Some rare finds

[appie]

Yesterday I was going through some boxes of my collection, looking for a manual for the German Glassmine I have somewhere, and came across some great battlefield finds I made some years ago. I didn't find the manaul yet, but I did find alot of gear I didn't know I still had!
I would like to share some very private objects whitch I found in Belgium and Holland some years ago, some with a story to tell.
The first is a bracelet, non military, what I found in a rubishpit filled with bottles en rusty cans near Antwerp (Belgium). It has the name Leo J. Cable, on the back 1944, a service number and the letters Ola. It took me years to find out what the last three letters mean. The service number gave some information, and I started to search for the owner in telephone books. Then after alot of phone calls to America I came across a priest who happend to have knew Leo Cable! He even told me he did his funeral service back in 1992, and that Ola was his wife! That solved the mistery of the three letters, but sadly Ola had also passed away only two years ago. It would have been great to be able to give it back to her, but I found the bracelet to late. The priest told me the did have a son, but he lived in another state. I started a new search, and found him in Tenesee, and phoned him. Boy was he suprised when I told him what I had found, and when I sent him some pics of it he confirmed it was his fathers service number a signature. We spoke for a long time, and he told me the story of Leo, where he fought in Europe from 44 till the end of the war, ending his tour in Germany. His father had seen some heavy action! Ola gave the bracelet to Leo in 1944 when they where engaged and he set off for Europe, and they married when he came back. I told his son that I would like to return the bracelet to him and his family, because thats where it belongs. He was very happy I was returning it, but now here is the weird part of this story; after some phonecalls and e-mails I never heard of them again! I needed the adress to send it to Ameica, but never got a response, even after mailing them about 8 times, so now it still is in my collection. I dont know what happend, but will try to contact them again soon.

[appie]

These are some finds I made on the Dutch - Belgium border, where some Canadians made contact with a German Infantry position in oct 1944. There where many casualties on both sides, as the Germans just wouldn't give up there position. It was on a narrow road leading from one small village to another, where a Canadian tank bat came across a heavy defended farm. I found a lot of gear there some years ago, German and allied, some very personal like these items, and a pocket watch marked Made in USA. These items I found where inside a leather pouch, and seem to belong to a tank crew member. According to the farmer about 24 soldiers lost there lives around his farm.
There are no names on the items, or service numbers, but the pendant does have a photograph.
I don't know if the owner is also the soldier on the photograph, as it seems to me a bit strange to carry on picture of yourself, but maybe it was his brother or father? We will never know.

[appie]

The last one I will post for now is a small Maria in a copper casing I found inside a German gasmask canister. This belonged to a soldier of the 64th Infantrie Division, Kampf Gruppe Eberding, who got killed in oct 1944. I found this soldier some years ago at the bottom of his foxhole in Holland. He had been shot in the back of his head (photo of his M42 helmet I placed earlier).
The soldier never fired one round, as I found all of his 60 rounds, 55 in his amo pouches, and one clip of 5 inside his K98k! The human remains are reburied, and when I started to clean his kit, the canister crumbled away, and this item fell out. It didn't help the poor man much!
Because there was no Erkennungsmarke found on the body it is not possible to return this item to his family, as they are not sure of his indentity. I did discover he had marked all his fieldgear with the initials HB.

[Laplander]

Thanks appie for posting the pictures along with the stories!
Reading things like this is the closest I get to metaldetecting/digging.
I live in Sweden and our laws are very strict when it comes to using metal detectors.
Furthermore we dont have much stuff buried from WW2.

Best regards
Laplander

[Polar Küste]

Great storie

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Thanks for sharing your relics with us. I can see the dedication, effort and time you have put into researching the history of these items, I'm impressed with your work. Relics are always interesting in their own right but its the history that you've uncovered about the owners and loss that is priceless. The owners will alway live on through your research everytime they're viewed, discussed or held.
I admire your dedication, looking forward to your future posts.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[appie]

Thanks for sharing your relics with us. I can see the dedication, effort and time you have put into researching the history of these items, I'm impressed with your work. Relics are always interesting in their own right but its the history that you've uncovered about the owners and loss that is priceless. The owners will alway live on through your research everytime they're viewed, discussed or held.
I admire your dedication, looking forward to your future posts.
LUCKYSTRIKE

Thank you LUCKYSTRIKE

Update about the bracelet;
I just spoke to the son of Leo J.Cable, and now have the adress so it is going back home after 64 years.
Leo was with the 191st tank battalion, attached to the 45th Inf Div, and landed in the South of France during operation Dragoon on 15.08.1944.
They worked there way up throu Europe, to end up in Bamberg, Munich when the war ended.
He lost the braclet somewhere near Antwerp (Belgium) where I found it about 3 years ago.
After all the research, effort and phone calls I made to find his family I'm a little sad to see it go, but it belongs there and they now have a great piece of personal history, and a story to tell there children and grand children. I asked if it was possible to get a photograph (or a photocopy) of Leo Cable to put in my collection with a photograph of the bracelet.

My next project is a RAF ring I found also some years ago in Belgium. It has the name Smith engraved on it, with RAF and a service number. The bad part is that the two outer digits are worn out, so that is going to be a search too!
Anybody have any clue's how to find this chap, or his relative's?
I'll post some pics of the ring soon, as well as any letter I recieve back from America about the bracelet.

[ironcross1]

Awesome finds and great research , thanks for shareing , cheers Raymond

[jeeplake]

nice finds,youre a credit to collectors!

[packin9]

A BIG thumbs up to you for doing all that investigating. You should feel real proud of yourself!!! Darned good of you!