This month marks 78 years since the body of what’s believed to be a HMAS Sydney sailor was found on a raft floating, a few kilometres off Christmas Island’s most popular beach.

It was just three months after Australia’s greatest naval tragedy.

Described as one of the country’s greatest wartime mysteries, the identity of the man still remains unknown but his legacy has not been forgotten - even in the dense jungle of the remote Australian Territory.

Amid their operation servicing evacuees from the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan at the island’s detention centre, army personnel paid a solemn tribute at the island’s memorial plaque on Saturday.

Between graves at what is known to locals as the “Old European Cemetery” the plaque sits above the tropical paradise’s Flying Fish Cove - the beach he was first sighted off.

At 23-years-old, Australian Royal Navy Sub-Lieutenant Meeka Brooks would have been a few years younger than the sailor but she knows his tale.

Camera Icon Christmas Island councillor Ron de Cruz speaks to members of the Australian Army and Navy about the significance of the site. Danella Bevis The West Australian. Credit: Danella Bevis / The West Australian

Based on Christmas Island for four and a half months to help Australian naval operations, SBLT Brooks and Able Seaman Marine Technical Matthew Anderson, 23, used the army’s presence and man power to clear the memorial site for the community.

Tearing away the overgrowing vines tangled across headstones, a handful of young soldiers unearthed the historic HMAS Sydney site and commemorated its significance with army chaplain James Hall.

Camera Icon Army personnel, most of whom have spent the majority of their brief deployment on Christmas Island at the detention centre where hundreds of Wuhan evacuees have been quarantined for two weeks over the coronavirus, used Saturday morning to clean up the historic site. Credit: Danella Bevis / The West Australian, Danella Bevis The West Australian.

The sailor is thought to have been one of the 645 onbound who lost their lives in sinking of the ill-fated vessel by German raider Kormoran during World War II in a battle off the WA coast on November 19, 1941.

The German raider was also lost, but more than 300 of its crew survived.

Three months after the ship’s momentous loss, a naval raft known as a Carley Float was spotted drifting about five to six kilometres off Flying Fish Cove on February 6, 1942.

A badly decomposed body of a man, wearing a bleached blue boiler suit with press stud fasteners on the front, was found in the raft and brought ashore.

He was buried in an unmarked grave just a month after the island was invaded by the Japanese in March 1942, with records on the deaths thought to have been destroyed during their occupation.

Camera Icon Defence personnel spent part of the morning cleaning up the historic site in a Christmas Island cemetery where the unknown sailor was buried in February 1942. Credit: Danella Bevis / The West Australian, Danella Bevis The West Australian.

SBLT Brooks said while attempts to find his body were made in 2001, it wasn’t until 2006 that his remains were found after an archaeological expedition in the monsoonal rainforest.

“The remains were exhumed in [2008] and taken to Geraldton so the body was laid there. Now, this is just a memorial site,” she said.

Late last year, The West Australian revealed that Navy researchers had undertaken extensive DNA testing, however, no confirmed match had been found.

Camera Icon Australian Navy sub-lieutenant Meeka Brooks, with 30-year-old Lance Corporal Cameron Fisher - the only West Australian in the group. Credit: Danella Bevis / The West Australian, Danella Bevis The West Australian

Among those helping on Saturday was 30-year-old Lance Corporal Cameron Fisher - the only West Australian in the group.

Having joined in 2014, the Pemberton man has been deployed to several places for the army, including Albury-Wodonga and Darwin.

While Mr Fisher has been an electronic technician at his most recent posting in Darwin, Mr Fisher is on general duties with the group of soldiers on deck to service those in quarantine for coronavirus at the detention centre.

“It’s pretty enjoyable, I don’t mind it. because it’s something different to what I usually do because I’m workshop,” he told The West.

He will join fellow soldiers for a ceremony at the site on Sunday to pay respect to the lost service men and women, led by army chaplain Hall.