Battledetective Latest News

May 18th 2013: Only a fortnight after its official opening we visited the EyeWitness Museum, in the town of Beek in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is an excellent museum which we can highly recommend to everyone. And while there, we took the opportunity to document their Nazi PAK 40 canon as Battle Relic Sub File No.: 15-Z in Battle Relic # 15.

May 11th 2013: We went to the Van Ganzewinkel hair dresser salon in Zeeland, Holland with US Army COL (Rtd.) Ed Shames; a veteran of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Sixty-nine years ago Ed got a haircut here during a break in an intelligence gathering mission in September 1944.
The Van Ganzewinkel family still runs the business.
Today Ed got a haircut from Peggy (seen below holding Ian Gardner's book Deliver Us From Darkness; which describes the incident), granddaughter of Ed's hairdresser during the war.

May 8th, 2013: Another addition to our Battle Relic # 15 . On the bottom of the page you will find Battle Relic Sub File No.: 15-Y; a Nazi 75 millimeter anti-aircraft gun, on display on the grounds of Camp Elsenborn, Belgium.

May 3rd, 2013: Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Relic # 15 to see our Battle Relic Sub File No.: 15-X; a Nazi 20 millimeter Anti Aircraft gun we found in side the citadel of Dinant, Belgium.

March 6th 2013: We have put Battle Relic # 18 online, the description of the most contemporary item featured on this website to date.

March 1st 2013: Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Study # 22 where we describe how we found the original location of the monument honoring PFC Joe E. Mann who was supposedly killed on this spot and earned the Medal of Honor in September 1944 in Best, Holland.

February 23rd 2013: It is with utmost regret the we learned of the untimely death of Captain James A. Page, unit historian of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), working at the Brigadier General Don. F. Pratt Museum in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky on January 21st this year. Captain Page was a true officer and a gentleman and has been very helpful in several investigations for this website. On November 1st 2012 we proudly photographed him wearing the unauthorized Battle Detective patch on his ACU uniform in the museum.

Captain Page died too early at the age age of 42 and is survived by his wife Kim and two children.
It was an honor to have been in the Captain's company.

January 16th 2013: Please scroll down to the bottom of Battle Study # 19 for two recent updates.
We visited Pall Mall in Tennessee - Alvin C. York's birthplace- and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville with a special exhibition on this American World War One hero.

December 23rd 2012: Battle Study # 23 about the Clarksville-Montgomery County American Civil War Battle of Riggins Hill is now on-line.

December 7th 2012: Today our American Civil War Battle Relic # 17 has been added; a Model 1842 Springfield bayonet used by both Union and Confederate troops.

December 5th 2012: In Battle Study #22 new evidence about the location where Medal of Honor recipient Joe Mann was killed is added. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page.

November 28th, 2012: We have added an update on John Nasea Jr's page were we describe how we presented him with the Royal Dutch Orange Lanyard decoration for his part in Operation "Market Garden" in 1944.

November 27th, 2012: Read our rectification to a previously issued negative advise about whether or not a fountain on a crossroads in Son, The Netherlands, was dedicated to the 101st Airborne Division. From evidence found in the archives of the Brigadier General Don F. Pratt Museum in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, we now know this concrete design from the 1960's is in fact a tribute to the liberators of Son in 1944.

November 18th, 2012: The recent lack of updates on this website has only been caused by our fact finding mission to Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. Please monitor this page as new articles and updates on existing pages will be published soon.

"Inside the Sanctuary"; the archives of the Don. F. Pratt Museum in Ft. Campbell, KY

Fort Donelson National (Civil War) Battle Field near Dover, TN

German World War Two POW Cemetery in Fort Campbell, KY

September 26th, 2012: We are proud to present our Case File # 17 about the mysterious French World War One Trench of the Bayonets.

September 8th, 2012: Monitor this page for the update of our trip to the Verdun region in Northern-France where we, among other locations, visited the mysterious Trench of the Bayonets:

August 30th, 2012: Announcing the official two-volume book presentation of "Orange is the Color of the Day", to which we have contributed some minor investigative research efforts, on Friday September 14th 2012 at the Heeswijk Castle in Holland at 2 P.M.. This is the authors' invitation for all people interested in the American part of Operation "Market Garden":

Featuring over 1000 photographs -many of them never published before - this is a unique pictorial document of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division in September and October 1944.

