ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 70 years after Private First Class Thomas E. Davis was killed in one of the final, major battles of World War II, a tangible reminder of him has been found on the Pacific island of Saipan — one of his Army dog tags.

Dorothy Hollingsworth was just 7 when her brother left the family farm in Indiana to join the Army a few months before the United States entered World War II. She never saw him again.

‘‘He was a great guy,’’ said Hollingsworth, 82, who lives outside Dayton, Ohio, noting that some of her earliest memories are of the tall, thin sibling 17 years her senior who always sat next to her at the dinner table. ‘‘He was always laughing and singing and whistling.’’

Cultural historian Genevieve Cabrera said she found the discolored metal tag sticking out of the soil of a farm field on Saipan in early 2014. She recently gave it to members of Kuentai, a Japan-based organization that has found the remains of five 27th Division soldiers on Saipan. Kuentai representatives said they’ll arrange to meet the Davis family to hand over the tag.

Associated Press