[R-390] Military trash sites

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

When I was still serving the remainder of my reserve duty, I was OD 
one time at the Montana National Guard's summer camp in Helena, 
Montana. 

That night, while I was on duty in the guard shack, my first sergeant and 
a bunch of the other guys all started walking past my shack with 
shovels on their shoulders. I walked to the door and asked them what 
was going on. Sgt Sanford, my immediate boss, handed me a shovel 
and said, you have my permission to lock the door and come with us for 
an hour.

After a 5 minute walk, we ended up at the base dump and everyone 
started digging.

Within minutes, I found a brand new engine for one of our trucks, 
several .50 M2 machine gun barrels, still covered with cosmoline and 
tinsel paper, and some brand new, still wrapped small first aid kits. I 
don't know for sure what the other guys found, but they all seemed 
pleased. 

We didn't find any radio gear, although I was looking for it. The only 
thing I took was one of the first aid kits. I used it hunting for many years 
after that, refilling it when necessary.

That base was quite old and had been deactivated at least 5 years 
before we used it for NG summer camp.

Our outfit was a service battery for a SP howitzer battalion. I remember 
the guys were VERY happy to find the engine, still sealed in a crate. 
They also found another engine there later: a huge Ford V-8 for one of 
the Sherman based SP howitzers which we still used at that time. One 
of those had blown an engine and we used this one to replace it with.

Incredible.

Ken W7EKB