WW2 Ammunition boxes for machine gun Browning M1919 7.62 mm. cal.30 cartridges, used by USA soldiers on Gothic Line during the Second World. They were found in the Appennini mountains.
Maybe the canvas belts deteriorated in the soil. I have canvas belts with casings in them but they’ve been either broken and shared/distributed or torn during use because I have two, both holding around 15-20 or so spent casings. I’d have to check the exact amount but around there. I discovered them in my shed and was pretty excited but also REALLY confused as to how they got there. Apparently I had a great uncle who was in the military which is even weirder because we’re Japanese Americans, from Hawaii, but I guess they let him fight. No idea how he was able to bring back “souvenirs” either. I tried his army jacket when I was 14 and couldn’t button it it was too small. I’d wear it but never ever could button it even though I was skinny. My mom said, “Yeah he took it in and stitched it. He was .. you know.” Gay? A closeted gay Japanese American from Hawaii who was VERY petit and/or malnourished fought in the second world war and smuggled back all this stuff?! It blows my mind. Because a year later I found even *more* and it’s SO HEAVY! I can’t carry it for long and these are metal belted cartridges that are absolutely massive like at least the length of my hand. That’s with the bullet because they haven’t been fired yet. Idk if I’m even allowed to have them which is why they were hidden for nearly 80 years. I was like *omg* these have been here for decades and because our family is weird, we just take everything we know to the grave. I keep finding stuff from the 30’s to the 70’s and nobody knew about or even what most of these things are. They’re just “junk” to my family and to me, a mystery. I don’t know my family at all!
