Happy ending: Kerry Coyle found his brother after a search lasting 20 years.

Reunited: Col Lewis Coyle during his time in East Timor.

Photo by Capt John McPherson, 1JPAU

You look familiar
Brothers meet after 20-year search

By Cpl Cameron Jamieson

A NORTH Queensland man has finished his 20-year search for his brother thanks to the ADF Public Affairs Internet Team and Army news.

Kerry Coyle has now met the brother he knew existed but had never met until now.
And his brother, Col Lewis Coyle, couldn’t be happier.

Kerry’s father, James Coyle, divorced his first wife in the 1940s and went on to marry again in the 1950s.
Although Kerry’s mother didn’t want him to keep contact with his father, Kerry maintained some contact until his father’s death in 1965, and knew that Lewis had been born in 1959.

Although he had never met him, Kerry knew that Lewis had gone on to join the Army in 1980, but after that the trail went cold. In the mid-1980s Kerry became determined to track down his brother.
“Like him, I’ve moved all around the country and overseas with work,” he said.

“When I had the opportunity I’d search telephone books and make calls, but kept coming to a dead end.
“Recently I introduced myself to computers, and in pure frustration I typed his name into the address bar.”

The search came up with an Army news story about Lt-Col Lewis Coyle filed on the Army news Internet site, Kerry’s first solid lead.
“I knew he had joined the Army, so I thought ‘God, it has to be him’.”

Kerry contacted the Director of Defenc Newspapers, who forwarded Kerry’s e-mail to Col Coyle, who was at the time the Australian Defence Attaché to East Timor.

Kerry waited with anticipation, wondering if his brother would want to speak to him, but Col Coyle quickly replied and a meeting was set up at Cairns airport while Col Coyle was changing flights on his way home to prepare for his next posting to the UK.

They only had 20 minutes to talk, but it was worth every moment.

“It was quite exciting actually, we discussed as much as we could in that short period, and then he was gone,” Kerry said. Col Coyle said: “It was unbelievable.”

Kerry has now received letter from Col Coyle’s mother, which fills in the missing history of Kerry’s father’s second family.

Kerry has also received invitation to visit his brother in England.

“He has invited us over England once he has settled in there, and we are planning a trip once the weather is better.

It’s a certain bet that matter how inclement the English weather may be, the reception is sure to be warm.