The last piece of army kit belonging to a British war hero was found hidden in a house in France...
84 years after he was reported 'missing in action'. Private Robert Balfour sacrificed his life before his son David was born. But his long lost army fork was located thanks to the letters 'BW', which stood for his dad's old 'Black Watch' unit, and 4095, his personal number.
"I can imagine my father eating his rations," said David. "It's the only thing of my father's that I have, apart from his Army Bible." In June 1940, Pte Balfour was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting in France and Belgium.
It is believed that he had to retreat, part of a mass evacuation of hundreds of thousands of troops from the beaches around Dunkirk, and later from Normandy. Little is known about what happened to Fife-born Pte Balfour at the end of his life; his wife Doris was told he was missing in action. It was a year before she was told that he was believed to have been killed on or around June 12.
But his body was never found. Then, earlier this year, a fork was discovered in the village of Houdetot during a house renovation. His son, born days after his father was lost, told how French writer and historian Herve Savary traced his family.
His son was 'absolutely amazed' when he took a call to tell him of the discovery. In July, Mr Balfour received the fork in a presentation box fashioned from a whisky case, in recognition of his dad's Scottish roots. "Five members of the family we.
