AFTER MANY YEARS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1692, 29 March 1917, Page 4

AFTER MANY YEARS.

TWO BROTHERS MEET AT TRENTHAM. Thirly-six years following each other about the world, and never onee encountering until last Saturday, is the remarkable and almost incredible fact concerning two New Zealanders. Staff Sergeant-Major Jack Keddell and his brother Walter, says the Post. The story of this strange game of hide and seek dates from the birth of the younger of the two brothers, Walter, who is now thirty-six years of age. When the latter (mine into the world, Jack was but two years old, and owing to the mother’s serious illness at this time, Walter was immediately taken charge of by an aunt who resided in a remote town. As the mother continued ill for a long period, Walter was retained under his aunt’s care, and eventually the latter became so attached to him (hat she begged permission lo adopt him, and he grew up as one of the aunt’s family. Jack, as he became older, was sent away to school, and it so happened that whenever Walter accompanied his aunt to his mother’s home, Jack was away. This missing of each other continued for many years, and later, as the two men commenced their wandering's about the world, they were constantly picking up traces of each other, often in strange and far-off places, and each was frequently asked if he ■was a brother of the other by people who had met both; but by some trick of fortune they never came up with each other, and usually, whenever Jack returned after a long period of absence from home, it was to be told that he had ‘‘just missed Waller." On the outbreak of the South African War both drifted to the Transvaal, and learned of each other’s presence there. Here again however, they dodged each other about, and frequently Jack entered a place with his contingent to find that Walter had just been drafted to some other part. And so, ever since, the brothers have been chasing each other around the globe, and it was only on Saturday last that they came face to face. This was at the Trentham training cam]), where Jack has tor about three months been attached to the instructional .staff . Walter, who has now settled down to the peaceful and profitable occupation of farming, somewhere in the Hutt Valley, learned that his brother was in camp, and secured communication with him by telephone, and arranged to meet him on Saturday afternoon at his camp quarters. Each gave the other a personal description of himself, and the handwringing was, needless to say, very hearty as the two brothers looked upon each other for the first time in thirty-six years. The meeting was not celebrated in camp, for the sergeant-major secured special week-end leave.