Chums separated during WWII reunite 60 years later

Childhood friends separated during WWII were reunited when they found themselves lying side by side in a hospital ward—60 years later.

Best friends Peter Butcher and Donald Gooding, both now aged 86, lost touch after Butcher volunteered as a flight engineer for the RAF, while Gooding later joined the armoured corps, reports the Daily Mail.

Both tried several times to trace each other over the years, but their efforts were in vain.

Gooding was being treated for a broken leg in Northampton General Hospital when Butcher was admitted into the same ward with a broken pelvis.

Peter, who lives in Gayton, Northamptonshire said he had thought he would never see his friend again.

He said: "Don had been in hospital for some weeks before I came in. The nurses pushed me over near him and I looked at him and wondered if he wanted to speak to me.

I asked him where he was from and he said 'Northampton'.

"I said I was from a small place called Gayton and he said: 'That's funny I had a good friend from Gayton, his name was Pete Butcher.' I just said "that's me".' 

Peter, who has four children, five grandchildren and a great grand child, added: "I looked for him for so long I got fed up with it.

"We have both aged, I wouldn't have recognised him in the street and he wouldn't have recognised me."

Don, who has two children and lives in Kings Heath, Northampton, said: "We were good friends. We would go for a pint every now and then. I used to cycle over to Gayton to see him.

"It is out of this world. All these years, we both spoke of each other and tried to find each other."