WW2 Stuff in the garbage or scrap pile?

Hey scrappers and dumpster divers,
I am collecting WW2 equipment and wanted to ask if anyone of you ever found something like that,
or even worse, scrapped it !
I live in Europe, and we find helmets, canteens or bayonets from time to time on trashnight.
So I would like to see some pics And if somone ever has something to sell, I am always interested

I myself one time found a helmet but I doubt it was related to ww2 it was metal and it was hard with some weak straps for the chin, almost looked like a metal biking helmet. I just thru it in the shred.

Originally Posted by DevinThaScrapper

I myself one time found a helmet but I doubt it was related to ww2 it was metal and it was hard with some weak straps for the chin, almost looked like a metal biking helmet. I just thru it in the shred.

Argh you're a monster Next time you better take a look, because they can be worth some 100$$$$

to be honest, i dont think theres much chance of finding WW2 era stuff in the US.
more chances of finding these things in Europe, as u seem to be doing.

though, anyone who finds really old stuff, they should always check with members here first
u never know how valuable the items could be -better ask those who have some idea about it

once its gone to the scrap yard- its too late.

I'd love to be able to metal detect in Europe in the ETO..... I've seen some videos of stuff they are still finding and its awesome. All the best with you still finding it.

Originally Posted by Roudeleiw

Hey scrappers and dumpster divers,
I am collecting WW2 equipment and wanted to ask if anyone of you ever found something like that,
or even worse, scrapped it !
I live in Europe, and we find helmets, canteens or bayonets from time to time on trashnight.
So I would like to see some pics And if somone ever has something to sell, I am always interested

How often do you find bones next to those helmets? In Eastern Europe they dig up a lot of them.

Most American suburbs didn't exist during WW2. I won't find anything that old.

As a HazMat tech I get called a couple of times a year to check out stuff that someone's found, usually isn't too interesting. I did get a call for "half a box of sweating dynamite" the address was 3 blocks from my house, fortunately it turned out to be old decomposing road flares. That was an interesting afternoon to say the least.

Originally Posted by ilyaz

How often do you find bones next to those helmets? In Eastern Europe they dig up a lot of them.

I once found 9 german soldiers, who were decapitated by some russian soldiers at the end of the war...
I reported them, and they are lying on a cemetery now, as unnokwn soldiers.
But it is not very common to find bones, neither in eastern europe, those videos you are talking about, are an exception, they don't find them every day.

Even more morbid forensics crews recemtly have been granted access to sobibor and treblinka which were death camps . They have found the gas chambers , bone fragments , and personal belongings very morbid.

I used to have a WWII style U.S. helmet when I was a kid. What era it was actually from (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) I don't know. Just the steel outer part of it not the liner like you see pixs of Patton wearing on the cover of Bill O'Riley's new book. We used to cover our faces with it and then have others bury us in the sandbox including the bottom inch or so of the helmet. Then we would pop out of the sand like awakened mummies when it started getting hard to breath. I wonder what ever happened to it?? Probably worth a Andy Jackson or more now...

Picked this up at the curb a couple of years ago. American? British? It looks authentic but it has also been painted over (rather sloppily)

Originally Posted by Roudeleiw

I once found 9 german soldiers, who were decapitated by some russian soldiers at the end of the war...
I reported them, and they are lying on a cemetery now, as unnokwn soldiers.
But it is not very common to find bones, neither in eastern europe, those videos you are talking about, are an exception, they don't find them every day.

I think that depends on location. There are several places of very bloody battles around Russia, Ukraine and Belarus where either entire Russian divisions were encircled by the Germans or they were used as canon fodder to endlessly attack well fortified German defenses. And most of those fallen were never properly buried. So there are LOTS of bones there

Both the Brits and Americans used that style of helmet during WWI. The first year or so of WWII the Americans still had those types of helmets, the British (and Canadians?) used them for the entire time of WWII. Gray was a favorite color of American Civil Defense guys (I think), maybe even coastal defense units. Down around Cape May, NJ the U.S. had some massive coastal defenses as Delaware Bay was greatly important to the war effort because of the oil refining further up around Philly. During early 1942, German U-boats were sinking ships within eyesight of the U.S. east coast. One of the first German subs sunk by the U.S. Navy is just off of North Carolina (can't remember where).

Roundeleiw- Have you ever been to Verdun?? I've heard in one of the museums there a person goes down below ground some distance. The countryside around there was so chewed up for so long during the extended battle by artillery explosions that thousands of soldiers on both sides were never buried. This basement is all windows in every direction. Standing there looking intot he earth, a personc an see many bones of the lost guys. A pretty solemn place from what I've heard.