August 26th, 2012: Scroll down to the bottom of the Battle Study # 20 for an update with some Battle Relics we found of the US Army's 77th Infantry Division.

August 25th, 2012: We have visited the location of the December 1944 Malmedy Massacre once again and have documented the most likely route of escape of the American survivors massacre.
Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Study #11.

The long awaited forensic ballistics report just came in and now we can publish our Battle Study #22 about the location where PFC Joe E. Mann was killed in action for his comrades earning him the Medal of Honor.

July 19th, 2012:
Scroll to the bottom of Now & Then Holland Part 2; for three new animated comparison photos, taken in Eindhoven, The Netherland on the day this Dutch city was liberated in World War Two.
An example:

July 8th, 2012:
Please scroll to the bottom of Case File # 10; our "Case of the Booby Trapped Outhouse" in Eindhoven, Holland.
New information finally sheds light on the mysterious explosion of a public restroom when an American paratrooper had a bowel movement in it.

June 20th, 2012: We have just submitted our report of our involvement in airborne artillery man John Nasea Jr.'s first visit to the LZ (Landing Zone) where he had been 'clipped' while his glider was still in mid-air on September 19th, 1944.
A .30 calibre bullet made John a casualty, Seriously Wounded In Action, for the duration of World War Two.
It was his wish to be at the site where he landed and was most likely given first aid.
On his 90th birthday.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
Read more in our report.

May 30th, 2012:
Early April this year came the rather unexpected request from Berkley/NAL Publicity, Penguin Group, the publisher of American historian Dr. John C. McManus (of WWII Magazine) to review his new book published later this year.
The book is titled September Hope, The American Side of A Bridge Too Far.
We received an uncorrected proof of the book in the mail for us to read.

"September Hope" is an excellent book and it shows that much research was put into writing it.
McManus practically used all available sources and wrote the overall story of how the decision was made for launching Operation Market Garden, the invasion of Nazi occupied Holland in September 1944, the preparation and the operation itself and the aftermath for the American military in the bridgehead established as a result of it.
We own many of the books listed in the book�s bibliography and have requested several documents from the Cornelius Ryan collection in the Library of the University of Ohio.
All research material for Ryan's books, including "A Bridge Too Far" is in that collection.
McManus has interviewed veterans and used relevant phrases from numerous questionnaires sent to Ryan by veterans in the 1970�s.
It was a pleasure to read accounts of veterans whom we�ve met in the past, like Lud Labudka and Robert Jones of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, William Tucker of the 82nd and Walter Hughes who took part in the Waal Crossing.
MacManus' writing style reads easily and is sometimes mixed with contemporary expressions.
He also allows the reader to browse the various chapters, recapitulating events described earlier.
Of course we are familiar with the overall story of Operation Market Garden, but so far the book has given us many new facts, insights and background stories.
The book is what the sub title says; describing the American side of A Bridge Too Far.
McManus all but omits to mention the actions of the 1st British Airborne Division and portrays the tactics and personal accounts of the American paratroopers, glider riders and airmen.
We think September Hope can be viewed as the "American Testament of Market Garden"; the standard textbook for understanding the operation; when read in combination with A Bridge Too Far.
It fills a hiatus that existed more than Three Decades Too Long.

May 6th, 2012: After a tight schedule car ride through the Belgian and Luxembourg Ardennes, we documented 16 additional armored vehicles and artillery pieces which used to belong to the German military in World War Two. Left behind by the conquered Wehrmacht they now serve as local memorials to the liberation from Nazi occupation. See all the Nazi hardware found in plain view in contemporary Northern Europe today in our Battle Relic # 15.

April 20th 2012: British author and historian Ian Gardner's book Deliver Us From Darkness is published by Osprey Publishing Company is now published. The book is the sequel of Gardner's book Tonight We Die As Men about 3rd Battlion of the 506th Parachute infantry Regiment from their airborne training in the USA to their deployment to England and their part in the invasion of France on D-Day; June 6th, 1944. Deliver Us From Darkness describes the Battalion's actions in Holland during Operation "Market Garden" and their subsequent deployment as ground troops on "the Island" South of Arnhem. We have contributed to the research for this book by translating documents, doing research in archives, organizing interviews, taking the author to locations of importance to the story and proof reading the manuscript.

