Who am I

I wonder if I am the bastard child of a stolen identity.

I was born at the start of World War II. I never knew my father; there is no name on the birth certificate, and my mother wouldn't speak of him. I was later adopted, and given a totally new name.

However, a favourite uncle once told me that my father was “ a bloke called Gerry Lovis, who died in the Pacific, on the way back from the war.”

I couldn't find anyone of this name in official war records. Good old Google didn't give me any clues in searches I made for the holder of that name. The web site ancestry.com was no help.

However, a year or so ago, I found a newspaper article. Published in 1941, in the local paper in my

Barrier Miner Broken Hill, NSW Wednesday 22 October 1941

ALLEGED FALSE NAME ON TELEGRAM

ADELAIDE, Wednesday.-Francis James Reynolds Reardon, bricklayer, of North Terrace, Hackney, was remanded until Friday on a charge of having on. September 29 wrongfully signed a telegram with the name of another person, Jerry Lovis, without his authority, contrary to the pro-visions of the Post and Telegraph Act. - He was allowed bail in a bond of £50, with two sureties for £25 each.

Police Prosecutor Crafter said that defendant originally came from Broken Hill, and had been living in Adelaide for the past few months. He was employed on casual work at the Abattoirs. On September 29 he sent a telegram from Adelaide to a man at Broken Hill requesting £4, and signed the name of Lovis without that person's authority. When questioned, he admitted having done so, and that he had received the money and had retained possession of it.home town of Broken Hill,

This story raises a few questions. Who was this Jerry Lovis? How did the perpetrator, Reardon, know that someone in Broken Hill would respond to a request for money from Jerry Lovis. Did he make the request to my family, or to the Lovis family – there were a few families of that name living in Broken Hill.

My mother was living in Adelaide at the time. So there's a possibility this was the Jerry Lovis in my life. There's also a possibility that Reardon spun her a yarn, told her he was Lovis, got her pregnant and disappeared into the night.