Found at 12+ deep in Central Texas?

[sfcgorby]

German Belt Buckle inscribed with GOTT MIT UNS which means GOD WITH US? Very surprised to find this here with my Garrett AT PRO, it is solid Aluminum and 3" x 2" in size......... What do you all think? How did it end up here?

 

[jdsly]

When i was in texas i remember quite a few german settlements around the area(san antonio)

 

[Viking]

Nice German Army Police Buckle.There were alot of Prisoner of war camps in the states,maybe you found an area where one was.

 

[EccentricInTexas]

Texas had a couple of German POW camps. There was something about prisoners had to be held in similar climate that they were captured at, so a lot of the Prisoners from North Africa ended up in Texas. A few more details as to where it was found might help. It may have been a souvenir carried off by a kid at some point.

 

[sfcgorby]

I found it about 5 miles to the south of Burnett Texas on a friends farm........

 

[Argentium]

It never ceases to amaze me - what shows up on this site every day ! Nice Find.

 

[WHADIFIND]

Maybe it was brought in with a load of soil?

 

[Pa_Dirtfisher]

Could have been a war prize lost by a returning soldier in the past.

 

[WheatWaffle]

Nice find!

 

[park pirate]

Very nice find..

 

[Pointman]

Some Afrika Corps troops were held close to me, but the POW camps are so overgrown that no one can get into them even if they had full permission to do so.

 

[Bob-E-Pin]

Awesome find. Central Tx has a strong German presence and there is no telling where that buckle came from. What matters is it's yours now! Good digs bro.

 

[monkeys uncle]

Interesting find. Found a WWI US Army uniform button in backyard at Marble Falls vacant homesite. Do you live in the area or just visting?

 

[beez0404]

Love the buckle! Fantastic condition.

 

[gilgar]

Maybe it was a war souvenir and then someone in the family disliked it and buried it to get rid of it (esp. since it was so deep) Only german prison camp I've heard of in Texas was at Camp Swift near Bastrop although there could have been others.


edit: looks like there were a lot more

At the end of the war Texas held 78,982 enemy prisoners, mainly Germans, at fourteen military installations: Camp Barkeley (Taylor County), Camp Bowie (Brown County), Camp Fannin (Smith County), Camp Hood (Bell County), Camp Howze (Cooke County), Camp Hulen (Matagorda County), Camp Maxey (Lamar County), Camp Swift (Bastrop County), Camp Wolters (Palo Pinto County), Fort Bliss (El Paso County), Fort Brown (Cameron County), Fort Crockett (Galveston County), Fort D. A. Russell (Presidio County), and Fort Sam Houston (Bexar County).
In addition, seven base camps were set up especially for POWs: Brady (McCulloch County), Hearne (Robertson County), Hereford (Deaf Smith County), Huntsville (Walker County), McLean (Gray County), Mexia (Limestone County), and Wallace (Galveston County). The Hereford camp alone contained Italian POWs (2,580 men), and a few Japanese POWs were kept in Hearne (323), Huntsville (182), and Kenedy (560).

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Very nice find, buckles of any sort are rare out here! Really its aluminum? seems like Sterling silver would be more likely but I have not seen one of those posted before so maybe *head scratcher* .

 

[One Eyed Pirate]

Very cool looking...If it is SS.... I would think the SS would be a part of the design of the buckle.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Nice find! As has been said it's a civil (as opposed to military) police buckle. Definitely not SS related, it's basically a beat cops buckle for a pistol belt. Yours appears to be a fairly early type but I can't tell for sure from the pic. It will likely be marked on the back and pics of any marks can help tell it's story. Also we could tell if it's a one piece stamped buckle or a two piece with applied disk.



I would doubt highly that it's from a POW camp, since the POWs in Texas would have been combat troops from the Afrika Korps, and most likely wouldn't have included civilian police. My guess would be a souvenir that some kid had out playing army and lost.

Also just for info sake, an average retail value on it not knowing the maker is right around $100.