A man has been reunited with his father’s war identity tag more than 70 years after it was lost in Italy.

Chris Hammond, of Selsea Avenue, Herne Bay, was sent an email from a metal detecting club in Rome which had found the brass bracelet.

It belonged to his father, Henry George Hammond, who served in the 6th Royal Tank Regiment.

Members of the group often discover Roman artifacts but have a policy that any Second World War items they find will be sent back to relatives at their own cost if they can find them.

They were able to track down the 62-year-old after finding a story online which KentOnline's sister paper the Herne Bay Gazette ran back in 2013 about how Chris had collected his uncle George’s Righteous Among the Nations Honoured medal.

It was awarded to his uncle posthumously for the humanity shown in the face of conflict as he was involved in hiding and saving a teenage Jewish girl.

Chris launched a search for the families of his uncle’s friends, who also helped save the girl, so they could be given their medals, and it was this which meant the British Armed Forces were able to track him down when contacted by the club.

A book printed about Chris’s father, Henry George Hammond 1939 - 1945, by Asher Pirt, also helped with the search.

"I'm very pleased to have it. I just wish my father was alive to see it" - Chris Hammond

“In the mid 1930s at the outbreak of war there was a request from the Army and my dad left to join this group called Phantom,” Chris said.

“They worked in groups of four and their job was to report back to London about what was going on on the front line, where the bomb line was, where the German and British troops were.

“In 1943, he left Phantom and joined the 6th Royal Tank Regiment and they fought their way up through Italy and arrived in Rome early 1944.

“The bracelet would have been lost somewhere between February 1944 and October 1944.”

Chris suspects his father may have lost the tag while swimming and said the inscription on it includes his name, Army number, blood group and religion so the correct medication could be administered or appropriate burial service organised.

Henry, who was also an instructor and taught Winston Churchill’s son to drive a tank, died from cancer in 1996 aged 82, but had dictated his story to his son.

“The bracelet is in remarkable condition,” Chris added.

“I’m very pleased to have it. I just wish my father was alive to see it.

“It’s marvellous. He lost it 70 years ago. Lots of these items were lost and I’m just lucky the one found was my father’s.”