Adolf Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, had another son, who even bore the same name as him. The younger Alois Hitler had immigrated to Britain and eventually ended up, at one point, working in a hotel in Dublin. There he met a 17-year-old girl, Bridget Dowling.
The couple had a son, William Patrick Hitler, on 2 March 1911. Alois Hitler ultimately did not make it in Britain and, in 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, returned to Germany, abandoning Dowling and his son.
In 1932, the now 18-year-old William went to Germany in search of his father. With Adolf Hitler on the brink of power in Germany, young William thought that in Germany he could make his fortune.
But when the Hitler family ignored him he threatened to publicly reveal that his paternal grandfather and uncle were of Jewish origin. Eventually William returned to Britain and in 1939 immigrated to the USA.
In 1942 he tried to enlist in the US Army, but his application was rejected. He then sent a letter to President Roosevelt, who ordered that William Hitler be accepted into the US Navy, and so he was, in February 1944.
He served in the navy until the end of the war. When the war ended he also changed his name to William Stewart Houston, getting rid of the Hitler name for good. William died in the USA in 1987, aged 76, leaving behind children and grandchildren.