The Silver Ring

On Site

We left the hotel in our van. There was not a lot of room, between the equipment and us, it was a bit snug (an understatement).

Once we got on site, Leo, Mose and I carried the basic equipment we would need. Hilde supervised and seemed  to find my newbie status rather funny. I guess I must have looked awkward compared to the seasoned members of the team.

We got to a section that was roped off. This is our area. Leo told me, start to dig, go slowly because you might begin to find things just  under the surface. Hilde had a screen to sift things from the dirt. Mose was taking inventory of what we found.

Just as Leo said, we hadn't dug far when we started to bring up things. There were shell casings, used cartridge belts, small boxes that had once carried ammunition. The deeper we dug the more other items began to come up. We had canteens and mess kits and other things that would be used in every day life. 

Leo took his shovel and begin to dig and we heard a clink. He had struck something that was metal. We slowed down considerably. Slowly, very slowly, we began to move the dirt, and bit by bit. We began to see the outline of a helmet. Still slower, not to be gross, but was there still a head in the helmet?Still slower we continued to dig. When we had pretty much uncovered the stalhem (helmet), we could see the beginning of a skull. Mose had a cell phone and he called the overall leader of the team to tell him we have found a body. Other teams came to our site, and with us began digging very carefully. We unearthed the skull, then the body. The deceased soldier was still in uniform and wearing his boots. We could see where a bullet had entered his body through the jacket and judging where it entered right into the heart. Where the solider fell, that is where he had remained for 70 years.

The solider was still wearing his id tags, we would call them dog tags. The id tag was removed. German tend to keep excellent records. The number on the Id tag could be traced to an individual soldier, and attempts would be made to notify the next of kin. A sheet was draped over the corpse, a stake put in the ground with a stalhem on top indicating a grave. 

The teams stopped in silence, a moment of respect or prayer for the fallen. They, the fallen, were victims of the war too. We all grieved our own dead, the this man was someone's son, father, brother, etc. 

It might seem odd, but this particular "case" took a whole day. The other team met us back at the van and said we were "glory hounds". We had found a fallen soldier, they had found nothing but battlefield refuse. 

We shared our experiences. When we got back, I noticed a change in the team's reaction to me. It was no longer, who is this "little kid", but he is a remember of our team. Karp and Leo came up and slapped me on the back. Come on, let's get a beer, and we will take the ladies with us. 

All of  us, went into the first pub we saw, ordered beers, and began to really know each other and our mission. It was a good feeling.