Newborn saved by soldiers in 1941 finds her hero's family

The baby in this photo was abandoned by her mother on September 23, 1941 by a bush at Horsell Common, near Woking in Surrey, England. She was found by Canadian soldiers (Gunner Robert C. Griffin of Regina, Saskatchewan, Lance Sergeant Ernest Curtis of Brandon Manitoba, and Gunner Alonzo J. Brackett of Terrace, British Columbia). The three men cut the remaining umbilical cord, and wrapped the girl in a shirt. An entry in the 8th Field Regiment's war diary from that day says: "Found a newborn baby in the gun area." The baby was taken to hospital. She survived, and was later adopted by an English couple, who named her Mary.

Mary first saw this picture in 2018. "Tears were rolling down my face" said Mary. “I owe my life to them". Her rescuers had died by then, but in 2019, Mary got in touch with Harry Curtis, the son of Lance Sergeant Ernest Curtis.

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It took nearly eight decades, but a Canadian soldier’s family has reconnected with the abandoned infant he found in an English field 77 years ago.

Mary Crabb, from Hertfordshire, England, only learned of the "miraculous" intervention of the soldiers who saved her less than a month ago. However, the story is a thing of legend in the Brandon family of Ernest (Ernie) Curtis.

Growing up with the story of a newborn baby girl her grandfather found in a field in England during the Second World War, Jodi Douglas said she and her family often wondered what became of the infant.

Friday, they finally had the opportunity to talk.

"It’s incredible," Crabb said by phone Tuesday. "I still can’t believe it. I have to pinch myself sometimes."

Royal Canadian Artillery Sgt. Ernie Curtis, along with gunners Bob Griffin and A.J. Brackett, both from Regina, discovered the baby abandoned in a field on a cold September morning in 1941.

"They heard this squawking and they thought it was an animal, and when they went there, it was a baby," Curtis’s wife, Winelda, said.

Doctors estimated she could not have been more than two hours old. She was found hidden in some bushes in Horsell Common, an open park about 45 kilometres west of London.

"(Curtis) was the first one to hold me when I was born," Crabb said. "That really does put a chill down my spine."

The infant was still covered in afterbirth, with the placenta attached. Thinking quickly, Curtis cut the umbilical cord, leaving it long in case of infection so it could be recut if needed. (Doctors would later ask him how he knew how to do so, and he credited his experience as a farm boy from Alexander, 25 km west of Brandon.)

Wrapping her in clean underwear he was carrying in his pack, Curtis and the two gunners transported the baby in an army truck to the nearest hospital. Doctors were unsure if the tiny infant would live, as she was so cold she was turning blue.

Offering further support, the three soldiers and their regiment donated one day’s pay to the baby, Winelda said.

Crabb’s biological mother was later found, discovered after she passed out that same day milking cows. The father was reportedly married, with three other children.

Crabb never met her biological parents and was instead placed with her grandmother, who assured the soldiers she would be treated well. However, about five months later, the baby was put up for adoption.

"As far as (Curtis) knew, he thought the grandmother was looking after her," Winelda said.

Curtis came home after the war and never returned to England, but he never forgot. Inquires in the 1960s went nowhere, due to confidentiality issues.

"Ernie just wanted to know that she was all right and what had happened to her," Winelda said.

Curtis died Sept. 7, 1995, at 85.

The family has a scrapbook that contains journal entries, newspaper clippings and a photo of the three soldiers and the baby. Crabb said she only recently learned the names of the soldiers who saved her.

The hunt for her rescuers was launched when her nephew found a photo on the internet from a 1941 newspaper announcing Crabb’s birth and the names of the soldiers involved.

Crabb’s family (she has a daughter in New Zealand and a son in the U.S.) went to work, reading through obituaries from Canada, searching to find a connection to Brandon. They discovered an obituary for Curtis’s son Ken, which named his daughter from Brandon, Alissa Reid.

Via email, Reid pointed Crabb to the Curtis family. At the same time, the photo went viral online. Douglas came across a post on Facebook seeking to identify the three Canadians. She recognized her grandfather immediately.

"It was pretty cool when I saw the picture," Douglas said.

Winelda Curtis spoke with Crabb for the first time Friday — an emotional meeting nearly eight decades in the making. (Crabb also spoke with Curtis’s son Harry, who lives in Ontario.)

"She is so happy to finally connect," Winelda said.

— Brandon Sun

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