While scanning the forests of the western mountains in the Czech Republic with a metal detector, Gabriela Bernatova comes across corroded bullet casings, rusted war relics, and even empty Coca-Cola bottles made of glass from the 1940s.
Last autumn, during a visit to northern Italy, she stumbled upon a pair of lost military dog tags, which led her to unravel the story of an American soldier who served in World War II.
“I could clearly read the information engraved on them, including the record of the soldier receiving a tetanus vaccine in 1946,” the 44-year-old Bernatova told The Epoch Times, “I speculate that the soldier might have discarded them before leaving the area; it’s just a guess.”
The metal detecting enthusiast revealed that the name on the worn steel pieces she found belonged to a certain James Steadman. Through the oxidation and rust, she managed to decipher the worn letters, with the letter “A” representing his religious belief – Protestant; “RA” indicating Regular Army. The dog tags also bore the inscription “17093719 T46 B” for identification purposes.
“His service number is a unique personal identifier assigned to each enlisted soldier,” Bernatova explained, adding, “T46 signifies the year he received the vaccine and ‘B’ indicates his blood type, in this case, type B.”
During the day, Bernatova works as a business consultant, but in her spare time, she shares her wartime discoveries on Instagram. After uncovering these personal traces of an American soldier who is likely deceased, she lets her imagination delve into the mysteries surrounding it.
“I want to connect the image in my mind with the real face of the person who may have tossed these dog tags into the corner pit of the garden.” She referred to the 17th-century Italian estate of Count Gianni Deciani, where she obtained special permission to conduct her searches and excavations.
“What did he experience while carrying out his mission in northern Italy post-World War II?” Bernatova wonders, “Was someone waiting for him when he returned home?”
Recently, Bernatova has been reaching out on Facebook and her Instagram account Detector Lady, hoping to locate Steadman’s family to reunite them with one of the dog tags. She plans to dedicate the other piece to the villa for use in an upcoming museum exhibition.
Growing up near the German border in western Czech Republic, her childhood memories are filled with playing in the forests, often encountering World War II bunkers. “We treated them as playgrounds,” she reminisced, recalling collecting “sklíčka” – old glass shards or ceramic buttons decorated with hunting scenes or religious motifs.
“I used to hear that Sudeten German residents left behind hidden treasures when they were expelled back to Germany after the war,” she said.
“One day, while mushroom picking, I stumbled upon a place with many such treasures. Since then, almost every weekend, I wander into the forest to find these glass ‘gems.'”
The Sudeten region was primarily inhabited by Germans within Czech territory, and Hitler’s forces embarked on their second annexation here post-annexation of Austria, subsequently expanding into multiple countries; now, it is a playground for children. The area is scattered with various small wartime artifacts, inspiring adventurers like Bernatova to delve into metal detecting.
While she had heard the term “metal detector” in her childhood, many years had passed without her remembering it, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a mother now, Bernatova longed to breathe the fresh mountain air again. The metal detector she eventually used was initially intended as a Christmas gift for her children (who abandoned it to read novels instead). Since then, she has been engrossed in detecting.
“I have fallen in love with this hobby entirely,” she said.
Presently, when not busy expanding Amazon sales for manufacturing clients during business trips across Europe and Asia, she indulges in collecting SS insignias and wartime daggers as a pastime. She has found numerous crosses and military insignias.
“This job allows me to travel freely while pursuing my passion for history,” she explained, “I enjoy researching history, collecting ancient coins, exploring places with a metal detector, and uncovering stories and fascinating sites.”
After conducting a metal detecting session on a beach in Vietnam last year, Bernatova visited northern Italy and had the fortune of meeting a former employee of Villa Gallici Deciani. The villa was occupied by the German army towards the end of the war, later controlled by US forces. The Italian resistance movement (la Resistenza) had also launched sabotage actions against the Germans, and a countess in the estate was a sympathizer of the resistance.
“Due to the unique connection the villa has with occupation, resistance, post-war reconstruction, and the extraordinary role of Countess Giulia, this location is rich with layered history,” Bernatova shared, adding that she spent days uncovering memorabilia and eventually found the dog tags of the American soldier in a corner of the garden.
“I also discovered many Coca-Cola bottles marked from 1944 and 1945,” she mentioned, “along with old beer bottles and various personal items like toothbrushes, empty toothpaste tubes, razor blade cases, and other everyday objects.”
Through historical research, she learned about an American military unit stationed at the estate at that time, although she acknowledges she cannot confirm if Steadman served in that unit. After the war, a veteran from the 350th Infantry Regiment (part of the 88th Division) did return to the estate where he was stationed and gifted a book detailing the unit’s service.
To date, despite having an international contacts network, her efforts to locate living relatives of James Steadman have not been successful. They have not been able to find official records matching his service number. She noted that old US military records might have been regularly purged, and his file might no longer exist.
“However, I won’t give up,” she said, “I sincerely hope that by continuously sharing this story, someone might recognize the name James Steadman and contact me, providing any clues that could help reconnect his memory with his family.”
The original article titled “Metal Detectorist Finds Pair of US Army Dog Tags While Digging for WWII Relics in Northern Italy” was published on The Epoch Times website.