Retro Nostalgia 1997: Brothers are reunited after seven decades

Paul Dunsche (77) had given half-brother Alfred Alexander up for dead until he received a shock phone call in June.

Now the pair will meet up in the German town of Mainz tomorrow (Friday).

This week Mr Dunsche of Broad Street, Denny, told The Falkirk Herald how he and his brother lost touch and then found each other again seven decades later.

He said: ‘‘Alfred lived in East Prussia when my grandparents and I last saw him when my sister and I spent six months there in 1927.

‘‘We returned to our home in Dortmund and I’ve never seen him since!’’

Both Paul and Alfred were members of the German army during the Second World War but never met.

Paul was captured in 1944 and spent three years as a prisoner of war.

Part of that time was spent at Castlerankine camp in Denny where he met the woman who became his wife, Mary Harrison.

The couple had four children but, sadly, Mary died in April 1987.