We've all heard the stories about locomotives dumped in the river, lost in a quarry, hidden in a barn...

Did you hear the one about a World War II-era US landing craft buried 30 feet deep in a field? Turns out it's real, and they dug it up this weekend.

"This weekend, a group of local military enthusiasts succeeded in their mission to unearth one of the 26-foot-long craft after a five-day dig, which they found buried 30 feet below the earth, the BBC reported."

Looks to be in pretty good condition too.

https://www.businessinsider.com/photos- ... 4ZaofMRXMs

To be fair, landing craft implies boat. This is an amphibious carrier.

The vehicle is a Landing Vehicle Tracked, abbreviated LVT. There are many subclasses of these.

In reporting this story some media called it a "craft" and others a "tank." In fact they are tracked vehicle that can float in water near shore and were used to transport USMC, US Army and British Army troops from ships to shore, or across wide rivers (e.g. the Rhein).

The British called them Buffalos and the USN and USMC called them Amtracs, a curious subject to mention on a rail forum a few days after US Amtrak celebrated its 50th birthday.

The USMC still uses this type of vehicle, now called an Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV-P7/A1) for the same mission.

Phil Mulligan

I visited Guadalcanal in early September, 2007.

One of many places that I got to was Tetere Beach near Koli Point. The Marines
left a half dozen or so small amphibious craft when they landed
in August of 1942. They were still there when I visited.

Across Iron Bottom Sound a couple miles East of Tulagi is Purvis Bay. Beached there after having been torpedoed by the Japanese is LST 342.