Absolutely Literate

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Mystery Photos

We all have those mystery photos in our collections. Sometimes they come with family stories and sometimes they come with no information at all.
Mystery photo: Durupt family collection.

The photo here is one of the mystery photos in my husband's family.

A lot of stock has been put into this picture to unlocking some family mysteries so it would be wonderful if we could determine more information.

After some photo research we think it is White Rock, BC. 

We need to do some more research into the uniform to determine if it is WW2 or Korean War. The family story says it is WW2 but other evidence suggests other possibilities.

The woman may be Elsie Durupt or Yvonne Gwendoline Marie Durupt, later Yvonne Mixon.

The men are unknown though we have wondered if the one without the shirt is Hubert James Durupt.

We only have pictures of the people in question later in life so nothing for comparison purposes.

So how do we figure it out?

Update, November 7, 2014

I enlisted the help of Paul Ferguson, Historical Researcher, Writer, Collections Advisor. He noted that the soldier on the left "his end sleeve are a series of chevrons as there is no white chevron, indicating he joined in 1939, it would suggest that the image is from the later 1940s. The cap badge appears to be a flaming grenade which may mean either infantry or armoured. I think the sailor is from the US Navy."

So we have now narrowed down the picture to WW2 and Canadian on one side, US on the other.



I have also posted the picture to a family Facebook page and someone else in the family thinks they might have the same picture with names written on the back so I am waiting impatiently to hear back.

My Blog List