Three local Metal Detectorists have recently uncovered numerous US Army WWII artifacts on land adjacent to Highnam church. From items found there it has been possible to identify the US army unit that took over the site in 1944. Badges with a castle insignia led to the discovery that it was occupied by The US Army Corps of Engineers and that three of its Battalions were encamped on the site, being the 51st, 291st and the 296th US Army Combat Engineers.
On October 8th 1943 4000 Combat Engineers left Boston, Massachusetts on the SS Santa Elena and arrived at Liverpool on October 19th. They arrived at Highnam between January and April 1944 in preparation for the invasion of Europe and were mainly housed in tents excepting the higher ranks who were billeted in Highnam Court. They undertook a very dangerous but important role in WWII such as clearing obstacles and mines, building roads, erecting and sometimes even destroying bridges. The 296th Battalion landed on Omaha Beach in June 1944 and had to clear 15000 land mines and later they were the first US troops to enter Berlin. It is believed that while at Highnam they built the Bailey Bridge at the bottom of Westgate Street that some of us older generation will remember.
Amongst the badges, buttons, bullets, medals and personal items found, metal identification tags (generally known as dog tags) of two US soldiers have been unearthed. These bear the name, service number, blood group, religion, next of kin and home address of the owners. Efforts have been made to trace the soldiers in America and remarkably the family of one of them has been located.
This tag is of William J. Ball of Duryea, Pennsylvania and with the help of the US Army his widow has been found still living at the same address in Duryea over 6o years later! William survived the war but died of cancer in 1991 at the age of 72 years. The tag is being returned to the family and his daughter has kindly sent over some photographs of William during his army days. The other tag belonged to Francis F. Olszewski from Baltimore, Maryland but so far he or his family has not been traced.
Contact has now been made with a veteran soldier in the USA who was actually stationed at Highnam Court so more information and photo’s are on the way. Interestingly in 1940 the same camp site was occupied for a while by HMS Ganges a naval training establishment based at Shotley in Suffolk but that is another story.
Thanks must go to Tom Fenton for his full co-operation in this research and for allowing access to his land.
Many of the artifacts from the US camp site will be on display in The Newent Heritage Center from April 30th to September 30th from 2pm to 4.30pm (except Mondays and
Thursdays). A number of books have been written about the exploits of the Battalions mentioned, such as: First Across the Rhine, 51st Again, Unbroken Line and Bridges to Berlin.
D.S.