Cambridge Coincidences Collection

The three accounts of cooincidence I have entered here for WW1 ( as well as another under 'Old Friend' all happened within a period of two weeks, just before Christmas 2011. I was given a kit for a WW1 aircraft in July and it had taken me almost five months to complete. I wanted to paint it in the colours of 6 Squadron and have a serial number that was valid for the sqquadron. In the kit were provided transfers for three specific aircraft (single letter prefix followed by four numbers), none of which were for 6 squadron. I went through the squadron records and tried to find a valid serial number that could be made up from the transfers supplied, with minimal cutting of the numbers, as trying to stick single transfers close together is almost impossible. Eventually I found three numbers that I could make and chose one at random. The day after I had taken a series of 'flying' photographs of the model (for my website) I received a call from the wife of the grandson of one of the 6 squadron pilots during WW1. Could I give her details of her husband's grandfather (which I could) and could I show her what sort of aircraft he flew.

My father, John Morrison M grew up in Glasgow (Scotland), My mother grew up in the village of Bridge of Weir in Renfrewshire. After they met in Glasgow they were married in 1939 and lived in the city. On 2nd December that year my sister, Ann, was born. In the village a couple known to my parents also had a daughter the same day. I was born 4 years and one day later on 3rd December 1943. That same day the couple who had had their daughter on same day as my sister was born, also had a son. In early 1944 both fathers were killed in Northern France, although they were not in the same area or regiment. When I got married in 1968 my wife and I had a daughter, Adrienne, born 6th September, 1968. Three years and one day later, 7th September, 1971 my son Gregor was born in Kitwe, Zambia. My sister had a son born 7th September, 1965, a daughter born 25th May, 1968, my mother's birthday was 26th May, 1912. My life has been full of coincidences, I never catalogued them but my family make fun of me because of it.

When my brother died in 1999 his oldest schoolfriend attended his funeral They had been friends since their first day at school. When in 2005 my mother died, on Sunday April 17th, l wrote to tell my brother's friend. He replied to my letter and told me that HIS mother had died the very same morning.

Having helped someone in finding out how a photographer was killed in WW1 just before Christmas, I was sent a copy of a New Year's Eve Menu for the Sergeants Dinner 1917 of 6 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, in case I might be interested. As my grandfather also served in 6 squadron, I was intrigued and enlarged the photo. All of the sergeants had signed the reverse of the menu and though it was faint, I thought I could see the signature of my grandfather. The name was right but the initial was wrong, and my grandfather was a corporal, not a sergeant. I checked my grandfather's diary for that year and sure enough, he attended the sergeant's dinner. I then re-listened to a tape recording of my grandmother reminiscing (I made the recording back in 1965 and put the tape away for posterity without ever listening to it. I had the recording restored two weeks ago and listened to it for the first time) and she mentioned that his nickname in the squadron was 'Johnnie' and not 'Fred', so that explained why the initial was wrong.