D-Day Veteran Reunited With Long-Lost Nazi Dagger He Took After WWII

A D-Day and Dunkirk veteran has been reunited with a long-lost dagger he took from a Luftwaffe officer in 1945.

Clive 'Stinker' Kemp relieved the Nazi of his ceremonial weapon at gunpoint at the end of the war, after clearing out a barracks at Artlenburg, Germany.

The 97-year-old kept it as a souvenir, but when he was demobbed after the war, he donated the dagger to a museum where it sat for 20 years.

However, when the museum owner died, all the contents were sold or stored away. 

But then Clive's friend, Simon Watkins, tracked it down - still on their home isle of Jersey, and reunited him with his prize.

Simon has published a book about Clive's wartime exploits, and explains that he got the nickname by falling into a cesspit serving in France.

In the book, Mr Kemp described in detail how he acquired the dagger.

"We were outside a big barracks at Artlenburg, which was full of Germans who were still fighting," he said.

"We had to help clear them out with a lot of firing.

"Eventually they came out with their hands up. One of them was a Luftwaffe officer who was making a big fuss about being captured and getting a bit aggressive.

"I noticed he had an Iron Cross and a nice ceremonial Luftwaffe dagger, so I told him in no uncertain terms who was boss and got them both off him."

The dagger was displayed in a museum owned by one of Mr Kemp's friends, Dickie Mayne.

But when he died, the precious weapon was put in a storage. 

Mr Watkins explains: "The collection was then purchased by the owner of the Channel Islands Military Museum, Damien Horn.

"Damien was very understanding and helpful when he heard that Clive had originally captured the dagger during the war and immediately helped me to return it to him.

"Clive was delighted to have the dagger in his hands after all these years and said it brought back so many memories."

Mr Kemp said: "It was a bit of a shock, as I thought I would never see it again. Simon came round and there it was.

"I used to have it hanging on the lounge wall but when my friend Dickie Mayne was opening a museum I gave it to him because by then the dagger was just sitting in a drawer at home."

The D-Day veteran has now entrusted the dagger to Mr Watkins's care, because he thinks his wife wouldn't be too happy to have it hanging in his lounge wall.