March 6th 2012: Neil Holmes, one of our British viewers, sent us background details and photos of a monument in Shotwick on the Wirral Peninsula in England honoring Pte. Frederick Hopwood. Paratrooper Hopwood was one of the first British casualties of the Battle of Arnhem and we featured him in the Now&Then Holland Two page. With Neil's additional information and photos we dedicated a new page in honor of Frederick Walter Hopwood of Mollinton, County of Cheshire, England.

March 2nd 2012: In the Victory Park Museum we spotted a "1 of 1 WWII Army 1/2 Track" and dove into the history of this "schwere Wehrmachtschlepper". Read our new webpage about this Battle Relic here.

February 27th 2010: We obtained an old audio tape of a 1956 US Armed Forces Network Radio Broadcast of the dedication of a monument to Medal of Honor Recipient PFC Joe E. Mann of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment. PFC Mann earned America's highest award for valor for action in Best, The Netherlands in September 1944. We have digitized the tape and created a commemorative page about the monument dedication ceremony.

February 9th 2012: Read our report of "B" Company / 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment veteran Forrest Jay Nichols visiting Sint Oedenrode again, here.

February 8th 2012: Calling Sandra Bonilla, daughter of PFC Nicholas L. Bonilla (ASN 6877454), a paratrooper in "D" Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, Killed in Action (KIA) in Best, Holland on September 22nd 1944.
Please contact us! at: tom@battledetective.com

Sandra wrote the book "Love, Honor and Cherish" about the love between her parents and the fateful death of her father. We met Sandra several times but unfortunately lost track of her. She has recently contacted battledetective.com via our contact form but left no return e-mail address. Sandra, or anyone who's in touch with her, please drop us a line again; with contact details.
June 13th, 2012 UPDATE: Sandra contacted us and let us know us all is well. She is revising the book "Love, Honor and Cherish" which will hopefully be for sale again soon. We recommend our viewers to try and obtain a copy of this book because it is well worth reading.

September 21st, 2011: The time span between this update and the last one on this page may lead viewers to believe we have not been battle detecting recently. On the contrary. We have several leads to investigate which we believe will result in new publications on this website.
In the mean time view our recent photo-reenactment comparisons shot in Holland, September 2011:

The explaining captions can be found on our Now&Then Holland page.

May 25th, 2011: Battledetective.com has discovered several historical documents proving the existence of airborne operational plans, prior to "Market Garden" (The Battle of Arnhem) in September 1944, which have so far not been mentioned in any publications.
Please read our Battle Study # 21.

May 24th, 2011: Scroll down to the bottom of our Case File #16 page for a supplementary report on our visit to the Woeste Hoeve Ambush Site and the spot were Nazis executed Polish pilot Czesław Oberdak in retaliation.

May 14th, 2011: Scroll down to the lower section of our Now&Then-Miscellaneous page for a number of new comparisons of historically significant locations and their present locations.

May 9th, 2011: Read the report of 82nd Airborne veteran George Roth of Easy Company, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment visiting the battlefield where he fought during Operation "Market Garden" in 1944.

April 6th, 2011: The Casualty List for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, during deployment in the Greater Eindhoven area, The Netherlands, September 1944 is online. The names and details of the men who shed blood or gave their lives for the liberation of this city and fortifying the bridgehead around it are presented as a Roll of Honor in the format of our Case Files.

March 31st, 2011: We have just finished the report in a new Case File and with pride we now publish The Case of the Missing Polish Pilot Oberdak.

March 30th, 2011: We have posted two new dramatic comparisons of photographs taken during the liberation of 's-Hertogenbosch in October 1944:

March 24th, 2011: Scroll down to the bottom of the Lt-Col. Robert G. Cole Battle Study # 10 to read about the new evidence which we have recently discovered.

March 13th, 2011: We have added a new Battle Relic page, describing a steel impact absorber from a container presumably dropped to (re-)supply the surrounded airborne troops of the British 1st Airborne Division fighting around Arnhem. Please read Battle Relic # 14.

December 1st, 2010: We are very proud to present the findings of our experiment showing the still dangerous dose of radiation from a prized battle relic. Please read and be advised of the risk involved in collecting a certain American paratrooper related item in our Battle Relic # 13-file.

November 14th, 2010: Announcing the publication of Battle Study #19. The location where Sergeant York earned the Medal of Honor in WWI in Northern France. We visited the battlefield to put two explicit theories of the right "York Spot" to the test.

November 12th, 2010: Like last year, the barrack where General MacAuliffe replied "Nuts!" to the German surrender proposal will be open to the public next month. This is the invitational poster:

November 11th, 2010: Read Battle Study #20 about the location of "The Lost Battalion Engagement" in WWI in Northern France. We visited the battlefield, which had not changed much over the past 92 years.

