Long lost mystery of a wartime romance
Did you know Lovat Scout Corporal Donald Cameron? Get in touch
He was the handsome Scots soldier sent to defend her islands against the Nazis. She was the fresh- faced, church- going 22-year-old who fell for him.
Their romance blossomed during the British occupation of the Faroe Islands as part of World War II’s Operation Valentine.
Lo vat Highlander Corporal Donald Cameron, 23, from Inverness, fell for Elly Dam, from Tórshavn, after meeting her in the clothes shop where she worked. But they were wrenched apart in 1942 when the Scouts – who lay claim to being the British Army’s first sniper unit – were suddenly ordered back to the UK.
It was only after Donald left that Elly, a member of the strict Plymouth Brethren, discovered she was pregnant. Contacting him at the height of the war was near impossible. She was never to see him again. And he never knew about his son Jens Christian Dam, born in 1943.
Elly died in 2001. Jens died four years later. But thoughts of her beloved Corporal Cameron did not die with them.
Today Elly’s great- grandson, 30-year-old electrician Sveinur Dam, revealed: “I want to find out more about my great- grandfather. I want to know what happened to him.
“Did he survive the war, does he have family, or relatives in Scotland we have never known??
“The problem is that my great-grandmother’ sr heart was broken. What had happened – being pregnant and single – was taboo at the time.
“After he left she never spoke of him again. When my grandfather tried to ask her about him many years later, she broke down and cried.
“He dared not ask again. She took all the information about him with her to her grave.
“All we have are the photographs of them together which her sister kept and her sister’s memories.
“We know that they were a serious couple and that Corporal Cameron was often in the house and visiting the family. We know they loved each
other, but apart from his regiment, where he was from and the year he was born, we have no other information.”
Three years after the birth of Donald and Elly’s son, Elly married Hans Peter Djurhuus with whom she went on to have three daughters and 11 grandchildren. They lived together for the rest of her life.
Sveinur said that attempts in the 1990s by Jens to trace his birth father through the Ministry of Defence proved fruitless.
“Even though Donald Cameron was her secret, I always knew about him, but we didn’t talk about him. She was kind, gentle and fun to be with, ” Sveinur said.
Around the time of his grandfather Jens’ birth, the Lovat Scouts were deployed to Canada for specialised mountain and ski training before being sent into the Italian Alps where they were involved in dangerous reconnaissance missions.
They later fought in the notorious battles at Salerno, Anzio and Monte Cassino. As the war ended they were moved to Austria and Greece before coming back to Britain.
Sveinur would like anyone with information about his great- grandfather to contact him.
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