ALFRED Mahon never expected ever to see again the lonely young boy whom he befriended to help him run the cinema onboard the liner Mauretania in 1953.
Now nearly 60 years later, that 11-year-old passenger – Michael Ewer, whom the 19-year-old chief petty officer Alf made “probationary projectionist” on the Cunard liner – tracked him down to his Wallasey home for an emotional reunion.
Mike, 70, is now professor of cardiology and a world-renowned cancer expert at the University of Texas in Houston, USA.
But he never forgot Alf’s kind gesture and the thrill of running the ship’s cinema on a five-day summer voyage from New York six decades ago.
With time passing, he decided to track down Alf to finally thank him again.
Through the internet he found a letter Alf wrote to the ECHO answering a query about ships’ galley boys throwing dirty crockery overboard instead of washing it.
Alf said: “I then received this letter from Mike asking if he could come over to visit. I was absolutely amazed.
“I didn’t sleep that night. It was fantastic to see him.”
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