Jeff Otten RWF - (British Honduras) Belize 1953

[Gwyn Nicholas]

This has been a great thread to follow. Well done lads.

[mlsander]

On the Cyprus medal roll there is this chap :

22793371 Cpl F L Otten 1/RWF


I have no trace of anyone else by this surname. My guess that the number and rank would be about right? I never rely on people’s initials on Medal Rolls, they are wrong an awful lot of the time. There could of course be another Otten who didn't qualify for any gongs.

I was reviewing all the posts in the thread and wanted to follow-up on this. Would this have been in 1958/59?

mls

[richie264]

You took the words out of my mouth Nik.

[ap1]

I was reviewing all the posts in the thread and wanted to follow-up on this. Would this have been in 1958/59?

mls

Thats correct Mike. He would have served with the 1st Bn in Cyprus during the EOKA Emergency sometime between the dates 31st March 1958 − 6th Dec 1959.

[jungle1810]

Hello,
Len Watts phoned me this AM. he has a photo of Jeff/Geoff Otten from his time in Belize. Len is going to make a copy and I will pick it up from Len and put it on the forum. This will also help in regards to narrow down the various dates referred to from the mid fifties etcetera.
Regards RBD aka jungle1810

[mlsander]

Gentlemen,

It's been quite a while so I thought I would post a final update for your information. With all of the help I received from the Royal Welsh Forum was able to make contact with an Otten family in Caernarvon and it seemed like we were both convinced (Wales and USA) that our "Jeff" Otten was in fact "Jack" Otten. However, for some reason the communications from the Otten's in Wales stopped and I haven't heard a word from them since our first round of e-mail and photo exchanges. I have gotten a copy of his death certificate but access to any detailed military records is restricted to the official next-of-kin. As a result, we have reached an impasse.

In any event, I thank all of you for your help and still plan to check in to the Forum periodically.

Best Regards,
Mike Sander - Luling, LA, USA

[ap1]

Thanks for the update Mike, thats very thoughtful of you. I'm sorry you haven't been able to move forward. However i'm sure someone in the future on the Welsh side will be curious and re-establish communication with you. Its the nature of families.

Best Wishes

Al

[Keith Jones 989]

I wish to place on record that mlsander (OP) made a donation to the Forum Fund, for which we are extremely grateful.