In June 1940 Robert Balfour was killed. His regiment, the 1st Black Watch Battalion of the 51st Highland Division, along side the 1st Armoured Division and the French 9th Army Corps, attempted to defend the village of Houdetot in Northern France. Facing the outnumbered allies were the advancing German forces comprising of the 7th Panzer Division, the 2nd Motor Division, and the 5th and 31st Infantry.
British and French soldiers defended the main route to the nearby coastal town of Saint-Valery-en-Caux. The small fishing port was identified as a possible evacuation point for Allied troops still left in France following the rescue of just over 338,000 men at Dunkirk a week earlier.
On 12 June, after days of fierce fighting, the British soldiers under the command of Major General Victor Fortune, were exhausted, virtually out of ammunition and with no artillery shells remaining. After a naval evacuation proved impossible, at 10:00 on 12 June 1940 the British were forced to surrender to Major-General Erwin Rommel.
The human toll had been heavy. Over 1,000 had been killed and 4,000 wounded. Another 8,000 were quickly marched into Germany and Poland to spend the next five years as prisoners of war.
However, many more Highlanders including some from the Black Watch were also missing. Among them was Private Robert Balfour whose body would never be found. In a battle featuring heavy artillery shelling, tanks and the use of flame-throwers, no-one would ever know what exactly happened to the missing young Scots. Originally from Fife, Robert had settled in Dover shortly before the war with his new wife Doris.
Having just given birth to their second son, David, Doris would have to wait a year before receiving formal notification that her husband was presumed dead having been officially listed as missing in action.
British troops recorded as missing in action during those dark days of May and June 1940 are remembered at the Dunkirk Memorial which specifically commemorates 4,528 soldiers from 110 units who died in the campaign and who have no known graves.
Private Balfour’s name appears on Column 66 at the Memorial.
As a teenager, David first visited the Memorial in 1957 with his mother, when it was officially opened by the late Queen Mother, and has been back six times since. Earlier this summer he returned to France again with his family, but this time for a very different reason; the incredible discovery of a personal possession belonging to his father.
Their visit to Houdetot had been organised by local officials and residents. Three weathered metal forks were found semi-buried in the foundations of a village house during renovation work by the owner. David, who lives in Sutton Park, Hull, takes up the story:
“The people who live in that part of Northern France have a great interest in and respect for the British soldiers who died there during the war.
“The forks were quickly identified as being British military issue. Two of them had the letters BW – Black Watch – stamped on them along with individual service numbers.
“Fortunately for us, a local writer and historian, Herve Savary, along with some local officials then did the detective work and managed to track down Dad’s service number and matched it to the numbers on one of the forks.
“From there, they managed to find me through a lot of research at Ramsgate into family trees, and that’s how the invitation came about.
“No-one really knows how or why the forks ended up where they did in the foundations of the old house so that remains a bit of a mystery.
“We do know the other stamped fork belonged to a lad called Collins who was captured by the Germans and spent five years in a prison of war camp in Poland before coming home.
“As far as I’m aware, they haven’t yet been able to find any surviving relatives. It’s thought the unstamped fork could have been issued as a replacement to someone who had lost their original one. So, we will never know who it belonged to.”
His father’s fork along with a glass jar containing soil from the village was presented to David and witnessed by his family during a special ceremony held in Houdetot town hall in July.
It followed the laying of wreaths at a monument to the soldiers who died in the village in 1940, and the symbolic placing of white roses by school children on the graves of Highlanders buried at the local church. A piper also performed ‘Scotland the Brave’ during the proceedings.
David continued:
“It was a very emotional occasion. Seeing the fork for the first time and actually holding it in my hand was a very special moment.
“My mother did not know my father was dead for a year until she got a message from the Red Cross.
“Although she’s no longer with us, I would like to think she’s as pleased as we are about his fork being found after all these years.”
David’s mother later married a member of the Polish Free Navy who served alongside the Royal Navy during the war. As a result of that marriage David also has two half-sisters.
After leaving school, David served an apprenticeship in Chatham Docks before joining the Merchant Navy. He met his late wife Irene on a visit to Hull and settled there, eventually working in shipbuilding and repairs at the Yorkshire Dry Dock on the River Hull.
Now retired, he’s added his father’s fork and the gift of the soil where he fell to a collection of commemoration memorabilia. This includes a typed invitation sent to his mother from the Imperial War Graves Commission on behalf of the late Queen Mother to attend the unveiling of the Dunkirk Memorial in 1957.
David added: “It means so much to have the fork here with me at home. I will always remember the kindness and respect shown by the people in Houdetot towards my father and his friends who lost their lives there.”
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