November 9th, 2010: Scroll down to the bottom of our Store-page to see a new line of modern, state of the art raid wear. Carry essential law enforcement tools on your person, be safe from stab- and ballistic injuries and identify yourself as a battle detective in an instant.

November 5th, 2010: We finally received a sign of life from one of the European representative offices of the Eli Lilly Corporation. Since the test results of the contents of this company's Motion Sickness Preventive tablets came back in 2007 we have been asking about the research that had been done prior to delivery to the Army. These tablets were distributed to paratroopers on D-Day and many complained of side-effects.
To be continued...

September 22nd, 2010: Just a taste of the upcoming report on the 66th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden, we've posted a Now&Then comparison picture of a photograph taken near the Drop Zone in Son.

With the help of the fine men and women of Yank Reenactment we were able to recreate historical photographs. The report in the commemorations and more Now&Then photo will follow soon.

August 18th, 2010: Read the contribution of German Historian Willi Weiss to our Battle Study # 12. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to read about his Father's role as a German combat medic during the Battle of the Bulge and in the Bizory aid station.

August 12th, 2010: After a relaxing vacation in Central America, we are now investigation several mysteries and locations of important events on European battlefields of World War One. Keep monitoring this Latest News page for updates on the Great War.

May 28th, 2010: On the 16th of May, 2010, 2 organizations of German Paratroopers and 1 organization of Belgian Border Defending soldiers reenacted the May 10th, 1940 air assault on Fort Eben Ema�l seventy years earlier. We were there and built our Case File # 14 about the Nazi attack with hollow charges on this fortress thought to have been impenetrable.

April 29th, 2010: Please take at look at 5 new Now&Then photo comparison images in our Worldwide-section: Of the Belgian fort Eben-Ema�l; the fortress thought to be impenetrable but overtaken in mere minutes by German airborne forces on May 10th, 1940. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

April 7th, 2010: We have added updates with new images and information in Battle Study #11 and the article on "Kussin Junction". Scroll to the bottom of the page for these updates.

March 19th, 2010: As a 'preview' of what we have seen in Poland and especially in the camps, we have added seven new Now&Then photo comparison images in our Worldwide-section. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

March 10th, 2010: Battle detectives will travel to Krakow, Poland tomorrow for a four-day trip to visit the Nazi-extermination camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Although not strictly combat-related, the Nazi's racial theories did in part the cause World War 2 to start. Keep monitoring this website for a report of our journey.

February 28th, 2010: Please take a look at some new items in our Store: Two brand new "Battle Detective .com" ball cap designs. An military style cap in digital camouflage and a vintage style navy blue cap with classic letter design. Show the world what your favorite website is! Scroll to the bottom of the page for these new items as they flank our classic "Battle Detective .com" patch.

January 20th, 2010: We received 'new' documents from the National Archives about alleged looting by US Army personnel in Holland in 1944. See Case File # 13 and scroll to the bottom of the page.

January 6th, 2010: We drew up our report of the September 18th 2009, Monument Dedication to Lt-Col. Cole in Best at the end of Battle Study # 10.

January 3rd, 2010: Please read the report of our battlefield visit to the site of The Battle of Biazza Ridge in Sicily, Italy in August 2009.

January 2nd, 2010: We proudly present our 12th Battle Relics-article about the invasion currency the airborne men of the 1st Allied Airborne Army carried into battle during Operation Market Garden in The Netherlands in September 1944.

November 17th 2009: The barrack where General MacAuliffe replied his famous "Nuts!" to the Germans' proposal to the encircled 101st Airborne Division to surrender will be open to the public next month. A unique location as it is situated on the grounds of a Belgium military installation. Also a unique occasion to visit the original Command Post of "General Tony", because of uncertain plans of the Belgian government to close the barracks! This is the invitational poster:

November 15th, 2009: Read the latest update in our Case File #4, the tragic incident of an American fighter pilot strafing a German Ambulance with Dutch civilians in it. We guided the grandson of two of the victims to the location in the woods in Son. Scroll down to the bottom of the file for the update.

October 11th, 2009: We have added a new category to our Now&Then section: Now&Then Miscellaneous.

September 4th, 2009: Finally we were able to get the full story of our Case File # 9. Our witness told the full story and we submitted the Case File.

