IT was six days before Christmas and Paul Newman was worried about his elderly neighbour.
World War Two veteran Peter Brown was 96 and frail.
In recent times he had injured himself falling over on his way to the shops.
Concerned when Peter didn’t answer his door, Paul, a retired travel agent, and his wife Betty called the police.
Officers broke down the door and found the former RAF wireless operator had died in his sleep.
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Paul, 77, knew that Peter, who had been born in Jamaica, had come to Britain to join the RAF.
He had been one of the last survivors among 450 black airmen nicknamed the Pilots Of The Caribbean.
He also knew that cricket fan Peter, who lived near Lords ground in London for half a century, had virtually no contact with family back in the West Indies. He had never married and had no children.
As he identified Peter’s body, Paul feared this forgotten war hero would not get the send-off he deserved with no family members to mourn his passing.
But four months on, Flight Sergeant Peter Brown’s last mission is accomplished, thanks to The Sun.
After we appealed for Peter to be given a funeral befitting his importance, next month he will be given a military funeral at the RAF’s own church in London, where 600 people can attend.
There are even plans for an RAF flypast in his honour.
And hopefully among the mourners at St Clement Danes Church on May 25 will be Peter’s long-lost relatives who were tracked down after our article sparked an international hunt by historians and genealogists.
Until they got involved, Peter’s friend Paul was drawing a blank. He had hoped to be allowed to look at the former RAF man’s Christmas cards and let his relatives know of his death.
He says: “In the 20 years I knew him, Peter never talked about his family in the Caribbean.”
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Sadly Peter’s tiny rented ground-floor flat was cleared out soon after police decided that the death was not suspicious and the cards, which were a vital link to relatives back in Jamaica, were lost.
But Phil Turvey, Executive Director of Anglia Research Services, saw The Sun’s appeal last month to find Peter’s family.
He says: “We have an office in the West Indies and worked with colleagues there to find a number of people related to Peter and who remember him well.”
Their research revealed Peter had a cousin, Shirley Foster (nee Frances de Mercado), who died in 2014, but her husband of 52 years, Anthony Foster, known as Gerry, remembered Peter very well.
Peter and Shirley wrote to each other and exchanged Christmas cards over the years.
Gerry, 85, had met him on several occasions in Jamaica and England.
Gerry confirmed what Peter told Paul Newman in 2020 for a neighbourhood magazine to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day — that he had volunteered to join the RAF as a teenager in Jamaica.
Paul says: “Peter didn’t want to elaborate too much on what he did in the war.
“He did tell me that he’d had to lie a little bit about his age to join up. He was just 16.
“He told me he’d been based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and there was a rumour among the neighbours that he was one of the Dambusters.
“Peter wasn’t a Dambuster but at Scampton he was sharing the same air base with the guys that carried out the raid on the German dams.
“We know for certain he was a wireless operator and air gunner on Lancaster bombers with 625 Squadron.
Peter had a great sense of humour, we got on well. We both liked a few beers and whiskies. He was a nice guy. It was the first time in 40 years he had come home to Jamaica
Anthony Foster, known as Gerry
“I wrote all this down and when I put the article together and sent him a copy of the magazine he was a little bit annoyed.
“For Peter to show any annoyance was quite rare, he said ‘oh, you didn’t have to mention about me lying about my age’. He thought they might still come after him.”
According to researchers at the International Bomber Command Centre, Peter arrived at Scampton just after VE Day.
After the war ended the RAF stopped keeping flight logs but it seems Peter Brown flew five missions with 625 Squadron who dropped thousands of tons of food to starving people in the Netherlands.
They also flew home British prisoners of war from camps in Europe.
After the war Peter went back to the Caribbean to work for Gerry’s father at the Jamaica Coconut Producers Association in Kingston.
But Peter decided that wages were far better back in England, so he returned to London in the late 1940s and re-joined the RAF where he served for four years before becoming a civil servant at the Ministry of Defence.
After years without contact, Shirley and Gerry travelled with their daughter Nicola to London to be reunited with Peter.
Gerry and Peter bonded over their shared obsession with cricket - and in 2005 watched England Test matches at Lords.
He remembers: “Peter had a great sense of humour, we got on quite well. We both liked a couple of beers and a few whiskys, he was a nice guy.
“We didn’t talk much about the war when we spent time with Peter and Shirley invited him back to Jamaica - which of course coincided with another Test series…
“It was the first time in 40 years he had come home and he stayed nearly two weeks.
“He just loved it - the food, the jerk pork, I took him to the country, the North coast.
“I later went back to England - we saw cricket again - England v Australia in the Ashes but after we came back we lost touch a bit.
“When Shirley died I tried to reach out on the phone number I had but couldn’t get in touch with him. I feared he’d died and we didn’t know.
“When I saw the story on the news last month and the Lancaster planes he used to fly in I knew it was him.”
Flying seems to be in the family blood - as Gerry and Shirley's son Rohan is now a pilot.
Rohan still remembers the impact Peter had on him when they met at the former flyer’s flat in Maida Vale.
He says: “I saw all his old memoirs of the Second World War, I was fascinated by him.
“His confidence, his memory, the passion of which he spoke about his experience, I found it phenomenal.
“His fire and passion, he truly loved what he did. He remembered it all like it was yesterday, it was his moment.
“And even years later, when he was in his 70s, Peter still had his Jamaican twang.”
Gerry and Shirley’s daughter, also named Sharon, 59, who lives in Florida describes the public response to Peter’s story as ‘heart-warming’.
She says: “It’s been so lovely. We saw it on the TV and in the newspapers. Dad called up and told us ‘did you realise this is your mother’s cousin?’
“I never got to know Peter but I’ve loved learning about him, it’s been so exciting to hear about our relatives who had such a significant role.
“He did a great job, and for him to be recognised like this it’s so wonderful.
“Dad remembers him as a sharp, independent, funny man.”
Sharon’s husband Merv, 72, was on the family trip to visit Peter in London in 2005.
He says: “Peter was such a pleasant fellow, very knowledgeable, and intelligent.
“He spoke a bit about the war, but not too much. It’s only fair these people are recognised for their service - it’s such a sacrifice he made.
“I’m so happy to see what they are doing for him - it’s great to hear the church will be packed out.
“It will be lovely if some of us can go to the funeral.”
Sharon’s daughter Brooke Alexander, 31, hopes to make the 4,600-mile trip from her home in Kingston, Jamaica, to London to attend Peter’s funeral.
She says: “When I first heard he’d died alone, it broke my heart.
“If we couldn’t be there in his life, I really hope in his death we can get his family there to pay our tributes to him.”
