Found Today British spoon with personal Number !!!

Hello

I found today this british items on battelfield from 1940 , one spoon with personal number , can you help my ??? what is the number . there was fighting 51st highland division . You know this badge ?

many thanks Michael

 

Programmes such as "Finding the Fallen" and "Digging the Trenches" show how important such items may be to identify the remains of any soldier who has given his life.

Were you using a metal detector?

 

The owner of the knife, fork and spoon was probably from The Gordon Highlanders, which was part of 51st Highland Division. The regiment's numbers started at 2865001, so '5296' would fit.

Steve W.

 

most of the times they are the last 4 numbers of the man army number, so hard to tell which unit after all

 

Could be a possabilty

Name: TYSON, JAMES WILLIAM
Initials: J W
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Northamptonshire Regiment
Unit Text: 2nd Bn.
Age: 18
Date of Death: between 23/05/1940 and 26/09/1940
Service No: 5885296
Additional information: Son of John Thomas Tyson and Ellen Tyson, of Weedon, Northamptonshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Grave 10.
Cemetery: MAROEUIL COMMUNAL CEMETERY

 

As Philip says 3,4 or rarely 5 numbers marking personal kit relate to the soldiers last numbers as in my username.

Cheers
Andy

 

Many thank you until now
Yes i search with metal detector , I'm a "good searcher" if i found fallen soldier i report this on the police ! you can bee sure . In the area was fighting in 13/5/1940

I found in this area this button it fits to the regiment .

 

2nd Northamptons didn't do a stint on the Saar and James Tyson is buried near Arras so I don't think that it was his.

Bearing in mind the huge quantity of material lost and abandoned, the chances are that it wasn't from a casualty at all.

The lapel badge is Belgian of course but I'm not sure what.

 

2nd Northamptons were to have gone to the Saar early in April 1940 but the move was cancelled. As part of a reserve division they were perhaps not considered ready and they went for further training to the Amiens area.

The territorial 5th Battalion of the Northamptonshires went to the Maginot line in early March. After a few days near Metz they relieved a battalion of the DCLI in the 'Ligne de Recueuil' where they worked for ten days on improving the defences. Then, on 23rd March, they took over a section of the 'Ligne de Contact' from 1st East Surreys. Here they carried out active patrolling but there was no contact with the enemy. On 28th March, they were relieved by 2nd Royal Warwicks.

The button would have come from a Service Dress uniform and 2nd battalion had been issued battledress in the UK prior to departure. There is a good chance that 5th battalion were still wearing SD in March 1940.

 

Michael told us that the 51st Highland Divn was fighting in the area, hence my reference to the Gordons and their starting number. There's a thread, on here, about the Gordons from 2008. Might shed some light.

Steve W.

 

If they are a last four, which I think they are it would narrow it down to one in 10,000 if my maths is correct.

 

This the 51st map from 1940 , i found the all items nearby the spoon mayby this can help ?

 

The button with the 'Egypt' honour would be Leicestershire or Gloucestershire I think (possibly others too). The second button doesn't look British.

The Suffolk shoulder title is of the brass Service Dress type and shouldn't have been worn on battledress although some units permitted it. It certainly shouldn't have been worn when engaged in excursions on the Maginot line.

As far as I can tell, all front-line units had received battldress prior to May 1940 but many did indeed go to France with SD.

As Owen says, battalions were rotated through the Saar position to gain experience of the front line. 51st Division had the bad luck to be there on 10th May. They were the first full division to be there I believe and had the attack come a few weeks later then they would have been elsewhere.

If one looks at the photographs of trench digging during the phoney war period with jackets hanging on wire entaglements, I'd strongly suspect that these items were largely lost during that time.

The possibilities are likely to be that you have the site of a tented camp (I think they were billeted though), possibly a defensive system where various units dug in the winter / spring of 1940 or you have found the site where the latrines were dug. It's difficult not to empty one's pockets when pulling up high waisted trousers by the braces

 

1st Suffolks were with 8th Bde, 3 Div in May 1940.

As Owen mentioned the Egypt button says to me Glosters. Both were 48 Div 2 Glosters being 145 Bde and 5 Glosters were with 144 Bde.

 

Ah, an officer's button. I should have looked closer at the King's crown. So we have Officers and O/R's buttons there.

Once again these are Service Dress buttons suggesting a date prior to May 1940.

It would be quite handy to have a list of BEF units rotated through the Saar. I'm not sure that I've ever seen one but many war diaries mention a period there.

 

More Buttons from this little Wood Area .

If you want ? i show next time more founds fron last 5 Days .