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First Christmas For Reunited Father And Son

First Christmas For Reunited Father And Son

A 50-year-old man is looking forward to the "best present ever" when he speaks to his father on Christmas Day for the first time.

Westley Grey, who lives near Greenock in Inverclyde, had never met his father Westley Moorehead until October this year when he travelled to the United States.

Mr Grey, along with his twin brother David, started searching for Mr Moorehead after their mother Thomasina died.

They knew he had served in the US Navy, and eventually tracked him down.

In the early 1960s Mr Moorehead was stationed at Holy Loch in Argyll and Bute, which was a US nuclear submarine base during the Cold War.

He met Thomasina while he was stationed there, but shortly afterwards he was sent to the Caribbean during the Cuban missile crisis, and was later sent to Vietnam.

Just after he left, Thomasina discovered she was pregnant with twins, but had no way of contacting Mr Moorehead, who had no idea he had fathered the boys until they contacted him.

David Grey travelled alone to Texas to meet his father, who is now 84, and discovered that he and his brother have three stepsisters and a stepbrother.

Westley Grey, who has learning difficulties and lives in supported accommodation, held a series of fundraisers to pay for his flight to the US.

That money - along with a donation from the Quarriers charity - let him travel to the US to see his father, who lives in Tennessee.

He will now be following up the visit with a Christmas Day video call via Skype.

"It's been the best year of my life and now I can't wait to see my dad for the first time in my life on Christmas Day when I Skype him," he said.

"That's the best Christmas present I could ever want."

Mr Grey said of his meeting with his father: "It was the most amazing moment in my life to have finally met my dad for the first time.

"I waited 50 years for to see him and was completely lost for words when I first saw him. I just gave him a big hug."