South Yorkshire Times, July 29th 1944
Pals Meet in Middle East
Mexboro’ – Rotherham Men
Two pals since boyhood, L/Sgt. W. Thornton son of Mr. and Mrs. W Thornton, of 54, Doncaster Road, Mexborough, and Sgt. John Ledger Piper, R.A.F., son of Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Piper, of 3, Nelson Street, Rotherham, recently met in the Middle East.
Thornton recently wrote to Mrs. Piper, John’s mother, saying that he went into an office where Piper was working and met him for the first time in three years. “I must say he looks very well indeed,” L/Sgt. Thornton wrote. They went to a cinema, dined at a Sergeants’ club and talked about the old times when they spent many happy hours in Mexborough They had been seeking each other for many months.
The two men went to Mexborough Secondary School. Piper has been in the R.A.F. for seven years and abroad nearly four years. He is on special duties with the R.A.F. Formerly he was a clerk in a London office. Thornton has been abroad with the Army three years.