WW2 US Dog tag found in back garden!
This is a brief (true!) story just to prove that sometimes things can literally be right under your feet!
I live in a 1920's built house in a small village in Somerset, England. During the war the Americans were billeted locally in the village and surrounding villages, however, there weren't any large camps/bases within about 10 miles.
I had lived in the house for about 2 years when my wife and sister thought it would be a good idea to have a vegetable patch (My sister not having her own garden thought she could have a share of the produce if she did a bit of the work). Due to the garden being thick clay we got somebody to rotovate the garden and I set about planting the veg. The following week I went on holiday leaving my new veg patch in the hands of my sister. On my return the veg patch was covered in weeds, my sister not having attended once (or having any done any work on it since!).
Having surveyed the dandelions and sticky weed I thought I'd better get on my hands and knees and pull a few out. As I pulled the leaves back on the first weed I saw a piece of metal sticking out of the ground with numbers on it. I intially thought it was a bit of chassis plate, however, quickly realised it was a US dog tag.
I of course then ran up the garden screaming like a 10-year-old boy, shouting incoherantly, standing on the cat, pushing the wife and kids out of the way to go and wash my new found treasure under the tap!
I have done a little internet research on the original owner via the US archives but don't know anything else about them or how and why it ended up in my back garden. I have spoken to local people who remember the Americans in the village and a couple living in my road, however, they did not recognise the name. Whether its been there since the war or was dropped afterwards I'll never know, all I do know is that despite extensive digging I have not found the other one or anything else exciting!
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