September 1, 2009: We finished the Then&Now format of nine locations we have visited in Sicily last month and added them to our Now&Then Worldwide page. Just scroll to the bottom to see these last additions.

August 20th, 2009: We just came home from a 7-day trip to Sicily, Italy. We have visited the sites of the Allied invasion in 1943, codenamed Operation Husky. Reports and Then&Now-photographs will be posted soon.

August, 7th, 2009: We are proud to announce the report of our trip to the battlefield where an Allied soldier earned the prestigious Military Cross in a daring raid across enemy lines. Read our Battle Study # 17.

July 28th, 2009: Announcing a special remembrance and reenactment event and the first edition of the Airborne Memorial Walk in Eerde, The Netherlands next September. For the 65th Commemoration of Operation "Market Garden", a "living museum" will be created with drops on the original Drop Zone of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War Two, where parachutists in vintage equipment will tumble from an original C47 "Dakota". Also there will be mock battles, ceremonies, the reception of World War Two veterans, a 1940's style dance evening and more...All this from 17 to 20 September. The 20th will also mark the start of a new tradition: The Airborne Memorial Walk. For more information click on the pictures below:

July 25th, 2009: After a trip to Fulda, German, we've added a few Now&Then-comparisons in our WorldWide-page. Scroll to bottom.

June 27th, 2009: Fellow historians Frenk Derks van de Ven and Frits Janssen of the "Remember September 1944" Foundation will be hosting exhibitions in Son (area of operations of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division) and Mook (area of the 82nd) in The Netherlands next September 2009 for the 65th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden.
This is the invitational poster:

June 12th, 2009: Please read the updates in our Case File # 2 and Case File # 4. Scroll down to the bottom of these pages to read the input of several of our viewers. We thank Peter DeVisser of Raleigh, North Carolina, Henk Scheepens of Son, The Netherlands and Hans van Melis from Eindhoven, The Netherlands for their tribute to this website.

June 4th to 7th 2009: Our battledetectives were present in Normandy, France for the 65th Anniversary of D-Day. We chose not to write a full report like we did for previous commemorative events, but will use our research material in case files presented here. We do wish to share this Now&Then-picture with our viewers now though. It shows paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division moving through Saint-Marie-du-Mont shortly after D-Day. The "Now"-photograph shows a reenactor depicting an American MP patrolling the same street:

May 7th, 2009: We have added a modest paragraph to our Battle Study # 6 about the locations of Aid Stations of the 101st Airborne Division in World War Two. The new paragraph features the Divisional Hospital in the Zonhove Sanatorium in Son. We were given an copy of a very comprehensive history booklet about the Airborne Hospital in the Sanatorium during Operation Market Garden by the family of the late Dutch Airborne Friend Kees Wittebrood. For the booklet, click here.

May 5th, 2009: Battledetective Tom has been appointed, with no votes against it, as a new Board Member of the Dutch Society of Airborne Friends. 2009 being the 65th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden, Tom attended the April meeting of the "Platform Celebration Market Garden 2009". A comprehensive overview of planned activities can be found here.

April 28th, 2009: At the largest military show in Europe, we found a battle relic that was uprooted after more than 90 years. One can take 'uprooted' literally this time...! Take a look at Battle Relic # 11!

March 25th, 2009: In the Dutch town of Zutphen in the province of Gelderland, we took some new Now&Then comparison photographs.
Three have been added at the bottom of our Now&Then Holland 2-page.

March 18th, 2009: Original Klooster Dreef bricks surface from underneath asphalt street top! Only to be burried again after several hours! If only these bricks could tell! They could add a lot more knowledge to our Case File # 2! Roll to the bottom of the page to read our story on the Klooster Dreef bricks.

March 12th, 2009: Battledetective Tom has become a member of the Work Group Missing Persons of World War Two. This group is part of the Dutch Red Cross. As a Red Cross volunteer Tom will join ranks with forensic experts, DNA-analysts, military grave- and identification experts, historians and police detectives. Their job is to investigate the faith of people in The Netherlands who have been listed as missing since World War Two.
Since 1945 the Red Cross has helped surviving family members and loved ones, to learn about what happened to their missing persons. Because of new legislation concerning the exhumation of unidentified bodies and better DNA analysis techniques, the Red Cross has beefed up their investigative section. Due to the sensitive nature of the cases (some deal with Dutch volunteers into Nazi military service), no direct reference to any of the investigations can be made here. However, working these cases will no doubt further improve Tom's battledetective skills.

