The Ohio family of a World War II veteran who died in 1990 said they were shocked when his dog tags were found 70 years after he lost them in Australia.

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Mary Hammond, 61, of Toledo, said she and her sisters, Pam Thacker and Kathy Rollison, were shocked when a cousin who lives in Florida received a message on her family Web site from Kelly Grace of Brisbane, Australia, the Toledo Blade reported Tuesday.

Grace said she found John W. Sackett's dog tags in January while using a metal detector at the former U.S. Army Camp Cable with her daughter and father-in-law.

"The camp itself has gone through many changes since it was disbanded in 1943," Grace wrote in an e-mail to the Blade. "We began by finding both American and Australian coins dated pre-1943, uniform buttons, camp cutlery, bullet shells, and bits of tin … One of the numerous times the detector beeped, we unearthed the dog tag of John W. Sackett, once washed, in almost pristine condition."

Hammond said the dog tags are now in the family's possession and serve as a tearful reminder of her father.

"It was a total shock," she said of the dog tags finding their way home after so many years.