Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Illustration From 295 Combat Engineer Battalion History. |
If you want to really learn history, one of the best things to do is research your own family. You'll be surprised by the stories you'll find.
Here is how the young men of America were using metal detectors in 1944, as described in the history of the 295th Combat Engineer Battalion.
July, 1944. Normandy Campaign. We didn't have much time to step back and admire that road. There was too much to be done. The Krauts had done their spring sowing early and well. Mines were everywhere. There were mines in roads, around roads, under dead cattle, and under dead doughboys. We had to clear them.
There's nothing quite so nerve-wracking as mine clearance. One man walks along waving his mine-detector in the area before him.... suddenly the electric impulse from the apparatus detects something metallic lying in the ground. A second man, walking in the footsteps of the first, cautiously digs his bayonet into the ground, feeling for the mine. We must be very careful not to dig too hard.
The mine is then uncovered and either de-activated or removed, or else blown where it lies. There are booby traps to add to the discomfort and fear. The krauts had lots of new tricks and ways to kill, but we were careful, and we had learned our lessons well in training.
It wouldn't have been so bad if there were always mines where the detector picked up something, but there would be days when only pieces of shrapnel were found, and days when miles of sweeping was accomplished, with nothing found at all. The temptation to rush and become a little careless was always present. Then we would hear stories of men who had rushed and we became careful again. We swept mile after mile of road, scores of fields, and myriads of twisting footpaths.
There was a stretch of road near Villieres-Fossard which had been swept previously by three other engineer units and it was reported that vehicles were still hitting mines there, a half-track being the most recent casualty. "B" Company swept it and studied the pattern as reported by mines found in previous attempts at clearance. They found three French mines and one German Tellermine still there. The shrapnel was so thick in this sector that they still couldn't pronounce it cleared with assurance, so they got a bulldozer in there and cut off several inches of road surface and sept it again, then pronounced it cleared. No more vehicles hit mines in that area.
Here is the link for more history on the 295 Combat Enigneer Batallion.
http://lct376.org/us295th/
And you complain about trash!
The young men of America, from coal mines, farms and city streets, went to foreign lands and saw unspeakable things nearly 76 years ago. Many never mentioned them again when they came back home.
My father was clearing mines too, but from a minesweeper.
Thanks to my wife's research skills and patience, I've been lucky learn many interesting family stories, such as the one above and more. They include Indian scouts, Revolutionary War battles, Civil War battles, and some very colorful stories that I might present some other time.
I tell you that to encourage you to research your family history. While locked down in your house, besides developing comorbidities that put you at higher risk to COVID-19 as a result of the enforced sedentary lifestyle, you might as well do a little research. You might also get some good clues for metal detecting sites.
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Data can be useful. I highly recommend keeping data on your ventures. I was lucky to find some of my earliest records on my metal detecting finds. Below is one page of that.
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| My Records of My First Metal Detecting Outings. |
Having been a researcher before starting metal detecting and having a natural inclination to observe, collect data and analyze things, I started keeping records right off the bat.
I think this is my second page after I began metal detecting. Here is what I found.
On 9/26, near the beginning of the entries I had $7.53 total face value of coin finds, and on the back of the page the last row shows that by 1/3 I had found a total of 2653 coins with a total face value of $197.48. including 432 quarters, 622 dimes, 300 nickles and 1299 pennies. Dollar coins and halves were not included in the total value (because of their relative rarity). Foreign coins were recorded by not counted. Jewelry was recorded too. I see some Susan Anthony dollar finds, for example. The math seems to be off by less than a dollar.
As I said, I recorded the number of coins from each decade for each denomination. Most of the hunts resulted in coins from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. As I scan the records, I see that the first time I got many coins from the 20s, 30s and 40s was when I made a trip to Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
My record keeping evolved, and I learned things such as which sites produced the most coins and gold, the average time in the field it took to find a gold ring, how many coins I would find relative to each gold ring, the relative number of coins and rings found in the water as compared to land, which sites were most productive on average, etc.
Those records were from my time in South Florida. Results on the Treasure Coast these days would be different.
For more on assessing the relative profitability of different detecting sites see my 1/11/19 post.
https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2019/01/11119-report-few-important-facts-about.html
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It seems I was not clear, so I went back and modified the following. I added underlining and additional comments. The recently added comments are in square brackets.
General impressions are fine some of the time, but statistics can reveal a lot
if the data collection techniques are valid and reliable.
I found an interesting article entitled,
Let’s Visualize State-by-State Shutdown Effectiveness on COVID-19. It is not in a peer reviewed journal, and
I am not saying that the data or conclusions are valid, but the study does ask the type of question that needs to be asked, and attempts to address that question with statistics.
[So why do I present this study if the conclusions are not the point? One reason: The study gives an example of the type of researchable question that could be addressed with real data, which is what I'd like to see done.]
Here is a short excerpt from the article to give you the idea.
I graphed the projected total deaths (past and future) using the IHME model versus how long it took a State to shut down from the time it started seeing people dying (when it reached 0.5 deaths per million).
[Notice that the study uses
projected total deaths, not actual death statistics. My point is that important questions can be addressed by using real data, although, as I've expressed before, I also have reservations about how cause of death is being coded.]
One would expect that the faster a State shuts down, the less deaths it would incur, but that’s surprisingly not what we find. There is virtually zero correlation between speed of shut down and expected death totals.
[Again, the conclusions were reached using projected death statistics, not actual real world data. I'd like to see important research questions addressed using real data.]
Here is the link if you are interested.
Again, I have
not really looked at this research thoroughly yet,
and I am not saying that it is valid (in fact I can think of one confounding factor right off the top of my head) but the
study does suggest that statistical techniques can be used to inform significant real world decisions.
In metal detecting or other more serious business, you'll do better if you collect
valid data rather than go on general impressions. If you are open minded, you might be surprised by what the numbers actually tell you.
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Thursday evening there will be a short period of seven or eight foot surf and ENE winds. That might be interesting.
The tides are small.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.netr
