Retired Col. Finds Father Through Personal Ad

[livvy]

Retired Col. Finds Father Through Personal Ad

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Dec 13, 2008 15:39:30 EST

SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Richard Ryles’ journey to find his father began with little more than a fuzzy black-and-white photo and a stab at a last name.

But after searching records at the Pentagon and Detroit public libraries, and placing personal ads in a Saginaw newspaper, he found the family of the man who fathered him while stationed as an airman in Japan five decades ago.

Ryles, 54, attended a recent reunion with 40 relatives of Donald Butcher. Butcher died in 1979, but Ryles met Butcher’s sisters, who saw his ad last month.

When Butcher’s sister, Carole Fresorger of Saginaw County’s Buena Vista Township, spotted it, she told another sister, “I think that’s Don,” The Saginaw News reported for a story published Saturday.

Family members have told Ryles that Butcher wanted to bring his Japanese family home to the U.S., but the government discouraged it.

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http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_sonssearch_121308/%2e