EXCLUSIVE

A WORLD War II hero has lost his historic skean dhu dagger – thanks to blundering airport staff.

D-Day veteran John Lamont, 93, wanted to wear his skean dhu and full Highland dress when he went to France as a VIP to visit a village he helped to liberate from Hitler’s hordes in 1944.

But Edinburgh Airport staff confiscated his ceremonial knife then confessed they had lost it when he tried to collect it after his trip.

He was travelling with a young piper Saul Bouhadjar, 22, who was also carrying his own skean dhu – a priceless family heirloom handed down to him from his grandad who served in the 50s with the Highland Light Infantry.

Incredibly, staff also managed to lose Saul’s skean dhu as well.

Brave John, from Glasgow, said: “I had that skean dhu all through World War II. I needed it for parades and things like that. If I don’t get mine back, I’ll need to buy another one but it won’t be the same.”

John and Saul tried to retrieve their daggers once they were back in Scotland as they had a receipt and were told they

BY STePHeN STeWaRT s.stewart@dailyrecord.co.uk

could pick them up. But staff said they only had a pair of nail clippers under the chit number for the two knives.

Highland Light Infantry veteran John and Saul were travelling to Montblanc to mark Liberation Day.

John said: “I can’t stick a pair of nail clippers in my sock. It’s disgraceful.”

John received the highest French medal of the Legion of Honour for his bravery on D Day. He stormed up Gold Beach in Normandy with battalions of infantry and commandos aged just 18.

Edinburgh Airport said regulations concerning sharp items were well known and security teams took appropriate action by confiscating them.

It added: “This is the first time this has been brought to our attention or that of Luggage Point, who managed our lost property service, since the passengers travelled in August. We will speak to Mr Lamont and Mr Bouhadjar for more information so we can look into this further and establish what happened.”