The Silver Ring

THE FIND

That night in the hotel, I took the ring out of my pocket. Suddenly, I was aware that I was not alone. I looked up and Curt was standing there looking at me. "Good job today, Mattias, but tomorrow will be even better. What do you mean, I said. He said with a smile, you will find me.

If you think about it, he said, you may even remember the area. You will begin to dig, and you will hit my boot. Before getting to the side, push the ring around in some dirt. When they start to lift things up, take the ring, and say" I think I have found something". Ask Hilde to see if she could identify it better. She will and you will uncover the rest of my earthly body. My id tags are still in place. Hilde will tell the others what you found and they will study it closely. The ring and the id tags will be sent to further examination. Do you understand? I felt like I was being sent on a military mission, but in fact I was. Yes, Curt I  understand.

I went to sleep, and was  up at the regular time. I kept feeling my pocket to make sure the ring was there. I did not want to foul this up. 

We proceeded to the site, and began to dig.Just as Curt had said, contact was made with the boot. There was a lot of back and forth talking. The team was excited about finding something that could be another soldier. In the confusion, I took the ring out of my pocket and ground it into the dirt.

When things began to calm down a bit. I said, look I have found this ring. Hilde, would you look at it. Maybe, you can decipher it. I handed the ring to Hilde and she began to examine it carefully.

This ring, she said, came from the Battle of Charkov, and the owner was a member of the 11th Panzer Division. this unit, was not part of the 11th Panzers. Charkov had happened a few years before. There must be some connection between this soldier and the ring. I will put it with the other materials that will be sent to make an identification. It may or may not be a help to tracking down the next of  kin.

It felt kind of weird exhuming Curt's body. He looks nothing like the skeleton that was coming out of the ground. When I had been with him, he certainly did not look like this, but after 70 years in the ground,how would I look.

A cross was put on the site,with the stahlem on top. A German flag of the Republic of Germany was draped over the body. A little while later a van came, and gently  put the corpse  in a body bag. What happens now, I asked The body will be  taken to Berlin where it will be examined and identification can be made. In this case, it might be easier. the identification tags were in place. the ring may also be of some value to determining who the person was. The German War Graves Commission and the Red Cross gets involved in try to locate next  of kin.

Do they ever let  us know if the find a next of kin? Hilde answered, sometimes they do.  Since you found the body, and this would be your first find on your own, I hope you do learn if the person was identified.

It seemed like we had just gotten to the site, and it was already 6 in the evening. Time to go back, we got the order, and with equipment in hand, we  headed back to the van.

That night I talked to the various members of the team. Why are you here,I asked. you know about me, I wrote a paper  in school and it was liked and I got the offer, and took it. Yes, for you it is simple, they laughed. For us, there are varied reasons. 

Karp and Klavdya said they were here because they too had family members who were missing. We find personnel from all nations. Maybe one day we will find our relative. Carole, who was Swiss said. I am writing my doctoral thesis on the Battle of Berlin. This gives me first hand information that can be  put into the paper. She laughed, maybe all of you might want to come and hear me defend my thesis. Where will it be? Mykyta from the Ukraine chirped in. In Geneva, Carole answered. If you are paying our way, you know we will all be there. Carole just blushecd and everyone laughed. Leo and Mose, like Karp and Klavdya had relatives missing in the war. We too are hoping to get some answers. Also, they chimed in, if  we whose nations were invaded and fought can live and work together in peace. there is a lot less chance of these type of things happening again. We can get and do get along. We have a common goal and focus. We are all trying to bring peace to closure to people wherever they may be. Hilde nodded in agreement. My country was invaded  too. We,Dutch take pride  in remembering those who liberated us. it is considered a great honor to take care of the graves of the fallen liberators in our our country.''

We've done a lot of talking, lets get cleaned up once we get to Frankfort and get something to eat. It is another early day tomorrow. The van pulled out, we got in with our equipment and headed back to Frankfurt. Another day done.