BobinSouthVA
Bronze Member
OK so maybe not entirely but after the story I heard today I had to share it with you bunch.
So my Mom and Dad were in town today (surprise visit for an award I had won at work) and I was talking to my dad about my new detector and my new hobby. I showed him the detector with all the bells and whistles a $200 detector can afford. While holding it and commenting on how light it was, he told me the following story of his days in Italy during WWII.
He was in the Army corp of engineers and after boot camp was given the job of teaching new recruits on how to build bridges and how to disarm mines. He told me most of what he taught was by the seat of their pants, having been given most of the material the night before to read and learn. Eventually when he was sent over seas he was sent in Italy.
Most of his action there was quite. Never had they run into mines and most of his time was spent doing other engineering tasks. Except for this one particular day while the unit was on a march.
The front of the unit had encountered some enemy mines and my fathers unit was called to the front. The mines were in a bit of a valley with his unit on one side and a German unit on the other side. The Mines were in the road down in the valley. So they pulled out their metal detectors and left their guns behind. After scanning the roadway and disarming any mines they had reached the bottom of the valley. After looking around a bit they noticed a cave close by and decided it too should be searched so he and a few others went inside to check it out.
Well when they reached the back of the cave lo and behold there were a bunch of German solders there with their guns. Having abandoned their guns back with the unit, all my dad and his guys had were their metal detectors. With the dark light of the cave all the germans could see were a bunch of American solders coming to them pointing "weapons" at them. All of them at once dropped their guns and surrendered.
So what a sight it must have been when they all emerged from the cave and came back up the road. My dad and a few other guys, following their hostages out of the cave, pointing their metal detectors at them.
Dad has a picture of the event somewhere in his archives that I will post if I can get a hold of it.
.
So my Mom and Dad were in town today (surprise visit for an award I had won at work) and I was talking to my dad about my new detector and my new hobby. I showed him the detector with all the bells and whistles a $200 detector can afford. While holding it and commenting on how light it was, he told me the following story of his days in Italy during WWII.
He was in the Army corp of engineers and after boot camp was given the job of teaching new recruits on how to build bridges and how to disarm mines. He told me most of what he taught was by the seat of their pants, having been given most of the material the night before to read and learn. Eventually when he was sent over seas he was sent in Italy.
Most of his action there was quite. Never had they run into mines and most of his time was spent doing other engineering tasks. Except for this one particular day while the unit was on a march.
The front of the unit had encountered some enemy mines and my fathers unit was called to the front. The mines were in a bit of a valley with his unit on one side and a German unit on the other side. The Mines were in the road down in the valley. So they pulled out their metal detectors and left their guns behind. After scanning the roadway and disarming any mines they had reached the bottom of the valley. After looking around a bit they noticed a cave close by and decided it too should be searched so he and a few others went inside to check it out.
Well when they reached the back of the cave lo and behold there were a bunch of German solders there with their guns. Having abandoned their guns back with the unit, all my dad and his guys had were their metal detectors. With the dark light of the cave all the germans could see were a bunch of American solders coming to them pointing "weapons" at them. All of them at once dropped their guns and surrendered.
So what a sight it must have been when they all emerged from the cave and came back up the road. My dad and a few other guys, following their hostages out of the cave, pointing their metal detectors at them.
Dad has a picture of the event somewhere in his archives that I will post if I can get a hold of it.
.
