TWO families linked by a wartime romance have been reunited following an appeal in The Shuttle.

Earlier this year, Elspeth McPherson, of Ledbury, made a plea to The Shuttle to find the fiancée of a young airman killed during the Second World War.

He was Bill Beary, of Blakebrook, Kidderminster, the brother of Patricia McPherson, née Beary, one of four sisters, who is Elspeth’s mother.

When Bill was reported missing on November 5, 1944 his fiancée, Margaret Kirkby, gave his mother, Clare Beary, a table cloth.

The cloth was embroidered by Margaret and her own mother, who was dying, over summer months spent together.

When the cloth was given to Clare it came with a “charming” letter from Margaret, hoping that the Bearys would be able to use it with Margaret “when good news about Bill arrives”.

In early 1945, it was confirmed that Bill and his crew had been shot down and buried in Belgrade, capital of modern-day Serbia. An article about Bill’s life and death was featured in The Shuttle.

The cloth was never used and Patricia has wanted, somehow, to return it to Margaret’s family, aware that Margaret had later married.

The cloth had been kept through the Beary sisters “remembering both Bill and Margaret”.

After reading the article, Bill Brown of Wribbenhall, Bewdley, contacted The Shuttle to say that his late wife, Linda, was Margaret’s cousin and he was also able to give the name of one of Margaret’s daughters, Helen Vine, who lives in Leominster.

Patricia McPherson, who now lives in Cradley, said: “With this amazing discovery, Helen and her husband, Richard, spent a wonderful afternoon with myself and Elspeth.

“Extraordinary stories of family coincidences - too numerous to mention - were exchanged and after 66 years, I myself, the fifth custodian of the cloth, happily returned it with love to complete a story unfinished for so many years.”