Archie dig with a WWII surprise

[Westfront]

I started early today to detect a probably Iron Age grave mound the archies need to dig because lumberjacks damaged the mound with heavy equipment. Usually these are left untouched but now there was a need to reconstruct the damaged side and have a look inside also.
I do not post pics because it's a dig in progress.
The other thing on this site, it's in the middle of a forest which had seen serious action during the first days of the Battle of the Bulge. There is strictly no detecting allowed with a fine of $2000+ if you do. I had the chance today to detect the area between the grave mounds of the burial ground.

US dugouts (first pic you can see where a nighthawk dug in the middle of the dugout)

Fuze and driving band fragments

And the surprise find. In the mossy ground five 1 1/8" coat size buttons. All in an area of a couple square foot.
Manufacturer is 'ART METALWORKS inc. Newark NJ' I cleaned three of them and left two as found. The other piece is a push button of an ammo pouch or other gear.

Other finds were some .30/06, shrapnel and a little piece of a US steel helmet.

 

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[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[A2coins]

Amazing thats a dream hunt Thanks for sharing it wowza

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice. I like all of those WW11 buttons.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congrats!

 

[Kona Koma]

Amazing opportunity. What history.

 

[uglymailman]

Pretty interesting Lu. Watch out for those mines, I know from reading they are all over that area. Good luck.

 

[dirtlooter]

very cool and treated with respect. no telling what you will find there. was a bad place to be back then

 

[Shakakka]

Incredible buttons, especially that one in the middle. The patina is perfect. Such amazing detail.

Kudos for saving this history, brother.

 

[Westfront]

Thanks all for the replies.
It's strange to detect a site were so many young men died. That's the part of the Ardennes where the term 'Bloody Grounds' was created. Still many KIA still laying there...
Even the coat where the buttons belong to must have some serious history behind it. With the cold weather in Dec. '44 there was no good reason to discard a coat....

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Is there a burial room or something that they are checking for damage?

 

[SeabeeRon]

Liking those WWII buttons. My father fought at The Battle of the Bulge.

 

[Westfront]

Liking those WWII buttons. My father fought at The Battle of the Bulge.

Do you know his unit? These come most likely from the 99th Inf. Div..

 

[SeabeeRon]

Do you know his unit? These come most likely from the 99th Inf. Div..

I still have his lighter from then. It just says Q.M.Co. which I believe is Quarter Masters Company and I think his unit was known as The Rail Splitters.

 

[Westfront]

I still have his lighter from then. It just says Q.M.Co. which I believe is Quarter Masters Company and I think his unit was known as The Rail Splitters.

These guys fought more south. What is way more interesting to me is the fact the Railsplitters were the unit what fought at my front door before they helped out in the ardennes. We have a memorial stone the 84th is written on along with the other US and the German units who fought here.

Here is a link to a site you can see pics of an anniversary celebration at the stone.
https://www.jagdhorn-juelich.de/aktivitäten/hubertusmesse-linnich-2018/

 

[Westfront]

Is there a burial room or something that they are checking for damage?

That was the question. Nobody had seen inside of the mounds before. Now was the chance to answer some of the questions and restore the mound. I can tell you there was nothing like this in and even no grave goods.

 

[SeabeeRon]

These guys fought more south. What is way more interesting to me is the fact the Railsplitters were the unit what fought at my front door before they helped out in the ardennes. We have a memorial stone the 84th is written on along with the other US and the German units who fought here.

Here is a link to a site you can see pics of an anniversary celebration at the stone.
https://www.jagdhorn-juelich.de/aktivitäten/hubertusmesse-linnich-2018/

Thank you so very much Westfront for this information!

My father died at the young age of 39, I was only about 6 or 7 at the time. The few things I know/remember came from my mother. I will really look into the link you shared!

 

[Westfront]

Thank you so very much Westfront for this information!

My father died at the young age of 39, I was only about 6 or 7 at the time. The few things I know/remember came from my mother. I will really look into the link you shared!

The cross standing there was set up in 1776 as a memorial to a battle on these fields fought Nov 3. 1444. Exactly 500 years later there was another battle going on starting by the end of Oct. and ended 5 weeks later with a territorial gain of only a couple miles. Then the front came to a rest in the mud and the start of the Battle of the Bulge.

 

[Whyme]

Very nice finds. Congrats!