VIDEO: Relic hunter launches appeal to reunite families of 14,000 WWII heroes with dog tags

A relic hunter has launched an extraordinary appeal to reunite the families of more than 14,000 WWII heroes with their dog tags – after he found them buried in a field.

Dan Mackay, 37, discovered the military tags under the earth beside the site of a World War Two anti-aircraft battery just outside London.

They represent almost every army regiment – including men who stormed the beaches of Normandy. He stumbled on the site as he looked for military relics and was stunned to find thousands and thousands of dog tags..

Military buff Dan believes they were metal tags made and due to be sent out to replace existing fibre ones that were used for most of the war.

He thinks the site he found was near a former factory which made them – and they somehow ended up buried.

Dan, of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, has already managed to reunite some of the tags with the soldier’s family.