#iandolo

The pictures used below are all copyright; © mikegunnill

It has been announced that Mrs Heather Iandolo of Railway Street, Gillingham Kent has died, aged 93.

She dedicated her life answering and making amends for her father’s actions. Her father was William Joyce, better known as “Lord Haw Haw” who broadcast from  Germany during World War Two and, was the second last man to be hanged for treason.

Born on the 30th July 1928 as Heather Brooke Joyce, as the first child of William Joyce and Hazel, nee Barr from Canterbury, Kent.  Heather married Vincenzo Iandolo, a Gillingham hairdresser in 1955 and settled in the area.  They had four children but later separated when her husband became, “ uncomfortable “ with the Iandolo surname been publicised, at the reburial of William Joyce.  Heather Iandolo became a devout Catholic after spending time in France and  a regular at; Our Lady of Gillingham Church in Ingram Road, where she also sang in the choir.

She became a teacher and taught locally mainly French and history. At one point she worked in Walderslade and cycled from her Gillingham home, to and from the school, every day.  She also taught at Chapter School, Strood.  

After her retirement she provided private tutorials, sometimes for free for pupils preparing for exams. For many years she attended the Jewish Synagogue in Rochester in what she said, was  atonement for her father’s beliefs.  She also visited Israel several times.

Speaking in 2011 at her Railway Street, Gillingham home, she said she remembered her father, “fondly and with affection.”

“ He was my father and  I loved him.”

Until her late 80’s, every two years she visited her father’s grave in Bohermore New Cemetery, Galway. The journey, normally included taking cleaning materials to scrub the gravestone. Joyce’s body had been interred at Wandsworth prison after his hanging but in 1976, she obtained permission from the British government after a 10 year battle, to have his remains returned to Ireland.  Joyce had grown up in the Galway area, although he was born in America.  Originally, Mrs Iandolo tried to have her father’s remains, reburied in the Medway Towns.

Mrs Joyce Iandolo was born, 30th July 1928 and died in Gillingham, Kent on the 8th of July 2022.  It is thought her family delayed the announcement of her death until her funeral arrangements had been completed.

The pictures used here are copyright.