Jump to content

2nd ID Normandy battle find relic


limestone
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi all and best wishes for 2009 ;)

 

Let me show you my last 2008 acquisition.

 

This helmet was found in june 1994 in a house of Cerisy la Foret (East of Saint Lô, and area ocupied by 2nd division during the battle of Hill 192) by my friend and forum member Gingerbread. The helmet showing batlefield damage was found along with a German paratrooper helmet and lots of stuff including two bags made from a US camo trouser (shown on USMF long time ago...)

 

Well, after some cleaning my friend put some Rustol on the helmet (it's sad but you must understand that this was the most common product used by collectors at that time to preserve against rust. My problem today is to find a good solution to take of that Rustol...). This helmet had a trace of the 2nd division insignia and part of a stamped laundry number. Because my friend's collection is very big and his focus are mainly US paratroopers, FSSF and German paratrooper and submarine stuff, and because my friends moved a lot over the years, this helmet was stocked somewhere in his parents house, forgotten for years... Till 2008 when, while looking in some old boxes of stuff, Gingerbread finally found it back... And offered it to me last Dec 31st! A quite nice gift!

 

d5thg.jpg

 

9hqssl.jpg

 

NB: As if the insignia has been damaged by the post-war use of the helmet, it is evident that the indian head and white star have been scratched by the soldier for camouflage purpose.

 

Well, yesterday I decided to clean it a little. The inside of the shell had not been "rustoled" and still showed reutilization by a farmer after it was found in the field (He made some concrete using the pot!!). here is the result of my first cleaning which reveals the complete laundry number stamp, but also, on the other side, the name of the soldier and four first diggits of his serial number (so I have the complete SN)

 

Photos:

 

34oaf46.jpg

 

o9k64y.jpg

 

 

The laundry number stamp: K-0531

 

24wu8p2.jpg

 

Handwritten name and part of SN

 

KNEE, F JOHN

3369?5??

 

2vcjg4x.jpg

 

And what I found in the 38th FABn roster of indian head soldiers KIA during WWII (History of the Second Infantry Division book)

 

2up69fq.jpg

 

Plus, on AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION site:

 

John F. Knee

Private, U.S. Army

Service # 33690531

38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division

Entered the Service from: Pennsylvania

Died: 1-Aug-44

Buried at: Plot E Row 13 Grave 42

Normandy American Cemetery

Colleville-sur-Mer, France

Awards: Purple Heart

 

I finally found on Nara that John Knee was born in 1916 He was from Greensburg, PA He enlisted March 07 1943 (Allegheny County, PA) and was married...

 

Next time I go to Normandy I will visit his grave in Colleville to pay him my respect.

 

Yannick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely fantastic helmet and research Yannick! I wish my friends would get gifts like this to me! :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Jim and Bugme! Appreciate

 

I must add that for hours yesterday, during the phases of cleaning and researches, I have been excited like a kid!!

 

Yannick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great helmet and superb find from your friend, Yannick! No doubt it will have a good home now...

The rustol, is it oil ? or sprayed on ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks friends thumbsup.gif It's a pleasure to share it here!

 

The rustol, is it oil ? or sprayed on ?

 

It is oil....

 

Curiously, when stocked all over those years, a mouse visited Gingerbread's collection and had the bad/good idea to die on the helmet ( :blink: ). When Gingerbread found the helmet, he also found a mumyfied mouse on it pinch.gif . It just looks that on the area where dead Mickey's mumy spent the last years, the Rustol there desappeared think.gif... I just don't want to kill the family home cat here and put it on the helmet to see if it works again.... So if you have any better solution, it will be welcome ;)

 

Yannick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

78th Collector

There you go again, Yannick. Your finds and research are amazing. Thanks for sharing with us and taking such great care of these items. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrat's Yannick!

 

A nice relic into the proper hands. Again the (hi)story of one of our US heroes saved!

 

Regards,

 

Hill 84.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for nice comments friends! thumbsup.gif

 

For Mr-X: For info this helmet was found in the house where I got the WWII GI's AO eyeglasses you used in your article!

 

For Mike ;) : Coming soon, but this time a dug up relic helmet from Brest, Brittany... I just identified it crying.gif

 

Again thanks, Yannick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Battle For Brest

Hi Yannick, :)

 

Superb helmet ! w00t.gif

 

Beautiful Christmas gift ! :love:

 

And one more! :D

 

Regards, thumbsup.gif

 

Jeremy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not as impressed with the find as I am with the Man. God Bless you for visiting the grave of the warrior that wore the steel pot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hi! Well, I went to normandy yesterday for a quick battlefield tour with a friend and a visit to the American cemetery. I had some graves to visit and it was the best occasion to pay my respect to John F. Knee.

 

Rest in Peace soldier

 

241qp89.jpg

 

30j216h.jpg

 

Yannick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder what would happen if you sent the story and the grave photo to the local paper of the guy's hometown.

 

Would anyone remember him?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Johan Willaert
I wonder what would happen if you sent the story and the grave photo to the local paper of the guy's hometown.

 

A good chance that suddenly lots of relatives would turn up claiming the helmet should be returned to the family, only to see it on Ebay fetching a ridiculous price a couple of months later......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...