Dutch Detectorist Finds 1934 Silver Cigarette Case 370 Miles From Welsh Soldier's Death
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 25
Dutch Detectorist Finds 1934 Silver Cigarette Case 370 Miles From Welsh Soldier's Death
4 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 25
Last month, Filip Krapels unearthed a badly damaged sterling-silver cigarette case in a field near Bergeijk, the Netherlands, 82 years after its owner, Welsh soldier Stan Drew, was killed in Normandy in July 1944.
Hallmarks dated the case to 1934, and a partly legible inscription linked it to Drew, a Penarth boxer and infantryman in the 5th Battalion, 1st Welsh Regiment, after Krapels traced military and boxing records.
Krapels believes one of Drew's comrades carried the case north through France, Belgium and into the Netherlands after Drew's death, intending to return it before it was lost during the regiment's 1944 advance.
The find has prompted Krapels to search for Drew's descendants in Wales, saying he wants to hand the case back in person rather than send it by post.
A Welsh soldier died in Normandy, but his cigarette case was found 370 miles away. What story does its journey tell?
How do recovered artifacts reshape our view of WWII from grand strategy to intensely personal sacrifice?