WWII Soldier's Silver Case Turns Up in Dutch Field

A mangled silver cigarette case discovered in a Dutch farm field is now pulling a long-dead Welsh soldier back into focus. Metal detectorist Filip Krapels unearthed the case near Bergeijk in the southern Netherlands—some 370 miles from where its owner, infantryman Stanley "Stan" Drew of Penarth, was killed in Normandy in July 1944, the BBC reports. Hallmarks indicated the case was made in 1934; an inscription, barely readable, ultimately revealed it had been presented to Drew in 1937 by the Penarth Central Boxing Club, where he'd been a lightweight fighter.

Krapels, who has been detecting for 35 years, believes a bullet punched a hole in one corner of the case and that a comrade likely salvaged the keepsake after Drew's death, carrying it north as the 1/5th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment pushed through France, Belgium, and into the Netherlands. The field where it surfaced shows no sign of major battle, suggesting it was lost during a hurried stop, before farm machinery eventually did damage to the lid.

Krapels has appealed to the Penarth community and says he's determined to hand the case personally to Drew's descendants: "Until I can return it directly into the hands of Stan's family, it won't be over for me," he tells the BBC. Earlier this year, a WWII veteran in Kentucky was reunited with his old dog tags, lost in the 1940s during training in Texas, after a metal detectorist's friend spent six years tracking him down, WLKY reports.