They married in secret a few days before he went to war.

Frank Fearing had no idea if he would ever see young Helen again, but he made her a solemn promise. Everywhere the American GI went with his unit, he would carve their names into a tree.

The first was on Salisbury Plain, where he was stationed before joining the push towards Berlin in the wake of the D-Day invasion. The rest were spread across France and Germany, carved whenever time allowed.

Helen Fearing never knew if it was just a romantic bluff, or if he had simply made up the story to impress her.

But they clearly didn’t reckon on the determination of British student Chantel Summerfield and her remarkable archaeological quest....