Hidden Memorial: Honoring fallen heroes

Our genealogy team love challenges – so imagine the reaction of Laurence Harris, MyHeritage's Head of Genealogy (UK), when he was shown a 66-year-old Memorial Board  commemorating the names of Servicemen who had died in WWII.

The board had been hidden in a rarely-used storage area for more than 30 years.

The challenge was on!  Laurence volunteered to trace living family members of the men so that they could be invited to a special service to remember and honor them and to rededicate the Board.

Laurence took this as both a personal and professional challenge.  He recognized the importance of learning about these forgotten heroes of the past, enabling the present generation to honor them, and ensuring that their stories are preserved for future generations.

Along the way, he discovered many interesting stories. Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing with you some of these stories and explaining how Laurence managed to trace the  descendants.

Do you have stories to share about unsung war heroes in your family? Let us know in the comments below, and email relevant photos to stories@myheritage.com