. Metal detecting today.   one of the finds today was very unusual a green enamelled mug possibly Russian made looking at the print on the underside of it, possibly captured in the Russian campaign by one of the troops that was moved to Normandy from the Russian front.      Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 03 July  2O26.   ..

. Interesting afternoon.   This afternoon I stood and watched a friend of a friend while he was metal detecting  on a private farm fought over by American airborne possibly 101st and German units possibly 6th or 12th SS .   here are a few of the pieces found whilst I was there, just as I was leaving the last piece he found was the canister from the top of a German stick grenade looking into the hole on the side there was the residue of explosive in there.                    Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 03 July 2O26.   ..      

Please bear with me here regarding the initial paragraph of this Post. I had originally commented on the 486th AAA-AW Footlocker Group Post here on the Forum, yet it appeared that no one could see it due to the way I had Posted it. That's why I figured I would try to Post it again, on my ow so to speak. Hopefully a few may find it interesting ? THANKS                        Best,      Dom P.           Firstly, Yes, I am aware that this particular Post is not new, so to speak, however I myself just happened upon it yesterday while researching one on my Medal Groups concerning a Member of the very same Unit. I was amazed that someone was fortunate enough to have obtained this exemplary 'Foot Locker Group' apparently pretty much intact after all these years !! I have performed extensive Research upon a Member of the 486th's Battery B, 2nd Platoon who were amongst those assigned to accompany the U.S. 3rd Armored Division's Task Force Hogan, who were eventually Surrounded & Cut Off by the rapidly advancing German Forces during their Ardennes Offensive. In the interest of brevity here, I'll provide a simple overview of 'my' G.I.'s part within all of this. He was with the small Section of the Task Force included for AAA Protection, consisting of Battery B's 2nd Platoon, with 2 M-3 Halftracks, along with an 1/4 Ton Vehicle, a Jeep. The Halftrack's consisted of; 1x - M-15 w/ 1 37mm Cannon & .50 Caliber HMG, & an M-16 w/ 4x - .50 Caliber HMG Mount. [ Quad .50's ] My G.I. was assigned to the M-15. Their little Group was Commanded by 1st Lieut. Robert A. Wheatherford. The whole Task Force consisted that of 400 Personnel, a compilation of assorted 3rd Armored Division Components, all led by a Proud Texan, Lieut. Colonel Sam Hogan from Pharr, Texas. They left on 20 December 1944 & proceeded as Ordered. And, just a couple of days after departing U.S. Lines they began to encounter Enemy Roadblocks, pretty much at every Road Junction they approached. They happened upon an Evacuated American Supply Dump at LaRoche, & proceeded to spend the night there in addition to stocking up with anything they thought they might need during the upcoming journey. Moving out that next morning & quickly realized that irrespective of which way they chose to proceed, they were in essence surrounded. They then decided to hunker down, & circle the wagons, awaiting the Enemy to make the next move, all while contacting their Higher for further Orders ? The little Village they settled upon to defend was the Belgian Village of Marcouray, consisting of Stone Houses, & thus easy to fortify & thus defend. Naturally here I have skipped over & or around several related happening's to keep everything brief here to focus on my Guy & subsequent Decoration. So, after managing to repel numerous Enemy attacks on their positions, that along with hearing from their HQ that no Relief or assistance would be forthcoming, HQ decided that they should attempt a Breakout. So, immediately at dusk on Christmas Afternoon, December 24, 1944 the Task Force began their Night Time Exfiltration, all 400 Men then departed on foot, all within Groups of 23, each Commanded by 1 Officer. ( Their trek was to take them to Soy, Belgium which was then within Allied Lines. ) 'My' Group included the 16 Men of the 486th AAA-AW Detachment were led by the aforementioned Officer, Lt. R. A. Weatherford. Relatively shortly after the Group departed Marcouray, they were targeted by German Artillery in which they fortunately suffered only 1 Non-Fatal WIA Casualty, Sgt. John F. Coury from Pennsylvania. Yet fortunately for Sgt. Coury, he was being accompanied by his ever faithful Friend, PFC August, also of the Battery B's 2nd Platoon. Due to the nature of the Exfiltration, it was quickly decided that as Sgt. Coury was unable to walk under his own power, he would be returned to Marcouray where the T/F's Aid Post & Medical Section had remained, awaiting the German's with the hope that their Non-Combatatant Status & WIA Personnel would allow them through Enemy Lines without incident. It was at this point that PFC August stepped up & decided that he would not leave his Sgt. behind & proceeded to carry him on his back all night long throughout their Escape through Enemy Lines, where at times being in.such clot proximity to Enemy Positions they could overhear them speaking to each other. Thus PFC August was duly Decorated for his feat, but not with an American Decoration, but rather the British 'Military Medal', due to at that particular point in tme, the Unit was Officially under British Command, & Authorized by Bernard R. Montgomery himself. If you allow me a few minutes to locate some related Documents, I will try to get them Posted up here. To my knowledge, only 311 U.K. Military Medals { M.M. } were Awarded to U.S. Personnel during WW2, & yes, this Example is Officially Rim Named to the Recipient, in the U.K. Format.                          Best,        Dom P.   Quote dpast32 Member  923 Location: New England, USA #17   Posted yesterday at 12:58 PM  OK Guys,  The following are  an overview of the Information I've compiled over the years pertaining to Task Force Hogan, & their Christmas Night Escape from Enemy from imminent capture & spending the balance of the War as German POW's.                                ...  Best,        Dom P.       @>>>> PLEASE SEE MY POST BELOW ON THE LINK. 'MY' POST IS RIGHT FOLLOWING THE FOOTLOCKER POST                

Or if you want to save some money, just use vinegar, add salt for a better reaction, doesn't seam to effect paint at all, just the rust.

Just wanted to let y’all know I changed my handle from ScottN to DUCKnCOVER.  I hope everyone has a GREAT 4th & 250th!   Cheers

Marv, Thank you!  I thought there might be more information since Gary published and you had some.  :)   I suppose that leaves UFH or Springfield as the more likely places where it got shortened. The M7 scabbard that was with it has the VP - stamped on the metal, so my understanding is that is from the run early 1950s.    I'll leave the brown grips on it.  Yes its just to show what went with the rifle, and maybe 'use it' if needed at the WW2 themed 2-gun match in Md. this Dec.  The rifle itself was rebarreled late 40s and I use it for local monthly CMP matches.   Not a collectable per se but the history is important to me regardless.   Matt

Great thread & very informative.   Perhaps redundant, but here are some more photos of the liner above.   CC          

Hello, hope your doing well, I hope you don’t mind the message, I’ve been looking for a genuine and original Maroon Pararescue beret for a long time, my grandpa and my dad both were PJ’s back in the day. Grandpa served during Vietnam, passed away in 06, he was buried with his beret as all PJ’s generally are, dad’s beret was lost a long time ago. I would love to see if you wouldn’t mind talking with me about possibly getting one of these from you.? It would be nice to have one to remember my grandpa by. I’ve been searching around for a long time. Thank you for kindly seeing my message and hope to hear back at some point. 

Kind of an unusual one, Unit Police marked PASGT Helmet cover.     I am told this would’ve likely been worn in Korea during a short deployment there.    If anyone knows more please feel free to correct me.