Reply
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,708
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

I read this article earlier today ( DNA test uncovers D-Day love story 75 years later   https://apnews.com/2e13537f151f4d9da035f60ff15d6956  ) and it has been on my mind since this morning.

 

While aware that a lot of kids in various countries were fathered by soldiers during war, especially WWII and Vietnam, no numbers came to mind nor did the impact not knowing who their father was could have on them.

 

From the article related to WWII (emphasis added):  Soldiers on all sides also fathered tens of thousands of children, some of them unable to ever answer that most existential of questions: Where did I come from?

 

The article kind of made me wonder if I have/had a half brother or sister somewhere overseas.

 

 

 

 

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,607
Registered: ‎10-25-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

War had an awful effect on women and their children born to American fathers during all of the wars.

 

Years ago, I had a conversation with a horrible man who bragged that he had married a woman in Germany and fathered two children with her.  After the war, he came  home and promised to send for his German family later.  He never did, nor did he contact them.  

 

He married a much younger American women and fathered two more children.  I felt so bad for that poor German woman and their children.  What that man did was despicable....and I told him so.  He thought it was funny and felt he got away with something.  He is now deceased, but his wife is still living.  I wonder if she knew about what a horrible thing her Husband did.

 

I still see his grown up children on occasion and I'll bet they have no idea that they have much older siblings in Germany.  

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,602
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

Wow sometimes I wonder about these DNA tests. 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,880
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

DH just got his DNA results from Ancestory.com.  Neither of us expected any surprises from his DNA (very stable background, even somewhat boring).  There were no surprises, except certain percentages of various ethnicities (lots of Scandinavian and even a little Canadian and Jewish).

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,083
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

Interesting question.  I have a "Half-Sib" but she's not a surprise.  My father had an identical twin brother, so if we tested our genes, it should show that we have the same father, although we don't.  My uncle served overseas, so if any other half-sibs should ever show up in Europe, they'd really be my cousins!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,739
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

I know I don't have any siblings in any other country. My uncle served in  Australia ,and I wouldn't be surprised if I have a cousin or two down under

Highlighted
Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,238
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

On the other side, I remember my uncle married a German girl and eventually brought her to the states.

 

They were very happy and had 3 or 4 children.

 

I watched a show a few years back where a Vietnamese woman was reunited with her American father.  He didn't know the girl existed.

 

She was brought to the US and lived with him and his family.

 

I don't think things like that happen very often though.

 

I see that as different from an American who was adopted and is trying to find the birth mother or father.

 

I think it should be left up to the birth mother or father if they want their information put out there.

 

I don't know exactly how it works but I've seen several shows where the adopted person is reunited with the birth parent.

 

I think as the saying goes, "Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie".  

 

There's often a reason the person put the baby up for adoption and I think (as I said in the US/Americans) it's best to find out FIRST how the birth parent feels about it all.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 783
Registered: ‎06-02-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

About 19 years ago when I was pregnant for my son, a woman knocked on my sister's door and said our dad was her birth dad.  She was given up for adoption at birth.  I went to my sister's house.  The woman looked nothing like my dad or anyone in his family.  However, her daughter look so much like me it was scary.  I expect I have more currently unknown siblings.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,136
Registered: ‎06-25-2018

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?

ithink that men and women need to be taught that they need to respect  others . to do such things as father a child and not accept that fact says a lot about the person.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 21,733
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Unknown Half Brother or Sister?


@Carmie wrote:

War had an awful effect on women and their children born to American fathers during all of the wars.

 

Years ago, I had a conversation with a horrible man who bragged that he had married a woman in Germany and fathered two children with her.  After the war, he came  home and promised to send for his German family later.  He never did, nor did he contact them.  

 

He married a much younger American women and fathered two more children.  I felt so bad for that poor German woman and their children.  What that man did was despicable....and I told him so.  He thought it was funny and felt he got away with something.  He is now deceased, but his wife is still living.  I wonder if she knew about what a horrible thing her Husband did.

 

I still see his grown up children on occasion and I'll bet they have no idea that they have much older siblings in Germany.  


@Carmie, your story brings to mind Madame Butterfly/Miss Saigon.


~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland