them all! I started like most collectors, buying everything I saw that I could afford and so failing to specialise in anything. That would all come much later. In 2010 I unexpectedly won a metal detector in an online competition. I took my new ‘toy’ to the nearby woods for a play and was surprised to find hundreds of .303 casings. A quick check online when I got home revealed the area was used by the Canadian Engineers during WW2 as a training ground. I met a few likeminded folk online and soon we became a close knit group. I set up our group, ‘Extreme Relic Hunters’ [ERH], on Facebook as a means for the few of us to share photos and information on digs. Before we knew it we had over 100 members, then 500, then 1000…

Since forming ERH I have been involved in some pretty incredible things. A couple of us were invited out to Latvia where we helped recover over 20 soldiers lost in battle during WW2. These soldiers, mostly Germans, were recovered and from the middle of nowhere and reburied later with military honours at the huge military cemetery. The bodies that contained ID, like dog-tags would be given named graves. Although nothing could compare to the word a couple of us did in Croatia years later! Recovering over 100 German soldiers in just under a week. A very humbling experience.
 

My most treasured moment that spawned from relic hunting was a simple Canadian WW1 dog-tag found in the UK in a rubbish pit. Once home the research started, I was amazed that he lived just up the road from where I was currently living. He then emigrated to Canada where he enlisted at the start of WW1. He caught pneumonia on Salisbury Plain and was taken to the many military hospitals in the colleges in Oxford where he sadly succumbed to his illness. He was then buried on the very same road I lived on for many years of my life. Fate has somehow intertwined our lives. After checking census records it would appear he even once lived on this very same road. As someone who served and died for his country during a time of war, he would be on a war memorial. I contacted the local historian [Rob] from the town he was born and lived and ask firstly if he knew the family or had any history about them. He soon showed me a photograph and informed me he was the local butcher and had checked the war memorial for his name. It was missing! So between the both of us we were determined that this wrong should be put right. After 5 or 6 months, and just in time for remembrance day 2016 his name was on the memorial and read allowed in front of all those present, including myself, the local historian and the soldier’s descendants.
 

As well as that I am trying to return all the dog-tags from the forgotten army dog-tag projects as well as finishing countless more book. The next is to be an comprehensive guide in how to re-enact a 101st Paratrooper in Normandy properly. No Farby bullshit here, thank you! The first book is about how to understand German Dog-tags and the second uncovers stories behind the items I have recovered, like the dog-tag mentioned above. As well as lots of others... including Field Manuals, Technical Manuals and Intelligence Bullets, those can all be seen on this website.
 

My main areas of collecting militaria are Canadian WW1, Germany WW2, US WW1 & WW2, NAAFI items, Combat photography, Dog-tags and named items from both world wars. I also collect family named medals from both world wars and going back as early as the Crimean war.
 

A recent discovery that I should mention would be a small tatty cigarette case owned by a Canadian soldier who won a VC during ww1. I have tracked down which museum displays his VC and it has been sent to them and they have even mentioned me on their website. YAY.

I hate cars, but love motorbikes and have my beloved Honda CBR 600 Leyla edition for getting up to no good on the UKs roads.