Rodney Anderson, 80, learned earlier this year that he was the son of Charles Laurence Blakney, who served in Britain during the Second World War before returning to New Brunswick.
The remarkable discovery has reunited him with a half-sister, a half-brother and cousins in Canada who had long known there had been a baby conceived in England during the war but never knew his name or how to find him.
Now Rodney's family are hoping to raise enough money to take him to Canada so he can meet the family he never knew existed, visit his father's grave for the first time and learn more about his heritage.
Mr Anderson said learning the truth left him stunned.
"You could have knocked me down with a feather," he said. "You still can because it's mind-blowing to me.”
The search for Mr Anderson's family history began several years ago when his daughter, Dawn Roberts, started tracing William Anderson, the man named as Rodney's father on his birth certificate.
The family discovered William had owned a taxi company operating from Farnham railway station before he abandoned the family. After years of searching, they travelled to Darlington to meet William’s relatives, including an elderly aunt and a woman they believed was Rodney’s half-sister.
Ms Roberts said they were welcomed by the family despite them having never heard of a child from William Anderson's first marriage.
However, a DNA test later confirmed there was no biological connection.
Mr Anderson said: "I was mystified, but I thought, 'Oh well, it's all lost in history.'"
Everything changed on March 19 this year when Ms Roberts received an unexpected message through the Ancestry website from a woman in Canada called Bethany.
The email said: “Your dad is my half uncle and we've been looking for you for so long.”
Ms Roberts said: "I remember reading it and thinking William, the father on Dad's birth certificate, had fathered another child somewhere.
"As the conversation carried on, the penny dropped. I realised what she was telling me was that her grandfather had been a Canadian soldier posted to the UK before D-Day, most likely in Aldershot."
That soldier was Charles Laurence Blakney, finally giving the family the answer they had spent years searching for.
The discovery also solved another long-standing family mystery.
Ms Roberts said: "I'd never known why Dad had Laurence as a middle name. We were always told he was named after the River Lawrence, but it never meant anything to me."
Further research uncovered a divorce petition from Canada in which Charles Blakney's wife named Mr Anderson's mother, Yvonne Anderson, as one of two women cited in the proceedings. The petition gave an address in Farnham where Yvonne was living in 1946.
The Canadian family had always known there had been a baby conceived in England during the war. They knew him only as "Wee Willie", but had never been able to discover his identity or what had become of him.
Ms Roberts said the family believe Charles Blakney landed in Normandy on D-Day, but what happened to him during the remainder of the war is something they are still researching.
The DNA discovery is also the latest chapter in Mr Anderson's extraordinary life.
In October 1951, when he was just five years old, he suffered life-changing injuries after falling onto the electric rail at Farnham railway station.
A Farnham Herald report described how a shunting engineer named Mr Bassett noticed a burning smell as he walked away from the station before spotting the youngster lying beside the live rail, around 30 yards from the down platform.
Unable to touch the boy safely, Mr Bassett used a broom to pull Rodney clear before he was rushed to hospital. The accident ultimately cost Rodney his left arm and the sight in one eye, and he endured years of reconstructive surgery to repair the extensive burns to his face and body.
Despite his injuries, Mr Anderson built a full life. He worked as a lorry mechanic at Kingham's garage, was chairman of the Farnham CB Club for 15 years, and raised a family.
Mr Anderson said neither his mother nor grandmother ever revealed the truth about his father.
"I had lunch with my mother every day and she never mentioned it," he said.
"My mother never said a word. My grandmother never said anything either, and she must have known."
Since making contact with his Canadian relatives, he has built a close relationship with his newly discovered half-sister.
He said: "We speak every week. We've got the same sense of humour. It feels like I've known her for years."
The two families have since exchanged photographs, stories and regular conversations, with Mr Anderson's Canadian relatives offering to host him when he visits.
His granddaughter, Samantha Eldridge, said: "For more than eight decades, two families lived separate lives on opposite sides of the Atlantic, connected by a story neither side could complete.
"Now, thanks to DNA, they have finally found each other."
The family are now raising money to help Mr Anderson and Ms Eldridge to travel to New Brunswick while he is still fit enough to make the journey.
Ms Roberts said: "We want to get Dad there as soon as possible because of his age.
"He's had such a remarkable life and we'd love him to finally meet the family who have been searching for him for so many years."
Ms Eldridge added: "This journey is about so much more than travelling.
"It is about an 80-year-old man finally meeting the siblings he never knew he had.
"It is about bringing together two families separated by history.
"It is about visiting the grave of his father – a father he never knew, and who never had the chance to know his son."
Rodney added: "I’m still taking it all in. But it is very exciting to know I have a whole new family in Canada."
To support Rodney's fundraising appeal, visit the family's GoFundMe page.
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