Piece of army kit from British WW2 hero found in France after he was 'missing in action'

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 went over there to collect the fork," Mr Balfour, of Hull, told the . "We were shown the house where the fork was found. It was very emotional. Very moving.

"The French people appreciated what my father had done." According to his own research, and a version of events given to his mum at the time, his father and others had been heading to the port of Le Havre to be evacuated.

They were trapped by the German forces there and 'never made it' out. Pte Balfour is one of 4,528 soldiers who died in the campaign who have no known grave. They are remembered at the Dunkirk Memorial.

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.

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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.