Huntsville father reunites with son after 47-year search [Video]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala (WHNT) — A North Alabama father finally has some answers in his decades-long search for his family.

Ray Johnson of Huntsville and his wife, Loretta, have been married for 45 years. The couple has a grown son but there’s always been something missing from their family.

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“I’ve been searching 47 years. We’ve been looking, lots of prayers, searching,” Johnson told News 19.

This story starts 51 years ago. Ray was fresh off his time serving with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. He met and married his first wife and settled in California where they were raising a 3-year-old daughter and a 6-month-old son.

“Jeremy was six months old at the time and Nicole was three years old at the time,” Ray said.

From the living room of his Huntsville home, Ray holds onto only two photos that …