An 81-Year Christmas Wish: Abandoned in a War-Torn London, Found by a DNA Gift

John Moore always knew he was a foundling. Abandoned on the cusp of Christmas 1944 in the chaos of wartime London, he spent 81 years not knowing his true identity. His only concern was whether his birth mother knew he had survived. This year, the spirit of Christmas delivered a life-changing gift: a half-brother he never knew, a connection to a humble father, and a beautiful heirloom to fill the 81-year void.

The foundling: Bobby of St. Thomas’s

John was born on December 21, 1944, and found by a policeman a few days later, right around Christmas Eve, in South London. The officer took him to St. Thomas’s Hospital, where the nurses gave him the affectionate nickname “Bobby,” slang for a policeman.

“It was Christmas Eve or the day before Christmas,” John recalls of the day he was found. “I don’t know whether it was a doorstep or outside a hospital. You also have to remember this was a war. This was 1944. Bombs were dropping. It must have been a terrible situation to even survive, let alone.”

He spent his first four years as an orphan before being adopted by a loving family. Growing up, the mystery of his birth didn’t define him, but one wish remained.

“My only concern throughout life was that as long as my mother knew that I had survived. But I never will know that,” John shares.

The unexpected Christmas gift

For John’s half-brother, Lucas Borg, life was simpler. He grew up as an only child in South London, knowing his parents and the story of his father, a hard-working Maltese man who immigrated to England in the 1930s and served in the Merchant Navy during World War II.

The family had no idea another son existed. The key to the mystery lay in a Christmas present Lucas’s daughter, Ella, received last year: a MyHeritage DNA kit.

“It was a Christmas gift,” Lucas says, “and she didn’t actually take the test until about September the following year. And then one day she contacted me and she said, ‘Oh, Dad, I did that DNA test and I’ve got this very strong match with this chap. He’s in his 80s.’”

The match was John. Given John’s fragmented history and the connection to South London and a Maltese background, Lucas decided to take a test to confirm the astonishing possibility.

“I came back with a 50% match, which meant that yes, he was my half-brother and from my father’s side,” Lucas confirms.

For Lucas, the discovery was a genuine shock: “I was the only child to my father and mother. So I wasn’t going through life thinking, ‘Oh, I might have another brother or have another sister elsewhere.’ It was just myself and that’s it.”

For John, the match was a fulfillment of a hope he hadn’t dared to nurture. “I always thought in a previous life maybe I was a centurion or something,” he jokes. “But I didn’t expect anything from the DNA as regards to family because of the time factor. You know, if anybody had been part of me, they could have now passed on. It’s been so many years.”

A father’s legacy: the ring

The first meeting between the 81-year-old John and the 70-year-old Lucas took place over Easter. Lucas recalls the occasion: “We all met up at our house over Easter Sunday… and we met over Easter for a few hours and had a bite to eat and drinks and that sort of thing.”

John admits the first meeting was surreal: “I didn’t know whether to shake his hand, cuddle him or… it was such a strange feeling… quite emotional. We hugged.”

Both found that despite their different lives, their connection was immediate and real. They had both grown up just a mile apart in the Kennington area of South London, unknowingly sharing the same streets and even the same local pie and mash shops — a classic London tradition. Later, they met up at Waterloo station underneath the clock and spent the day revisiting the old London streets, going to the local pie and mash shop and sharing childhood memories of the area.

John was deeply touched by what he learned about his birth father. Lucas was able to fill in the 81-year gap in John’s history, painting a picture of a decent, humble man named George who had no idea John existed.

“I tried to reassure him that our father was a good man, a kind man, and he didn’t know that John existed at all,” Lucas shares. “If he did know, then he would have made the effort to know John and treated him like a son because that’s the sort of person he was.”

Lucas also shared the remarkable story of George’s early life: “When our father came over to the UK, he was 18. He wanted a better life. There was nothing really in Malta back in the early 30s… when he said goodbye to his father, his father gave him whatever he had in his pocket money-wise and just said, ‘Take it all.’… He had a case, and the only thing in the case was a piece of cheese and a piece of bread, and that’s what he brought to England with him. He had nothing else.”

George, who couldn’t speak English when he arrived, went on to serve in the Merchant Navy and became a hard-working family man.

John realized he had inherited his father’s spirit: “I’ve learned a lot. I think of his love for his family. My brother said he was such a humble man… his family was always number one and in a way, even with my difficult family life, I’ve always respected my family. I do everything I can for them. So I’m bringing his same nature. So that’s something I can thank him for.”

Lucas sealed this connection by offering John a tangible link to the father he never met:

“I have a ring from my father that he used to wear all the time, and I don’t really wear jewelry or rings or anything like that,” Lucas says. “I said to him, ‘I don’t need it because I have the memories, but you don’t.’”

The ring, likely a family heirloom passed down to George, was a profound gift. Lucas presented it to John with a simple request: “The day that you no longer wear it, I’d like it back, but until then, it’s yours.”

The brother he always wanted

The brothers found they shared more than just DNA and a general air of decency; they also shared a similar sense of humor and even a resemblance.

“John, the bottom half of his face is the same as my father’s. And so is my face, the bottom half,” Lucas noted.

For Lucas, what sealed the deal was the easy, developing relationship: “I think what’s good is that John’s got a good sense of humor and I’ve got a good sense of humor… I can see us becoming closer due to the fact that we have a similar sort of frame of mind really.”

In a final twist of fate, John learned that the half-brother he found after 81 years of solitude had always wanted a sibling.

“He was an only child and he always wanted a brother and now I turn up 70 years later,” John explains. “So ironic.”

This Christmas, John is carrying the ring, a physical reminder of the father he finally knows and the loving family he gained through a delayed DNA kit. So many decades after being found abandoned during the war, John finally has a deep, true connection that transcends time and distance.

Many thanks to John and Lucas for sharing their beautiful story with us. If you’ve also made an incredible discovery with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it. Please send it to us via this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.