Askam teenager unearths WW2 dog tag on Black Combe walk

A teenage boy unearthed a World War Two Australian airman's dog tag while looking for wildlife on a mountain.

Max Hazlehurst, 13, said he was searching for bugs on Black Combe in the Lake District when he spotted a piece of metal under a rock.

It turned out to be a dog tag dropped by William Earnest Wills, an officer in the Royal Australian Airforce who trained in the area during the war.

A campaign has been launched to return it to Mr Wills' family.

Max, from Askam, in Cumbria, was on a walk with his family when he made the discovery.

"I was just looking for bugs, maybe a snake or a lizard or something," he told BBC Cumbria.

"I saw a piece of metal under a rock so I picked it up. I thought it was a dog collar at first but then I noticed it had the tag on.

"The first thing I thought was that it was someone from the war."

Mr Wills had trained for a time at the RAF's aircraft observer base at Millom, which is near the mountain.

Local historians said he was known as Ernie Wills and was a warrant officer who trained as a wireless air gunner. He would have operated radios or guns on large aircraft,

It's believed he dropped the tag while on a training march or recreational hike up the mountain.

He died when he was 43-years-old while working in the mining industry near Alice Springs in Australia.

He had one son who died in 2009 but it is believed Mr Wills' three granddaughters are still alive.

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