David Balfour was stunned after a fork belonging to his soldier father Robert, who was reported missing in action in 1940, was found hidden in a house in northern France.
“I can imagine my father eating his rations,” says David Balfour, holding a fork that has become a treasured family heirloom.
Close to tears, the 84-year-old, who is standing in front of Hull’s memorial to the war dead, adds: “It’s the only thing of my father’s that I have – apart from his Army Bible.”
Stamped on the fork, which belonged to Pte Robert Balfour, are the letters BW and 4095.
“BW is for the Black Watch, which was my father’s Army unit,” he explains, running a finger along the tarnished metal. “And here is his Army service number.”
In June 1940, during the opening salvos of World War Two, Pte Balfour was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting in France and Belgium.
Following the German advance, the BEF itself found in retreat, leading to a mass evacuation of hundreds of thousands of troops from the beaches around Dunkirk, and later from Normandy.
Little is known about Fife-born Pte Balfour’s fate; his wife Doris was told he was missing in action. She would wait a year before learning, officially, that he was believed to have been killed on or around 12 June.
His body was never found.
Earlier this year, a fork was discovered in the village of Houdetot during a house renovation.
“It’s a traditional, Norman house,” says Mr Balfour, who was born days after his father was lost.
“During the work, three forks were found within the foundations. Two of the forks had ‘BW’ and numbers stamped on them.
“The homeowner didn’t know who they belonged to, so contacted a local writer and historian called Herve Savary.”
Recognising the forks to be British Army-issue, Mr Savary made inquiries that took him to Kent, where Pte Balfour and his family lived before the war. He was then able to trace the family.
“I was absolutely amazed when I had a call to say, after all these years, here was his fork,” says Mr Balfour.
In July, Mr Balfour was invited to Houdetot, where he was formally presented with the fork in a presentation box fashioned from a whisky case – a nod to the soldier’s Scottish roots.
He was also given a jar containing soil from the village.
“Five members of the family went over there to collect the fork,” says Mr Balfour. “We were shown the house where the fork was found. It was very emotional. Very moving.
“The French people were very welcoming and appreciated what my father had done.”
Mr Balfour has “no idea” why the cutlery was found seemingly hidden inside the property.
According to Mr Savary’s research, the owner of the other stamped fork was a soldier called Collins. His family has not been traced.
Mr Balfour reaches into a satchel and retrieves a stack of black and white photographs.
“That’s him,” he says. “That’s my mother and father on their wedding day. She was 18. He was 25.
“He was in the Army when they married. He’d then left the Army but was called back at the start of the war because he was a reservist. He was sent to France with the 51st (Highland) Division.”
According to Mr Balfour’s own research, and a version of events given to his mother at the time, his father and others had been heading to the port of Le Havre to be evacuated.
“He never made it,” he says. “They were trapped [by German forces].”
Pte Balfour is one of 4,528 soldiers who died in the campaign and have no known grave. They are remembered at the Dunkirk Memorial.
Mr Balfour brings out more photographs, along with his parents’ wedding certificate, completing the picture of a devoted family man whose life was cut short by war.
A final picture shows Mr Balfour as a 17-year-old, his arm around his mother.
“When I hold this fork and look at the pictures, I think of what my father missed out on,” he says, placing the fork back in its box.
Codenamed Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk took place between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
A flotilla of 900 naval and civilian craft was sent across the Channel under the protection of the Royal Air Force.
Together, they rescued 338,226 people, despite resistance from the German air force.
Later in June, evacuations were staged in Normandy and western France, when about 220,000 Allied troops were rescued.
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