UPDATE June 2019 – photos from the Dig by Harvey Mills, ARPS
75 years after the 506th PIR, 101st Division, including Easy Co, dropped into Normandy, a team of military veterans, service personnel and volunteers from Operation Nightingale/Breaking Ground Heritage are examining the sites where the soldiers lived here in Wiltshire.
This exercise is already well underway, the team having already undertaken a careful scrutiny of the Heritage Environment Register (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre) and aerial photos at the Historic England archive; plus geophysics surveys in Ramsbury and Aldbourne.
Richard Osgood, Senior Archaeologist at Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and his team would like to say a special ‘thank-you’ to Aldbourne Parish Council, landowners, local experts and the Aldbourne Community Heritage Group for their great support thus far on this project.
Operation Nightingale is an initiative from the MoD to help assist the recovery of injured soldiers by getting them involved in archaeological operations.
If you would like more information about Exercise: Digging Band of Brothers, Operation Nightingale/Breaking Ground Heritage or if you have village history to share about the American presence here in WW2 we’d love to hear from you.
Jo Hutchings aldbourne.archive@thedabchick.org.uk
Just wondering when you are doing the dig.
Are you also doing a dig at Ramsbury camp?
I run 3rd Battlion 506th LHG Company G group and I know my guys would like to help if possible.
We would be keen to hear from you.
Kind regards Mark Brothers.
Thanks for getting in touch. Not digging at Ramsbury this year but it’s such a fascinating site, future plans may change! If you’d like to ping me an email contact address, then I can update you directly on reports from the dig. You can also follow Operation Nightingale on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/operationnightingale/ my email is aldbourne.archive@thedabchick.org.uk