A FORMER SAS soldier has been fighting back the tears after finding his halfbrother after 65 years.

Andy Valters said he felt “lucky and very emotional”

after meeting his elder relative, Egons, for the first time last month.

The 65-year-old from Clehonger only discovered he had a Latvian halfbrother after making contact with his father’s widow last year.

His father, Bernhards Valters, left Egons with his grandparents after fleeing Latvia for Germany in the Second World War.

Andy was born in Germany in 1946 but was fostered to a Somerset family aged nine after his mother died.

Bernhards, who stayed behind for work, visited Andy once and lost touch before he was killed in a car crash in 1965.

The reunions started when Andy’s daughter Sheena pointed her father towards the Red Cross tracing and message service.

Mr Valters learned of Egons after the German service got him in touch with his late father’s widow, Magdalena Thiele.

Mrs Thiele also provided a picture with a Latvian inscription and the estranged pair finally met a year later.

He said: “We popped over to Riga and were picked up by my brother and had a very emotional reunion in the arrivals lounge.

“It was a very emotional weekend. We caught up with our history although he knows a lot more about it than I do.

“I was also shown pictures of my mother and the terraced house where he, my grandmother and father lived.”

Egons tried to find Andy through the Latvian Red Cross but failed as his father never revealed his brother’s name or birthdate.

Mr Valters knows he’s been lucky, as the Russians later deported Egons to Siberia and reportedly shot his father’s sister.

“I couldn’t compare his life to mine,” said Mr Valters.

“He was left behind and didn’t know why or when my mother and father fled.

“I’ve been fortunate with the life I’ve led compared to what’s happened to my relatives.”