Latest news with #documents
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Man reunited with father's wartime documents found hidden in desk drawer
A man has told of his delight at being reunited with Second World War documents that belonged to his father after they were found hidden in a desk 18 years after he died. Martin Reid bought the desk at auction four years ago but only discovered the folder of documents recently when he was moving furniture and found them behind a drawer that had been stuck. Mr Reid discovered the papers had belonged to the late Ian Rodger, from Glasgow, who served with 2 Squadron of the 6th Armoured Division Signal Regiment, a unit of the British Army, and fought in Italy and Tunisia during the war. After hearing about the discovery following an appeal for information made through the Church of Scotland, Mr Rodger's son Sandy came forward to claim the documents. He travelled from his home in Rye in East Sussex to meet Mr Reid in Edinburgh on Thursday and to thank him personally as he collected the folder. Mr Rodger, 62, said he had a collection of his father's old papers and letters from the war but had never seen the contents of the folder before, and he thanked Mr Reid for his 'kind return' of the documents. He said: 'In January 2021, with my 90-year-old mother Isabel's health fast deteriorating, I travelled from home in Sussex to Glasgow to help her move into a care home. 'Under lockdown rules this allowed little time for preparation or even a proper goodbye, and then I was left with less than two days to clear her flat, trying to preserve the memories of her own and my father's long and rather remarkable lives. 'In the process I missed a folder of papers which had fallen behind a desk drawer, and, but for Martin's kindness and initiative, they would have remained lost. 'I am hugely grateful to Martin and to Cameron Brooks from the church for their detective work, and to the multiple people who saw articles about the appeal and got in touch to let me know.' The folder contained photographs, letters and maps relating to the British Army's involvement in the campaign known as the Liberation of Italy between 1943 and 1945. Ian Rodger held the rank of captain during the war and can be seen in a wartime photo which appears to feature Major Jack (John) Profumo – who later became a secretary of state but whose political career ended after an affair with Christine Keeler came to light in the 1960s. After being demobilised, Mr Rodger practised as a solicitor in Glasgow, co-founded Scottish Opera and was involved in the Scouts and Wellington Church of Scotland in Glasgow where he was an elder. He died aged 91 in 2007 and in March 2021 his desk was put up for sale at McTear's Auctioneers in Glasgow. His widow Isabel died in February 2023. Mr Reid, from Lanark in South Lanarkshire, bought it for £110 and used it regularly at his home over the years, not knowing the historic papers were hidden inside until he found them in late March this year. Mr Rodger, a business consultant, said: 'The papers add to a fascinating collection of letters maps and photos, telling the story of the 8th Army's advance through North Africa, Italy, and into Austria in the last three years of the war, defeat of the Germans turning into the race for Berlin which shaped Western Europe for the next 50 years. 'The perspective of a signals officer, constantly on the move, keeping troops connected to their command, offers an amazing overview of the conflict. 'There isn't much mention of the human cost of the war, and my father never really spoke of this, perhaps typically. 'But it's a proud and detailed account of an extraordinary endeavour, told by a young man who, with the benefit of hindsight, survived and could be said to have had a 'good war'. Mr Reid said he is delighted to have been able to reunite Mr Rodger with his father's papers. 'This was a story that certainly captured the imagination of many people and Sandy got in touch with the church the morning the article was published, which was rather astonishing given he lives on the south coast of England,' Mr Reid said. 'The maps, letters and photographs are utterly fascinating and provide a really important insight into the British Army's involvement in the Italian campaign against Adolf Hitler's Germany. 'Sandy is a lovely guy and very proud of his father and it was very moving seeing his reaction as he leafed through the folder and shared anecdotes.'
CTV News
14-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Confidential reports and documents highlighting LDE financial fallout released
Through newly released documents, we are getting a clearer picture of what went wrong for the Lethbridge and District Exhibition.
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration releases 60,000 more files on RFK assassination
The federal government published more than 60,000 pages of records on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination late Wednesday — the second tranche of documents to be released on the 1968 slaying. The releases were ordered by President Trump in January, with backing from the senator's son, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has claimed for years that his father's convicted killer Sirhan Sirhan might be innocent. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the documents "have been sitting in various storage facilities across the federal government for decades and had never been digitized or accessible to the public before." They were digitized by ODNI — which is led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — and posted on the National Archives website. "Today's release is an important step toward maximum transparency, finding the truth, and sharing the truth," Gabbard said in a post on Truth Social. Mr. Trump has also ordered the release of documents on President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 killing. Some John F. Kennedy files were released in March, but the King documents have not been released. What's in the RFK files — and will we learn anything new? ODNI said the documents posted Wednesday include "never-before-seen details about the FBI's investigation into the assassination of RFK — including the discussion of potential leads by various FBI offices, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, and more." The records also include recordings of Los Angeles police interviews with Sirhan and eyewitnesses to the 1968 assassination, according to ODNI. But it's unclear whether the files will reveal new information about Robert F. Kennedy's killing. The senator's 1968 assassination was primarily investigated and prosecuted by authorities in Los Angeles. Documents from the local investigation — along with many records from a separate FBI probe — have been publicly available in California's state archives since the late 1980s. ODNI said some of the records that were published Wednesday had previously been handed over to the Los Angeles Police Department. What did last month's RFK files say? The government released a trove of 10,000 records on Robert F. Kennedy last month. A CBS News review found the documents included handwritten notes from Sirhan — including ones in which Sirhan wrote "RFK must be disposed of like his brother was" — as well as FBI memos on Sirhan, crime scene and autopsy photos, witness interviews and other materials. A few of those records make reference to common conspiracy theories about the assassination, including mentions of witnesses seeing a woman in a polka-dot dress or somebody shouting "we shot him." Other witnesses said they didn't see anybody matching that description. Many of the details in those files were already publicly known. Who killed RFK — and what has RFK Jr. said? Sirhan was convicted of killing Robert F. Kennedy — then a Democratic presidential primary candidate — at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He was arrested shortly after the shooting and he was 24 years old at the time. Sirhan has admitted to killing the senator at various points, sometimes claiming it was due to the senator's support for Israel, though at other times, Sirhan has said he is innocent or said he couldn't remember the incident. Sirhan has been incarcerated in California for decades, and multiple requests for parole have been unsuccessful. The state's parole board endorsed his 2021 bid for parole, but California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected the request. The case has drawn public fascination for decades, with some observers claiming Sirhan didn't fire the fatal shots or acted as part of a wider conspiracy. They often cite conflicting eyewitness testimonies or the alleged presence of extra bullets — though many others have backed the view that Sirhan acted alone. One of the skeptics is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was 14 years old when his father was assassinated. He has argued Sirhan wasn't responsible for the killing, and met with him in prison before backing his 2021 request for parole. However, other members of the Kennedy family have staunchly opposed Sirhan's release from prison.