March 10th , 2009: Battledetective Tom has been nominated to become the Dutch Society of Airborne Friends new Board Member. The cause is a sad one. Board Member Ton Giesbers passed away on Sunday March, 9th 2009. Tom was given a 2 week consideration period but he has already made it clear to chairman Van Luyt that he has accepted the position.

March 3rd, 2009: Through our contact form, we received the amazing news that the M1C paratrooper steel helmet of Captain John W. Kiley of 3rd Battalion of the 506th Regiment, the subject of our Case File # 1, is currently in a private collection. We have received detailed information regarding the helmet and also some images, taken exclusively for battledetective.com. Look here.

February 20th, 2009: We have completed our Battle Study # 16 with documents thatwe have obtained from the research material for Cornelius Ryan's book A Bridge Too Far. Curator Douglas McCabe of the University of Ohio in Athens, provided us with numerous documents, interviews, diagrams and maps. Most of these shed new light on this particular Battle Study, but may very well form the start of new BattleDetective.com-publications.

December 6th, 2008: Behind the scenes we have been developing our theory about the location of the German detonating device to destroy the vital road bridge at Nijmegen, Holland in 1944. We have almost gathered all evidence together but meanwhile we have drawn up our report with our findings. Read about them in our Battle Study # 16.

December 1st, 2008: We have made some trips to Germany and while visiting the cities of Frankfurt am Main and Cologne, we made some Then and Now comparisons. This gave us the idea to start a new section in our Now&Then files: Now&Then Worldwide; an ambitious category for photographs of battlefields around the globe.

September 28th, 2008: Read our report on our participation in celebrations and activities commemorating the 64th anniversary of Operation "Market Garden" The Netherlands.

August 25th, 2008: We've added Battle Study # 15 with the results of our (still active) investigation of the stories behind three action photographs taken during Operation Market Garden in The Netherlands. Are they real of have they been staged? Read the file!

August 3rd, 2008: A new Battle Study, # 13, is added. Read about the "Bridge that, through her weakness, saved a city from destruction".

June 29th, 2008: A new Battle Study (#12) has been completed. The study describes our research to find the exact location of a famous World War 2 photograph. Battle Detective found the veteran who personally took the photograph!

June 12th, 2008: Battle Detectives attended the Second European Trigger Time in Eerde, The Netherlands. A photo impression:

(click on the images to enlarge:)

Reenacted photograph with Tom Colones. Local gun legislation forced the Toms to use 'air guns'.
2 With author and founder of the Trigger Time Community, Mark Bando.
3 Battle Detective Antoine (left) listening to historian Erwin Janssen on a location along "Hell's Highway".
4 A mixed crowd overlooks the battlefield of "A"Co./501st Parachute Infantry Regiment at the edge of the Sand Dunes of Eerde.
5 Mark Bando lecturing on personal accounts from his numerous interviews with 101st Airborne Division veterans. Note the combat jacket from his 2008 tour of Afghanistan.
6 Then & Now comparison of the location of an allied column on 'Hell's Highway' after the German attack on 'Black Friday', September 22nd 1944.
7 Then & Now comparison of the location of the draw bridge in Veghel; the main objective of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment in Operation "Market Garden".
8 Convention attendants listening to historian Erwin Janssen at the rail road bridge in Veghel; a secondary objective of the 501st.
9 501st Regiment sniper's lair at the Veghel cattle fodder factory. Recently designated a national landmark it will soon be restored in its pre-war condition.
10 Then & Now comparison of Veghel's Hoog Straat and Heilig Hart Plein.
11 Then & Now comparison of the Kuypers' bicycle shop. Today, the shop is still in business. In 1944 the company provided 501st Regiment paratroopers with 'steel horse' transportation to help the war effort.
12 Convention attendants listening to historian Erwin Janssen in front of the Veghel Church.

May 1st, 2008: Battle Detective Tom has been awarded the Certificate of Appreciation by Lt-Col Robert Balcavage, Commander of today's US Army 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry (Airborne).

The paratroopers of this unit were deployed in the Province of Babil, Iraq, 35 miles North of Bagdad in Iraq from September 2006 to December2007 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Responding to an announcement in Screaming Eagle Magazine by the official historian of the Medical Detachment of the 501st, Lt-Col Guy Lamunyon, California National Guard, Tom collected photographs of World War Two aid stations of the 501st. Parts of this research were used to draw up Battle Study # 6.
Tom sent photographs of locations in France, The Netherlands and Belgium. These photographs were framed and mounted on the walls of the 1st Bn./501st aid station in Iraq to inspire its personnel, reminding them of their unit's rich history.

