Decsendents of Doris kindly provided me with information which I was able to incorporate into the article. And at the end of the article I asked that if anyone could assist me with any further material to contact me.
In response to my request I received an e-mail
from a reader of the article who stated that he was the grandson of George Robert Patchett,
the driver of the vehicle that fatally injured Doris.
" I read with sadness and interest the article on your blog at the following link.
George Robert Patchett was my own grandfather, and he was deeply affected by that tragic day for the remainder of his life.
He had two children of his own including Robert Valen (my father) who was an RAF officer killed in tragic circumstances in 1969.
George has (had) 3 grandchildren, myself, my brother Mike and also a granddaughter Samantha who was herself killed in 1967 at the age of 18 months in similar circumstances to little Doris.
Smanatha had been sitting with myself and a group of young friends outside our house in RAF Little Rissington. I ran across the road to get some money from the house as an Ice cream van had just turned up, Samantha followed and was run over as the vehicle reversed back.
My Grandfather was haunted till the end of this days by this event - believing it was payback for what happened to young Doris all those years previously."
The newspaper reports of the time show that
Doris's death was just a tragic accident but it clearly affected George for the
rest of his life. The loss of his own granddaughter Samantha in 1967 must have
been unbearable for George, given the circumstances of her death
No comments:
Post a Comment