Hi Guys, over the past 14 years I have been visiting Arnhem at least once a year, sometimes more than that. The battle is a particular interest of mine as you might have guessed.
These are a few of the items I have picked up there. (I should add that metal detectors are banned in the area, with just a few licenced people being allowed to use them under strict rules.) All these items were obtained by field walking or were gifts and in one case, purchased.
As you can see, I like to display the items in small boxes together with a printed label affixed, so that they are just not peices of rust, and are recorded for the future. The frames can be bought very cheaply from any IKEA store.
The first item I will show was actually purchased from the Dutch Aircraft Recovery Group at their excelent museum loacated at Deelen Airfield, just north of Arnhem. This is only open at weekends and is well worth a visit. (I have some pics if anyone is interested.) About 10 years ago they were given a special dispensation to dig on the crash site of Ft.Lt David Lord VC DFC "Dakota" aircraft. The story of him winning his VC by flying into to drop supplies is legendary. Despite being hit and his aircraft on fire he went around for a second time in order to try and drop his supplies accuratly. He and all but one of his crew were killed in this brave attempt. This is a peice of his aircraft sold by the group in order to raise funds for the museum. I was happy to contribute towards this good cause and bought one of the few remaining larger sized peices they had left.
As you can see, some of the green paint is still in good condition.
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