March 14th, 2008: Battledetective.com will attend the 2nd edition of the European Trigger Time Convention, which will be held in Eerde, Holland on the 31st of May and the 1st of June 2008.

Several battle detectives have already registered and paid their attendance dues.

March 13th, 2008: Battle Relic #7 has been updated with details of period medical research to the effects of the ingredients in our Motion Sickness Preventive pills.

March 10th 2008: We've updated our Case File #10 (the booby-trapped toilet) with some interesting finds from the archives.

March 8th, 2008: Read the results of our forensic detective work in the Vlokhoven Church belfry and garden in Case File #1 and on the first aid pouch of "Filthy 13" Sgt. Davidson in Battle Relic #10.

March 3rd, 2008: Announcing the Fourth Edition of the Bothers in Arms March. This year, on the 8th of June, the 4th of the Brothers in Arms Marches for re-enactors of the 101st Airborne Division will be held in Carentan, France. This event sets a very high standard in historical and military accuracy. Battledetective.com participated in all three previous editions. Each event had different characteristics. The first edition in 2005 was a rainy exercise and had the armored support of two period US Stuart tanks. The 2006 March ended with a very moving ceremony on the Carentan Place de la Republique Square. And the 2007 edition of the BIA March was truly a physical challenge. The road to Carentan was long. And hot!

We look forward to meeting all amateur historians who seek to get as close as possible to what paratrooper combat in Normandy in 1944 must have been like! For more information, contact:

February 25, 2008: Battledetective.com visited the exact location of a tragic incident that took place on December 17h, 1944. An incident known as the Malmedy Massacre. We took comparison photographs and feature them in Now&Then-format. We also visited the Baugnezz44 Museum just a few hundred yards form the massacre location. The museum has a large collection about the Battle of the Bulge and shows the story the massacre and the subsequent investigation. A report in our Battlestudy # 11.

February 3rd, 2008: We've added Battle Relic # 10. Read about how Battle Detective Antoine found the first aid pouch of a member of the "Filthy 13" who died in Eindhoven during the bombing raid on the day after the city's liberation. This file is still active!

February 2nd, 2008: Battledetective.com recently met one of the witnesses in our Case File #12.

He recalled being present at a meeting where Bill Galbraight was told that the body of a dead German soldier was found in the Vlokhoven tower. This information may shed new light on our Case File #1. We will follow up on this lead as soon as possible.

January 17th, 2008: Battlestudy # 10 has been drawn up in accordance with the 'new' report guidelines. Read about the location where Medal of Honor winner Colonel Cole was killed on September 18th, 1944.

January 15th, 2008: We have added several new Now&Then comparison pictures on our N&T Holland page. See liberation photographs of Oirschot, Battle Detective Tom's old home town.

December 26th, 2007: Read the special report on our C-47 Sky Train ride with the Liberty Jump Team into the Roll� Castle Drop Zone outside of Bastogne, Belgium.

December 25th, 2007: Case File # 12 added: Read the results of our search for more details about a story that was told to us a very long time ago.

December 23rd, 2007: Battle Study # 9 added: The son of a veteran of "D"-Co./502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment requested Battle Detective to create a map, plotting the locations and battles of his Father. Visit Battle Study # 9 for our first map: Operation Market Garden.

December 1st, 2007: Due to overwhelming demand: New items added to our Gift Shop: Deluxe Badge Clip and our ash gray physical training T-shirt. Get them while they last!

November 18th, 2007: Read the latest addition in our Battle Relics Section: Battle Relic # 9.

November 17th, 2007: Check out our latest item in the gift shop below! Display your investigative credentials professionally with our deluxe leather badge and ID-card wallet.

October 26th, 2007: Reg Jans, our Belgian friend and expert of the Battle of the Bulge, submitted some excellent Now &Then photographs!

October 25th, 2007: Author Mark Bando submitted some important information on our Battle Relic Page about Captain Harwicks Captain's Bar.

October 11th, 2007: The results came back from the forensic toxicological lab analysis of the Motion Sickness Preventive tablets.

September 30th, 2007: Battle Detectives attended the First European Trigger Time in Bastogne: