Poignant pictures of a Scottish soldier killed 82 years ago during the Second World War have been unearthed ahead of Remembrance Day, after historians traced his surviving family.
Corporal David Kilgour Mitchell died in the Netherlands on 25 October 1944 while serving with the Black Watch, leaving behind his wife, Lilas, and a family in Scotland – but his story risked being lost forever until a surprising discovery earlier this year.
An appeal to trace Corporal Mitchell’s relatives was made in 2024 by a Dutch researcher, Jürgen Beekers, who has been tending to David’s grave at Nederweert War Cemetery for the last five years.
Jürgen is one of many individuals who have adopted a war grave in their local area, which involves upkeep of the site and organising commemorations on Remembrance Day and Christmas Eve.
After years of searching for information about David, Jürgen’s appeal for help was picked up by London genealogists Fraser and Fraser, who pieced together the soldier’s family tree and traced his surviving relatives.
Their investigation led to David’s niece, who found previously lost photographs of the soldier with his wife and his siblings.
It was the first time that Jürgen had seen photographs of the man whose grave he had been visiting for years.
Jürgen said: “When people here in the Netherlands see a headstone on a war cemetery with just a name on it, you don’t really see a person.
“But when you put a photograph in front of the grave, and you find some information about him, then you have a face, a story, a family.”
Neil Fraser, partner at Fraser and Fraser, said: “What struck us about this case was that Jürgen had no connection to David or his family. He’d never met him, yet he was determined to find out who he was and make sure he was remembered.
“More than 80 years have passed since David was killed, but the people of the Netherlands haven’t forgotten what men like him did for their country, and Jürgen’s determination to find his family shows just how deeply that sacrifice is still felt.
“On Remembrance Day, we should remember that many of these men never had the chance to grow old or return to their families. David was one of them, and it’s important that we continue telling their stories.”
