A touching bid to reunite a woman with mementoes of the father she never met has been launched by a Kinross writer.
During research for her latest novel, Catriona Child uncovered a tragic tale of love and loss that began in a Dundee grocer’s.
Her grandmother worked at Millar’s, based on the High Street, during the Second World War.
Three of the men she worked with joined the army and, sadly, failed to return.
One of them was George Auchterlonie, a private with The Black Watch, who was killed in action while serving in the Middle East.
Called up just one day before his wedding, the 30-year-old was given permission to postpone his deployment for two weeks so he could enjoy a honeymoon with his new bride.
His duties as a soldier meant the happy couple spent much of the first year of their marriage thousands of miles apart.
Other than fleeting visits home to Dundee, their only form of correspondence was through heartfelt letters to and from the frontline.
When his wife Teresa revealed she was pregnant, Mr Auchterlonie wrote a special note to his unborn child, fearing he would never meet her.
Ms Child said: “He knew he probably wouldn’t make it back. Teresa brought the letter into Millar’s and one of my gran’s friends, who had contacts in DC Thomson, took the letter into them.
“They went over the pencil handwriting in newspaper ink, so George’s words would never fade and his unborn daughter would one day read for herself her dad’s words to her.”
Sadly, Mr Auchterlonie was proven right as he died on November 22 1941 when his daughter was just four months old.
It is believed she is still in possession of the letter but Ms Child hopes to reunite the woman with more precious reminders of her parents. The couple contributed to an autograph book gifted to the author’s grandmother.
Catriona added: “We found two pencil drawings, signed by George and dated May 1940 and one by Teresa, also from May 1940.
“It’s heartbreaking to think that, in just more than a year from then, they would be married, expecting their first child and then forever parted.
“I wonder where their daughter is now and if she’s still alive, as I’d love for her to see the drawings made by her mum and dad.”
Anyone with information can contact 01382 575130 or through Catriona’s blog.