Rod Anderson spent 81 years not knowing his father till a DNA match connected him with his half-sister

For 81 years, Rod Anderson had one question that he could never quit find an answer to: who was his father? Born in Farnham, England, in 1945, Anderson grew up with his British mother, Yvonne, without knowing much about the man whose DNA he shared. He spent nearly 50 years trying to identify him, even taking a DNA test to investigate someone he suspected could be his biological father. The results, however, ruled that person out.Little did he know that thousands of miles away, a Canadian family was trying to solve the same mystery. An 18-year search, a handful of old family documents and an unexpected DNA match would eventually bring the two sides together, revealing that Anderson's father had been a Canadian soldier stationed in Britain during the Second World War.A family rumour that refused to disappearThe story began with Charles Blakney, a Canadian soldier from New Brunswick. Before leaving for England, Blakney was married and had a baby daughter back home. In 1942, he boarded the HMT Andes to serve overseas, eventually working as a motor and driver mechanic with the New Brunswick Rangers.But there was a family rumour that followed him home. Blakney had apparently fathered a child with a woman in England.His granddaughter, Bethany Allen, had heard different versions of the story growing up.