A WAR-TIME British Army issued dog tag, recovered during a dig, has made its return to relatives in Rhyl.

Jan Condon said her and brother Mark Bolshaw were shocked when her nephew, Matthew, presented them with the tags last Christmas having been contacted asking if he was any relation to a Norman Bolshaw.

Mr Bolshaw’s tags were one of more than 23,000 British Army issued dog tags discovered by military research and recovery group, Extreme Relic Hunters’ Dan Mackay in a field outside London in 2014.

The tags ranged from pre World War Two (WWII), WWII and post WWII and contained almost every regiment the British Army had ever had.

Since the discovery Mr Mackay has spent the past three years attempting to return the tags to remaining relatives but has only been able to successfully re-home just over 100, with Mrs Condon and her family one of those.

She said: “We are really proud, it is something that none of us knew about.

“When he (nephew) showed me and my brother the three dog tags with my fathers name engraved on them and explained the story of how they came about and how he had possession of them we were both very moved and emotional.”

Mr Bolshaw, who had been a part of the tank regiment in Germany in World War II, was born in Manchester, where he married her wife Mavis in 1950 before having his two children.

After having the two children the family moved to Colwyn Bay before heading on to Rhyl, where they settled down and Mr Bolshaw took up a job in the Rhyl tax office before becoming a lecturer at Kelsterton college Deeside.

He was also heavily involved within the community with he and brother in law, Frank Redfearn, founding members of the Rhyl and Prestatyn Lions Club where he spent of lot of time raising money for local charities.

Mr Mackay is still searching for homes for the remaining dog tags, having developed a database on his website in order to help families and even the actual soldiers get in contact to claim these tags.

He said: "Over a hundred have gone home. We have sent tags off to Australia, America and obviously across the UK and there are still loads on the website.

"It was liking digging up silver coins. we have no idea how many are still there. There could be thousands, millions. This site is unlike all others, it is just so unique."