A Fife soldier’s war medals brought a family together and enthralled a troop of young admirers at Coaltown of Balgonie Primary School.
Private Robert (Bob) Millar’s four war service medals had been hidden away until they were given to an Arbroath antiques dealer, who was determined to return them to the fallen soldier’s kin.
Bill Adam, owner of Harbour Nights guest house and Memory Lane antiques shop, sent out an appeal via The Courier and immediately got a reply from Pte Millar’s nephew, Alen Clunie. Both were keen for the local children to see the medals, photos and other memorabilia.
On Tuesday, the pair met up in Fife, at the primary school that Pte Millar very likely attended. They were joined by three generations of his relatives and a captivated audience of schoolchildren.
Bill said: “It has been quite an emotional day and a few tears have been shed. I had feared that Pte Millar had been forgotten but that isn’t the case at all.
“He has a very nice family who lost trace of him and had nothing to go on, but they have never forgotten him. I am delighted that the medals have reconnected Bob with his family.”
Pte Millar married at the start of the Second World War and was killed in action in Burma on July 12 1944, while serving with the 1st Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment.
Aged just 27, he left no children.
His wife remarried, settled in Arbroath, and her family knew little of Pte Millar’s background. It was her daughter who gave Mr Adam the medals, hoping they would be of interest or value to someone.
Children at Coaltown of Balgonie Primary School are working on a project about the two world wars.
Their head teacher, Alison Wright, spoke to them about Pte Millar, his bravery and his medals and said they listened enthusiastically.
Seeing his papers and the few photographs he sent back from the front helped them to imagine what a soldier’s life was like.
Pte Millar’s medals will remain with the school for the remainder of the year, before being returned to his family.