Day 15

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Day 15

The day started with a walk to the post office, to mail off some more clothes that we were not going to be needing, since the weather does not look like it is getting cold during the day any longer. We also put purchases in the box so we wouldn’t have to lug it around the next 3 days.

After that, we walked over to the Churchill War Room. This is the location during used by Churchill and his staff, leading the fight against Germany and the Nazis. It was put below ground for protection from the bombs that were falling on London and destroying everything. No. 10 Downing St. was bombed as well. After they started using the basement, they reinforced the floor above with steel flooring channels, and 3 feet of cement so that if a bomb did make it to the building, it would not interrupt the meetings and planning going on. Staff lived down there, worked down there, and there was even a floor below the floor we were touring, where a lot of staff bunked down.

When the war was over, on Aug. 16, 1945, V-JDay, when Japan surrendered, the people in the bunker in London, all basically stopped and closed their doors, and left. It wasn’t until 1985 when it was discovered, just like it was left, and instead of clearing everything out, trashing it and converting it to usable office space, the Queen decided to make it a museum about the war victory, and Winston Churchill and how they did everything from below ground while bombs fell on London. It is a fantastic collection of memorabilia and history of how they communicated and tracked everything. Britain was a naval force, and the map room had people keeping up with every ship of theirs on the seas, as well as every German U-boat and warship they encountered. All this communication was from underground, and a secure line was installed with voice encryption between Winston Churchill and the United States.

We finished after 2 and half hours and moved on to the next event for the day. Take a ride out to a distant relative we found through DNA matching. Basil Samuels we think is an offspring of William Keating. So, why isn’t his name Keating. He was adopted after he was born, and did not know who is mother was, nor his father. He started doing research and trying to find her. He was successful, and found her, and asked about her life. It wasn’t until after she passed away, that he read some diaries he found in her belongings. She was dating a man, William Keating, and turned up pregnant. Her family was Jewish and arranged for an adoption. They were NOT going to let her marry William because he was not Jewish. She told William she was pregnant and was hoping he would return, but family pressures for the situation would not allow it, and William vanished. Basil was adapted by a loving family and had a great life and was interested in finding out more about the Keatings.

Gail has been doing most of the digging and connecting the dots on who married who, what the offspring were named and such. She connected with Basil, and the likeness of pictures he shared with her convinced all of us, Linda as well, that he must have some Keating DNA. He asked his birth mother before she passed about the name William (Bill) Keating, and her face changed, and she said no connection, don’t know him. Her diary that he read after her passing indicated otherwise.

Not only is Linda a great cook, she is a very talented artist, and writer. She has illustrations in many books, and has written her own. Linda Nissen Samuels. And Basil is a very talented pottery maker. He has made many different things and has sold them. They are colorful, useful items, and displayed everywhere in their home, as well as Linda’s paintings.

Linda cooked a lovely meal for us, and we talked, ate, visited some more, sat out on the patio in their lovely back yard until 5PM. Basil evidently is a great gardener because all of the flowers, trees, bushes are well kept, no weeds and look healthy.

After a wonderful visit, we came back to the hotel, to get ready to say goodbye to London.

London, it has been indeed a wonderful experience, we hate to leave, but will hopefully have a chance to return.

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Photos

Church Hill's War Room
A very interesting place to visit, with a lot of historic information about the war and how it was waged from London.

West Finchley
A quaint little stop on the Northern Line

Michael, Basil, Richard
When Linda and Basil met us at the train station, her look of astonishment was incredible when she saw me.

Linda and Basil Samuels
A relative found through DNA matching.