WW2 relicts in my back yard / coke & bullets

[FenderBender]

Let me kick this off with a friendly “Grüß Gott” from Germany!

Two weeks ago my boys were picking trash along the embankment of a road near our house. The money they collect for returning the bottles is then spent on sweets - classical win-win-situation Even the dentist is happy … Deposit on bottles in Germany range from 8 ct for glass beer bottles to 25 ct for single use plastic bottles.

Here the bottle was found in the scrubb below the road:

When they returned with their bags I helped them sort through it and clean the bottles. The very dirty coke bottle caught my eye and I told the boys not to take this one to the store.

I never had seen one of these so I checked all the markings and asked Google.

Greenish Glass, reading:

CocaCola
Trade Mark Registered
min. contents 6 fl oz

on the other side it says:
CocaCola
Trade Mark Registered
Bottle Pat D-105529

and below that, at the waist

60L44

the bottom:

LYNN MASS

What I found out so far is that the year of production is 1944 and it was produced in Lynn, Massachusetts.

How did the bottle end up here? After all, I am writing from southern Germany.
My home town Stuttgart was conquered by French troops on 04/21/1945. During the war there were more than 50 air raids on the city, and most of it had been reduced to rubble. In the west there is still a whole hill of piled up debris. The focus was on the south of the city with its airfield. And that is where we live right now. Some time back in the meadows behind our house, we also found a .50 cal casing which was produced in 1944 in Illinois. This one probably was fired by an US plane during one of the attacks on the city.

The meadows with a freshly cut tree:

The casing & the bottle:

The French troops were joined by US troops in July 1945, who have significant bases in our area to this day.

I hope you enjoed the little story. If you have some more info on this particular bottle please share.

All the best for ya'll

Tobi

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

I love the pictures. D-pat Lynn Mass is a common bottle. Hardly common to find in Germany! Hard to say how it got there. Amazing though. I love the kids cleaning up...literally! Incredible shape for being 78 years old and having gone through a WWII. I would like to end with a friendly Dig God from the United States!
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[RCO]

interesting story , its for sure a 44 coca cola bottle from the US , I'd assume the troops were being given some with there rations .

coca cola was highly popular back then so makes sense it be given to front lines troops as a way to boost moral and remind them of back home

I've found US coke bottles here too and I live in Canada although they usually are broken ones

 

[Jimmy Langford]

Hallo Herr FenderBender. I studied your country's participation in WW2 for 3 years. I also collected German militaria. I then got into bottles, which WON'T be going away. Coca Cola was shipped overseas to the troops in both Europe and the Pacific. That's a great part of history you have there. Greetings from the United States.

 

[BrentC]

I am sure the bottle was shipped over by AAFES Army, Air Force Exchane Service that run stores on the American Bases world wide. I have enjoyed many a Coca Cola in Germany. I was able to find Yuengling (Pennsylvania made and distributed mostly on the east coast) beer in an AAFES store in England a few years back.

Brent

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

interesting story , its for sure a 44 coca cola bottle from the US , I'd assume the troops were being given some with there rations .

coca cola was highly popular back then so makes sense it be given to front lines troops as a way to boost moral and remind them of back home

I've found US coke bottles here too and I live in Canada although they usually are broken ones

Military Cokes were Clear Cokes with no city on the base. Am I wrong?
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[FenderBender]

Thanks for the replies and the additional info.
I really like the pic of the GIs with the box of bottles. Of course I also assume that some thirsty US soldier had a chilled coke in the summer of 44 and tossed it out of his willys jeep while singing " It's a Long Way to Tipperary " with his pals - But - and this is a big but - my inner German keeps screaming at me: Why, this is so inefficient! All these heavy bottles with so little coke! And no reusable system in place, whatsoever! Bringing them all the way from the US? No way they beat us this way. Cause we are so efficient ...

But I guess it is true.

I will ask my boys, where exactly they found this one. Maybe we will find some more stuff. I'll bring the metal detector too. I will report, if we find more....

By the way "German participation in WW2" is a very polite way of puting it, thanks for not rubbing it in!

 

[CanadianBottles]

That's definitely an unusual find for Germany! What's interesting to me is that the US military got its own Coke bottles during WWII which were clear and didn't have city names on the base. While some city-marked bottles made their way into the supply based on what I've seen people finding in former military stations from the War in the Pacific, they seem to make up only a tiny fraction of the Cokes that were sent overseas. So that makes yours even more unusual!

 

[hemihampton]

I think the clear bottles were made overseas while the more normal looking Cokes were exported from USA. Fender Bender, let me know if you find any olive drab Camouflage Beer Cans over there. LEON.

 

[Jimmy Langford]

Thanks for the replies and the additional info.
I really like the pic of the GIs with the box of bottles. Of course I also assume that some thirsty US soldier had a chilled coke in the summer of 44 and tossed it out of his willys jeep while singing " It's a Long Way to Tipperary " with his pals - But - and this is a big but - my inner German keeps screaming at me: Why, this is so inefficient! All these heavy bottles with so little coke! And no reusable system in place, whatsoever! Bringing them all the way from the US? No way they beat us this way. Cause we are so efficient ...

But I guess it is true.

I will ask my boys, where exactly they found this one. Maybe we will find some more stuff. I'll bring the metal detector too. I will report, if we find more....

By the way "German participation in WW2" is a very polite way of puting it, thanks for not rubbing it in!

You are a very friendly and kind person. Happy to have you on the forum. Please tell us if you find anything else! We would love to see. Also, for the metal items, the people at treasurenet.com would probably like to see too.
Oh, and here.