Dogtags survive 55 years years ago
Dogtags survive 55 years
It was a real shock when I opened a letter from Belgium and saw a copy of my dogtag. It was enclosed with a letter from Jean-Louis Seel. In his letter he indicated that, using a metal detector, he had discovered one of my dogtags on the battlefields of the Bulge. He also enclosed a map showing that he had found it on the edge of the Krinkelt forest.
Since I still have my dogtag (at least one of them) I could not understand how 55 years later he could find one of my dogtags. Then I started to reconstruct.
On Dec. 17, 1944, (it may have been Dec. 18), I led a patrol of eight men into German lines. Before going out on patrol, we would remove one of our dogtags and leave it in our foxhole, because two dogtags would rattle. When we returned from that patrol, we found our area completely overrun with many of our outfit being taken prisoners.
We buried in the snow and for the next three days we stayed buried in the snow during daylight and moved only at night. After three days, we made it to the 2nd Division at Elsenborn.
It just proves that our dogtags were well made to have survived 55 years in the mud.
Don A. Gorsline F/393 18 Juniper Road Bloomfield CT 06002
