An unlikely discovery in a field in the Somme has revealed the history of a Dundee soldier until now reported “missing in action”.
The identification disc, like a dog tag, of Private Arthur Williams, a Dundee man serving with the Highland Light Infantry and killed on March 25 1918, was found by a tourist in a ploughed field 97 years to the day after he was killed in action.
The finder is keen to return the artefact to any family of Mr Williams and has asked The Courier for help.
Arthur Williams was born in 1888 and lived on Strathmartine Road, working as a jute carpet weaver. In 1911 he married Annie Reid, a jute spinner from Church Street.
He was killed four days into the major German offensive that pushed back Allied lines on the Somme to roughly where they had been before the disastrous first battle in 1916.
He was survived by wife Annie and children Mary and Helen, neither of whom had children.
After Mr Williams died on the field of battle a small piece appeared in The Courier and his name also appears on the Pozires Memorial, commemorating the missing from the second Battle of the Somme.
The memorial contains several unidentified bodies from the battlefield, so it is possible Mr Williams was found.
Nicholas Vergette, who discovered the identification disc, said: “Even after nearly 100 years you can walk over fields and woods where the fighting took place and find live or expended bullets, shells, barbed wire and hand grenades that physically connect you with what happened here.
“When you get out and walk around the woods and the fields, especially in the ploughing season, it is inevitable you will still come across items lying around.
“One of my friends this year found a brass button, which is very personal, but finding a dog tag is exceptional.
“It was green at the time so stood out from the brown soil.
“Coincidentally my grandfather was a tank commander and was captured at Combles near where Mr Williams was killed on or about the same day Arthur was killed. My grandfather luckily survived the war.
“I do hope we can find Arthur’s relatives as it would be a memento I would appreciate if the situation were reversed.”