ID tag found in Tai Tam sparks search for family of wartime British sailor

Local historians have launched a search for the family of a British sailor who fought to defend Hong Kong from the Japanese during the second world war, after his Royal Navy ID tag was found on a mountainside in Tai Tam.

The ID tag, bearing the name "J Siddans" and his service number and religion, was uncovered by military-history enthusiast David Willott as he combed the area around Stanley Gap Road - a known battleground - with a metal detector last month.

Local historians later identified its owner as Able Seaman John "Jacky" Siddans, who was based at Tamar, the Royal Navy's base in Hong Kong, and died on October 4, 1942, aged 42. Military-history enthusiast and retired banker Philip Cracknell, who has written a blog on the find, described it as the "holy grail of military metal detecting" because it is extremely rare to find anything with a name on it.

"As a group, we have found a variety of war relics including helmets and rifles, bayonets and buttons and even two crashed aircraft, but until recently we have never found anything we could tie to an individual," Cracknell said.

It is hoped the tag will be passed on to the sailor's family or placed in a military museum.

Willott, who discovered the tag in late January, said he knew he had found something of interest when he began cleaning the dirt off of it and saw the "C of E" (Church of England) inscription.