I started my website 20 years ago when I was researching for my first book, 'For God, England & Ethel', an account of my grandfather's service life with 6 Squadron Royal Flying Corps during WW1. Many of my findings were interesting but never made it into the book, so I thought I would create a website and add them as a permanent record for anyone to access. As my knowledge of early military aviation and 6 Squadron expanded, especially after I became involved with the 6 Squadron RAF Association, so did my website - and so did the requests for help from the general public all across the world. Time passed and I published more books, some of them non-fiction on WW1 aviation, others that were historical but factual novels and even a self-help guide on ADHD /OCD. As a consequence my website continued to grow in its range of subjects as well as complexity. However, the biggest change happened in 2018 after I accidentally became aware of an abandoned RAF Cemetery in Baghdad during what I thought was a routine enquiry. With the British Authorities proving reluctant to honour its agreement to maintain that cemetery in perpetuity, what started out as a small project turned into an obsession which is still ongoing after more than seven years. So the website grew . . . . . . and grew . . . . . . and grew . . . . . as I became involved in the operations of other British military cemeteries in Iraq. Queries via my Contact page also grew, requiring more and more research on my part and as a consequence more and more information and images to put on my website. Much of the information (e.g. photographs of every headstone at the Habbaniya RAF War Cemetery in Iraq) will not be found anywhere else, so I do not want to reduce the scope of my website. I could break it into two separate websites but that would take time and money. As I do not charge for any of the research that I do for other people and organisations, I simply cannot afford to do this. I have already exceeded the official limit of pages for a Wix website so may eventually be forced to combine pages, but I will not remove any details. This may not make navigating my website any more easier, but I hope visitors to it will understand.

In the twenty years since I retired I have helped hundreds of people and organisations in researching the military history of a member of the British Forces (mostly the Royal Air Force but sometimes the British Army) who died service. In many cases I have been able to determine the cause of death and the final resting place of the body where these details have been lost over time. Many times I have been told that I've solved a mystery in a matter of days that had taken family members decades of frustration in not being able to find the answer. I have never and will never charge for this service as the satisfaction in helping to solve mysteries is reward enough. Over the years I have been presented with a number of difficult challenges, some of which have led to unexpected results. Here are a few of the more unusual examples:

I discovered three WW1 heroes who kept their bravery from the families and unintentionally debunked five self-proclaimed WW1 RAF heroes who used their 'fame' in order to advance their careers or family respect (I left it up to the families concerned as to what if anything they would do with my findings). I identified the hitherto unknown final resting place for five RAF servicemen, in Iraq, France and England as well as identifying a missing headstone for a Norwegian sailor in a CWGC War Cemetery in Iraq. However, two of the most gratifying projects resulted in the surprise reunification of extended family members.

If you feel I could help you with your research into finding out what happened to a close or distant family member who lost their life while in the service of the British Armed Forces, all it takes is to send me a message via the Contact page on my website