[ARC5] A Letter from the pCAF

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On 4/25/05, David Stinson <arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Todd, KA1KAQ wrote:
> 
> > Before anyone gets all pissy about 'raiding crash sites',...
> 
> I get "all pissy" with people who get "all pissy" about that.
> I see nothing noble or honorable about letting historic
> artifacts rot in the ground.  The loss of thousands of
> American Civil War artifacts because of a misguided "no dig"
> policy at our national parks is a disgrace.  Congress is never
> going to fund official digs at these places; at least, not many.
> Why not train people, give them some simple standards
> and turn them loose to recover these irreplaceable items?
> As long as you document at least well enough for someone
> to find where you dug
> and take a couple of photos, I say get it out of the ground
> and preserve it. 

Absolutely. Unless it's a grave site with remains still involved, I
say 'save it'. The souvenir part is different, because people cut
things up, cart things off, then later lose or toss them - all to
prove they were there or whatever. No real interest in preserving,
just ego.

There was an OT here who used to visit crash sites throughout New
England and haul home....the props! He had loads of them, under his
bed and everywhere. I lost track of him some years ago, I hope they
didn't all get melted down as aluminum scrap.

Not so many years ago a new State Trooper moved to an old farm in the
Waterbury area. He was walking around one of the hay lofts when he
kicked his foot through a pile of hay and nearly broke his toes. Seems
there was a .50 cal in the hay, the farmer had hauled it home from the
B-24 crash decades before. I think they still have it at HQ.

As technology increases and expands, there is no reason not to save
more. We do it with the radio/RADAR and related artifacts of interest
to us. We can only hope that common sense once again rules, or at
least overtakes political correctness.

If you're ever up this way, there's a fellow who gives an excellent
talk on the Camel's Hump B-24 wreck, complete with slide show and
artifacts. After studying it for years and thinking I knew so much, it
was like discovering another ten volumes of information.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