PetrW,
Stranger things have happened. Those guys came back with a lot of interesting items they "liberated" while there. One other item he had that I was always fascinated by was a bible he carried that saved his life when a German soldier tried to bayonet him. He still got stuck but the bible slowed the blade down enough so that the wound was more superficial and though he ended the story there one would assume left him able to end the German soldier. The hole from the bayonet went right through the middle of the good book and many of the pages were soaked with blood. I believe he was buried with it.
I remember asking him why he was always in such a good mood and he replied after living through 3 years of combat he said every meal was a feast, every paycheck a fortune and every day a gift. Difficult to argue with that.