THE missing historic Rowley Regis Second World War Nazi flag has been found and there are now plans to use it to help educate schoolchildren the sacrifice the town made to help defeat Nazism.

The flag, which was presented to Rowley Regis by the town's adopted warship HMS Tumult after sailors recovered it from an Italian destroyer, was located in an archive in Wednesbury after the News reported it missing.

Cradley Heath and Old Hill Councillor John Tipper is delighted the flag has been found.

He said: "The flag symbolises the extraordinary sacrifices made by the people of Rowley Regis to help defeat fascism - the hundreds of families who lost loved ones, the people who worked punishing long hours in armament factories and chain shops.

"There are similar things in cathedrals and museums across the country, in Coventry, in Birmingham, and the contribution of the people of Rowley Regis should never be ignored or downplayed."

Councillor Tipper is now hoping to use the flag to teach youngsters about the bravery of townspeople in the WWII.

He said: "The Second World War is such a huge subject and raises so many difficult moral questions it can be hard to get to grips with.

"I hope if we can use the flag as a teaching aid it will give local kids the sense that the war was fought and won by millions of ordinary people, like them, who together changed history."

Halesowen and Rowley Regis MP James Morris has backed the plan to use the flag to educate schoolchildren.

He said: "I think it is important that young people understand the sacrifices local people made in both the Great War and WW2II.

"Last year I ran a writing competition through local schools about the First World War asking young people to imagine what it would have been like to live through the First World War.

"I received a huge level of interest and hope that the competition contributed to an understanding of the realities of that conflict."

He added: "The fight against Nazism was another defining conflict and many local people sacrificed their lives to defend our freedom. It is important that young people have an understanding of why it was so important to defeat Nazism so that we can continue to learn the lessons of the past."