[David Ransome]

At the end of the day this was a dig on an aircraft where the body had been apparently recovered and buried during the war. Maybe the MoD at the time should have made it clear in the records that most or part of the body had been recovered, rather than all, but they were too much under pressure with the war effort to spend too much time with individual cases. There have been and will be cases where recoverers will come across human remains that had supposedly been removed but the fact is that these people have in general done more to tie up loose ends than the MoD ever has, or been able to, bringing closure for many a family still grieving after their sad loss.

Historians and researchers alike have learnt much from these and similar recoveries, in many cases being able to correct major inaccuracies in the historical record, some substantially changing the perspective view of major events and shedding new light on some controversial ones. As regards purely personal items recovered I do believe that these should at least be offered to the family as World War II is still a recent event in living memory - why they weren't, or didn't seem to be, in this case is not for me to guess at although I doubt that any financial gain was involved. I can certainly empathise with the lady's view based, I suspect, on partial knowledge of the background.

My empathy stems from the fact that I had a relative who died in a Heinkel 111 crash in 1940. The aircraft crash site was dug and remnants were found including some personal bits and pieces. When I and the family found out about this some years after we were at first rather annoyed and resentful. Our mood changed when we realised that at last we had closure on a sad chapter in our family history and that at last a life had been recognised, and that others had a chance to appreciate some of that history, albeit maintaining our own anonymity. Therefore, I concur with Ruy - more gratitude than repugnance.

I believe that the main reason for selling some items recovered at crash sites is to be able to fund the recoveries themselves which can't be cheap and don't attract much if any funding from outside agencies. Some of these agencies are quite happy for others to provide the funding and the resources. I feel that these recoveries can be as vital to our understanding of Archaeology just as much as those involving mediaeval plague pits or the Valley of the Kings.

David