than two years in North Africa and Malta and had desperately tried to find him after the war.
Pam contacted George, who lives at Bridestowe, and discovered he was, indeed, her father?s wartime pal ? the two men were crew members on a Wellington bomber.
Sadly, Alan Grimes died eight years ago. But Pam recalls: ?Dad told us of his wartime experiences and the name of George, from Devon, was always coming to the fore ? obviously the best friend he ever had.
?Both had served and fought through those terrible battles at Malta and El Alamein in the desert, and both had been wounded more than once.?
George was a rear gunner and bomb-aimer on the Wellington while Alan was the navigator.
On one mission, bombing oil installations in Bucharest, their plane was badly shot up. They had to extinguish a blaze in one engine and limped home on the other ? both men were awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for their part in the operation.
But after the Battle of El Alamein, where the British defeated the German Afrika Corps, George and his pal were separated ? Alan was sent to the Far East to fly operations against the Japanese.
George went on to fly missions over Italy, France and Germany.
For eight months of the war, he was posted as missing believed killed after his bomber was shot down off the coast of southern Italy.
He and a fellow airman were the only survivors from the five-man crew. They were picked up by an air sea rescue boat, but with fighting raging there was no time to take them back to a base. They were dropped at a small cove near Tobruk in North Africa and later met an Australian Army unit with which they remained for months until they reached an RAF base.
But Alan was not so fortunate. Pam said: ?Dad was sent to the Far East, and shortly after arriving there his plane was shot down and he was captured by the Japs. After the war he came home looking like a skeleton, a completely broken man.
?It took years for him to recover, but that fighting spirit was in him, he recovered, found a job and got on with his life and family ? there was no compensation or counselling for them.?
Pam remembers several holidays in Devon and Cornwall as a child, during which her father was always making enquiries about George. ?He thought he lived near Plymouth, obviously not. In the end, he felt George must have been killed in action.
?But thanks to our holiday and the Times newspaper I have tracked down Dad?s best mate. I?m thrilled to bits now the mystery is solved.?
George, 82, said he could not believe it when Pam made contact, but he was saddened not to have been reunited with Alan.
He said: ?I would have loved to see him again. He was a good chap. I remember he was terribly upset to have to leave his wife and two baby children when he joined up.?
Sourton-born George, who joined the RAF as a 17-year-old in 1939, served for ten years before becoming a builder and funeral director. He and his wife, Frances, have a son and three daughters.