WW2 Relic Hunting circa 1963

[wilkere]

If you ever were interested in just how exciting relic hunting a WW2 battlefield back in the 1960's was I posted some well written stories on http://www.okinawarelics.com
The link is part way down on the right, I hope you like it.

Semper Fi,
Bob

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

There is a guy I knew, who was stationed in Okinawa during the vietnam war (mid 1960s, if I recall). While there, he and some other young recruits got the wild idea that they could find the gold that the retreating Japanese were rumored to have buried, at the close of WWII there. They checked out a Korean war era mine detector from the supply depot, and went out on their spare time off, into the jungles.

They never found the emporer's gold or anything, but they DID find an entire crated box of Thompson sub-machine guns! When they got the top off the crate, all the guns were still preserved wrapped up inside! (go figure, it had only been 20 yrs. since the end of WWII, at this time) Must've been buried by retreating troops? Who knows! I asked my friend what they did with the the find. He says, with great regret: "Like dummies, we went and gave them to the MP's back at the base". In the years that followed, he realized how stupid that was, because ... the MP's probably kept them for their own souvineers! And do you have any idea what a working Thompson submachine gun is worth on the open market right now? He kicked himself for that, and still does :P