US Bracelet Hurtgen Forest

Hello all,

Allthough the topic went quiet for a while now, time did not stood still !-)
All this time i stayed in touch with the Page family, mostly through email and sometimes through Skype.
This bound we have will never end!
In the meantime, on request, i wrote an article for the American Digger Magazine concerning me finding the bracelet of John.
I wrote it in early 2015 and after completion i have send the text to the publisher, and they edited the article.
And an amazing job they did!!!
















In 2015 i also planned a road trip to the USA whitch would take place in August / September later that same year.
I finally managed to save the money for this trip and collected enough vacation days at my job over the last years to make this possible.
As soon as i informed the Page family that i would make this trip, they invited me to stay at their place when i came to visit them in South Carolina.
Offcourse i accepted their offer, this would be great!!!
Who could ever imagine that all this would happen after finding a bracelet in the middle of the woods in Germany.........
I received a big welcome from Ninamarie ( daughter of John ) and her husband Richard at the Page home and stayed there for 2 nights.
They made me feel at home and as one of the family......!!!
During my stay they took me to the home where Mr. and Mrs. Page grew old, a sister of Ninamarie lives in that house now, and i got to meet the rest of the family.
On a table in a part of the house they emptied a shoe box full with pictures and articles of John whitch he kept from his wartime period in Europe.
They told me to pick out the pictures i would like and wanted me to have them.
I choose the original pictures of whitch they had already send me scans from in the past and those got an special spot in my collection.















Later on that day we went to the cemetery where John and Mrs. Page are buried and i took the liberty ( after asking for permission ) to take some pictures.

















The above article in the American Digger Magazine would come out in September 2015 and i hoped it would be on time when i visited the Page family, whitch was in early September.
I stayed in touch with the editors during my road trip and on the day i arrived at the Page family they informed me the magazines where send by mail to the Page home address.
And on the morning i left they arrived...............it could not be more perfect.
This was the first moment for me to see the article for myself and the Page family too received a few copies, later on they told me they orderd some more copies to give to friends as they all got curious about this amazing story......

After 2 days and nights it was time for me to say goodbye and hopefully will meet again.
Till today we stay in touch and we will keep on doing that, and since whatsapp things are made a lot easier

 

Great work on the article and the entire thread is really interesting. Thanks for coming back and providing the update.

Steve

 

Ed, welcome back!
It's wonderful to hear from you once again.

I often wondered if the story of the bracelet would progress more, and indeed it has.

A satisfying conclusion to an very interesting battlefield find.

 

What a great and well documented series of events, thank you our Dutch friend. The Netherlands does an excellent job of remembering the war and paying homage to war graves and you Ed certainly exemplify that attitude. Keep digging !

Gaines

 

Congratulations and very interesting!

 

Always happy to read about such stories.

 

What a phenomenal story. Well done, Ed, and thank you for providing us with this update.

 

Thanks for the great replies all!
I will also make an update in the upcoming period on the messtin of Leonard Magliocchetti.

 

Thank you for sharing!

 

This was a great thread to re-read before Memorial Day.

 

Today, exactly 13 years ago, i found Johns bracelet while swiping the foxhole in the Hurtgen forest on this freezing cold day in 2007.
A day i'll never forget and started a voyage that lasts and still keeps me in close contact with the Page family.
Who could have imagine that when i unearthed this personal item.
You all stay healthy.

 

Any photos? I would love to see some. Sometimes luck kicks you in the **** and I think you got it.cheers

 

Sorry I just noticed the photos. My cellular let me know it was a new message. Congrats!

 

Terrific service to the family. Well done.