Excavators in England have unearthed a huge World War II-era US landing craft from a field, 74 years after it went missing.
In 1947, more than a dozen Buffalo LVT were taken to Crowland, Lincolnshire, to help the British Army build flood defenses, but five were swept away in high waters.
Last week, a group of local military enthusiasts succeeded in their mission to unearth one of the 26-foot craft, which they found buried 30 feet below the earth, after a five-day dig, the BBC reported.
Watch drone footage of the craft — which weights 18 tons — being pulled from the excavation pit here:
The Buffalo LVT was a US-made landing craft used to transport supplies and cross bodies of water in Europe and the Pacific region. It saw action in World War II's greatest battles, including the Battle of Iwo Jima and D-Day.
The group behind the excavation believes that this Buffalo LVT was also previously used to cross the Rhine River in Germany in March 1945, The Times of London reported. The BBC said the Buffalo LVT was also key in getting allied troops across the Elbe river, also in Germany, the same year.
The craft appears to be in good condition, the volunteers said, due to the nature of the clay and peat soil that has surrounded it for 74 years .
"I'm over the moon with what we've achieved — it's very exciting. We've spent five days digging," Daniel Abbott, chairman of the Crowland Buffalo LVT Association, told The Times.
"We found the gun mount first and it's in fantastic condition for its age. The tank seems to have been well preserved in the clay."
The volunteers told the BBC they wanted the craft to stay in the town and become a memorial for the 1947 floods.
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