Digging Hill 80 - Ninth and Final Report

Journeys home have stages.  Some steps are long, others short.  Some are easy, others a bit dodgy.  With an early train to catch I am ensconced in Ypres in a bed too darned comfortable given my need to stay awake a while and to get moving early.

Last day of excavation on Hill 80 was again carried out in nice weather.  Two weeks and no time lost to rain.  Quite remarkable.

I did a bit of necessary tidy up on some spots and was set to work with another volunteer on what was expected to be a few isolated bones that just needed recovery.

Well, it turned out to be a little more complicated.  

With regards to bones I have to overcome a handicap from earlier experience.  Firstly, from Gross Anatomy class and from many years of reading Xrays and CT scans I do know bones.  But they generally are affiliated with other bones and in the usual configuration.  A random bone that has been blasted clear of its normal surroundings is much harder to identify.  Is that a meta carpal or a meta tarsal?  

As you may imagine we found bones.  More bones than expected.  And things associated with them.  In the end we had to set the site aside for more skilled hands to take on.  But we learned enough about our fallen soldier to ensure that he will in time rest among his comrades.  I assume that the scant personal effects he still carried with him will go along too.  

I have more Hill 80 and Belgium thoughts that I'll get to when jet lag induced stupidity clears.  

It was an interesting experience overall.  In part an education, in part an adventure.  I've met people from the US, the UK and a half dozen European countries.  The assorted languages will take weeks to unscramble in my head.  

Of course all such experiences make you think about time.  It is 100 years back to World War One.  It is 61 years back to my beginnings.  The kids I was mostly associating with of late are correct in assuming that I go more than half way back to The Great War.

Ah well, time to wrap up for now.  Composing coherent paragraphs is difficult enough without the distractions of travel and two glasses of strong Belgian beer....