Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! February 27, 1918, exactly 100 years ago today, was a momentous day in Hélène’s life: her second child, Albert Walter Scoffield, was born in the most extraordinary circumstances. Conceived in Petrograd, Russia, born in Hull, England, he was a miracle in every way. He was also my father.
By the time Hélène met her future husband, Walter Scoffield, in early 1917, she had been living in Russia for more than seven years. She had recently received the good news that her daughter, Lili, had escaped from the occupied area of France. But Hélène was in poor health: in December, 1914, she had had surgery to remove an ovary and fallopian tube in Petrograd. At the time, she was advised that she wouldn’t be able to have any more children. The pains in her abdomen continued, and she also started to experience heart palpitations. However, in early 1917, her life changed dramatically. While she was working as a Red Cross nurse in Petrograd, she met her future husband, Walter Scoffield. He was a Chief Engineer in the British Merchant Marine, suffering from acute pneumonia, and they fell in love while Hélène nursed him back to health. After knowing each other only a few months, they married, and Hélène became pregnant. So, in spite of only having one ovary, she had conceived very quickly. Miracle Number 1.
Now there was an urgency to leave Russia, but it took Hélène and her friend, Marie, several months to book the passage. Petrograd was in complete chaos, crippled by famine, strikes, and battles in the streets between the various factions vying for control of the city and country, following the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in March. There were fewer and fewer boats arriving in the port, as hundreds of ships had been sunk trying to cross the North Sea and Baltic Sea during WWI. Finally, after several false starts, the two women were able to leave in September, 1917, just weeks before the final Revolution that changed everything in Russia. Miracle Number 2.
When Hélène and her friend left Russia, they had to evade wild storms as well as the constant threat of German U-boat torpedoes and Zeppelins. But Hélène successfully reached Hull in October, 1917. Miracle Number 3.
Hélène’s son, Albert Walter Scoffield, was born on February 27, 1918. Her health had improved enough to give her hope that her dream of living together with her husband, daughter, and new baby would finally come true. Surely, the war would end at some point and her husband could come home, and she would be able to travel to France and be re-united with her daughter. Unfortunately, she only lived for three weeks after her son was born. Hélène never saw her daughter or husband again. However – Albert Walter survived. Miracle Number 4.
Of course, this last miracle was essential to me and my family!
The photo is of my dad, Albert Walter Scoffield, born 100 years ago today. He never knew his biological mother, and rarely saw his biological father, who was at sea most of the time. But he was raised in a wonderful family with his aunt and uncle. His half-sister, Lili, born 10 years earlier, was brought up in France. They met for the first time in 1933 when my dad was 15 and traveled to France. They had difficulty communicating; even though they were siblings, neither spoke the other’s language!