Well, Alfred Wakeling would have been my Great-Uncle as he was my grandfather's elder brother. My mum tells me of a gruesome twist to their sad deaths.
Alfred and Mabel (his second wife) were the licencees of the Vine, and on the night of this particular bombing my grandad was standing on the step of his shop on Spring Hill (he didn't like going down the cellar and preferred to have a 'breather', aka a fag) when a passer by told him that The Vine had been hit.
The story goes that the blast killed Alf outright as his head was found on the factory roof opposite, and the woman initially buried with him was not Mabel but the remains of a passer by; Mabels body was found two-weeks later, still in the pub cellar :shocked:.
Alfred's remains, together with whom they thought was Mabel were buried in the same coffin; Mabel was eventually buried in the same plot, but in a seperate coffin.
So, a menage a trois for all eterntity; and what about the mystery woman, I wonder how long her loved ones must they have been searching for a missing family member, never to be found?
The undertaker gave my grandad had Alfred's wedding ring and it was incorporated into my mum's wedding ring, which she still wears today.
Talk about a twist in the tale ...