AN Army veteran who went missing during a Second World War battle more than 50 years ago, has turned up - alive and well and living in East Hendred.

A shock awaited 81-year-old Les Goodwin's family when they found his name included in a provisional list of local war dead which was printed in the Oxford Mail's sister paper the Wantage and Grove Herald last week.

Mr Goodwin, who was gunner in the Royal Artillery, was posted as missing in October 1944, but his final fate was never recorded.

His wife at home in Wantage received the dreaded official telegram, bearing the grim news that he was "presumed dead", but was eventually reunited with her soldier husband.

The first official count of Wantage's service casualties from the Second World War has been published by the town council after almost ten years' research by historians and veterans' organisations. The project does not have the backing of the Royal British Legion, which takes the view that after such a lapse of time, no recently compiled list can hope to be accurate.

But Mayor Terry Fraser, who has made the memorial list his personal mission, believes it is as accurate as it possibly could be, although he was expecting inaccuracies to be found.

The first was found by Jill Goodwin, Len's daughter-in-law, of Newbury Road, East Hendred.

She said: "I was reading through the list and it jumped out of the page. I showed it to my husband, and he went to tell Les, who lives down the road in Mount Pleasant with his son.

"He seemed quite amused for people not to know he's still here, as he's quite a character and still keeps the grass cut neatly around the village." The Mayor was as amused as anyone, representing the Hendred villages on the Vale of White Horse District Council, and aware of the Goodwin family name in East Hendred.

"It was funny, because when I saw the name Goodwin I wondered if there was any local connection," said Mr Fraser.

"I've given three talks about this list at the day centre, and the response I've had has been very good, with no adverse comments at all.

"Much of it is correct and it hasn't upset anyone."

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