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In the 1960's, when I was in my teens/early twenties, my father confided in me that I had a sister born and living in France. It seems he had an affair with a local girl and made her pregnant. He was a driver of an ambulance somewhere in Northern France during this time. He was later dismissed from the forces because of illness.
Could anyone suggest to me how I might go about checking this out - sensitivity to any sibling still living would need to be a prime factor.
His name was Charles Maurice MOON (born 1915 - died 1980).
I have a Certified Copy of Attestation for The Royal Army Service Corps dated 13 Dec 1939 and signed at Recruiting Centre No 71, Leeds. His trade is entered as a motor driver. He lived at Ilkley at the time.
I suspect I first need to find where he was serving at the time (1940-41) and then if any children were fathered by an English ambulance driver in that area at that time.
My name is Gerald (prefer Gerry) MOON

Next of kin can obtain service records

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html

I have my father's service record and he was in Northern France 1939-41 but I cannot find records in France {Correction - I do not know how to find them} for that preiod

Recently, French bmd and census records have been, slow but surely, made available to view (free of charge) on line.
However there is no central data base so you have to check each department individually and if you don't know exactly which town, each individual town or village so it can be a long process.
In any case births of less than 100yrs old are not available to view on line so you would not be able to look for a birth in the 1940's.
You could ask for a copy of a birth certificate, which are incidently free of charge, but you would have to provide the name of the person, the date of birth, the place of birth and the names of both parents.
If you could narrow down the place of birth I could have a look to see what archives are available but I wouldn't hold out too much hope I'm afraid.

I would think that any such child would have been given the mother's surname, rather than your father's.

I don't suppose your father told you the girl's name?

Hi Gerry.

If his daughter does not know her father's name, this search will probably be well-nigh impossible. So let's assume she does!

Trying to think 'outside the box', I wonder if there is any way you could use social media, such as Facebook?

Presumably this would have to be done in French! So unless you know the language - or know someone who does - you will need help.

It might be worth asking for advice on the Anglo-French forum, worth a try anyway:

http://www.the-anglo-french-forum.co.uk/index.php

Jan

The child would undoubtedly have been registered in the mother's name.

Did your father pay maintenance for his child?

Wow!
Many thanks for all of your advice
I did have an outsider thought but to no avail.
There is a French photographer who uses the name "Sarah MOON" - this is the name of my paternal grandmother - I believe her birth-name is Marielle Hadengue.
According to various biographies of her she could have been born in England or Northern France; her father could be a Jew, an American GI or a British soldier - she is very secretive about her early life, refusing even to talk about it to her agent in London.
Using the coincidence of my grandmother's name and her nom-de-camera, I sent a letter explaining the situation asking if she could offer any advice on how I could find my long lost half-sister without directly suggesting it could be her. I sent this to her agent with a request that he forward it to her. Sadly, I have received no response whatsoever. Ah well!
I will try to follow up each of your ideas and keep you informed if I have any success - once again many thanks
Gerry

"Hadengue was born in Vichy in 1941. Her Jewish family was forced to leave occupied France for England. As a teenager she studied drawing before working as a model in London and Paris (1960–1966) under the name Marielle Hadengue. She also became interested in photography, taking shots of her model colleagues. In 1970, she finally decided to spend all her time on photography rather than modelling, adopting Sarah Moon as her new name"


Vichy is in the Auvergne, which is in Southern Central France.