'I found my cousin in Cairo during the war'

After 104 years of living, there was not much that was new to World War Two veteran Percy Chafer from London.

But one thing that always remained a mystery was what happened to his cousin Fred Stredder during the war, after they met by chance in a cafe in Egypt.

He and his family finally uncovered more about Fred's time as a prisoner of war thanks to records at The National Archives.

Now on Remembrance Sunday, his family hopes their experience will encourage others to have conversations and share their own stories - to make sure their memories never die.

The family's journey through the past began when former gunner Percy, from Pimlico in central London, shared his story of landing on Sword Beach with the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army.

This made his cousin's daughter Jaqueline realise how little she knew about her own father.

All she knew was that Fred was a prisoner of war, and had escaped before being recaptured - so BBC Breakfast took them both to the archives to find out more.

When Fred and Percy left London for the war, they thought they might never see each other again - but one photograph was the stuff of legend in Percy’s family.

It showed Percy and Fred's cameos, overlaid on the pyramids of Cairo, and hinted at an unbelievable story Percy told of a chance meeting when Percy had been a Desert Rat - a group of British soldiers who helped to defeat the Germans in North Africa during the war.

"We were sitting outside, and one of our comrades made a remark that there was a man looking at me, and I looked over and thought I didn't know him and couldn't recognise who he was," Percy said.

"And then he walked towards me, and the very words he said to me were, 'Are you Percy Chafer":[]}