The Bomb Collector of Ypres | The New York Times

[@bigdec1]

Well I'm glad that the kid has found himself a nice safe hobby.

[@equarg]

declan mather Well.....there is worse things he could be doing. Like doing drugs and stealing...........ext. 😓 Still. His parents have to worry!

[@Hecate2011]

These things appear every day in Flanders, Belgium and Northern France from WWI -every time farmers plow. It's not like he goes looking for this stuff. It's everywhere.

[@humboldtharry4248]

The Radiation Club was at capacity and this seemed like a viable option. Thankfully he’s not into target shooting because firearms are scary and therefore prohibited 🙄

[@jamesnicholson3658]

well, his hobby does make others safer give it a few more years

[@lossantoscity3249]

Id rather have this kid do Weed than this. LOL

[@beveledblade]

Very neat to see him preserving the history of the farm . I'm amazed at your ability to not open the wallet.

[@PreDanyello_0]

“We still need to find the rest of it.”

[@doubles6508]

That detailing just on a shell. Madness.

[@doubles6508]

@Custis Long yeah that would make more sense lol. What a wonderful artifact to find

[@v8_u252]

Custis Long seems like a productive way to pass time in the trenches

[@ffrederickskitty214]

Trench art. Collectible in the UK

[@Nirrrina]

I just love how the cows are following him around.

[@CatskillsGrrl]

He is adorable. His enthusiasm is contagious.

[@Einhauser]

2:44 "This is our cage of deadly deadly munitions" >Squats down next to it

[@Stefan_Van_pellicom]

When you drive around in that region of Flanders, you will find a small stack of them at the corner/entrance of every field. To the people over there it’s normal, but I live some 30km more inland, and it’s strange to me too. It’s a part of Belgian history that is still very much alive. There are dozens of small and larger musea like these. If WW1 fascinates you, you should come over and spend 3 or 4 days here to have a look around.

[@24934637]

@@Stefan_Van_pellicom Seen it myself, unexploded shells just stacked up waiting to be taken away. Safe enough as long as you don't start hitting them with a hammer!

[@susanfrombflo8368]

@@Stefan_Van_pellicom Thank you for that explanation.

[@kevinbaird7277]

Hard to believe the misery that took place in these fields, It makes me upset that so much potential was lost, for what, nothing.

[@kevinbaird7277]

@TheGodEmperorofMankind man does advance during major conflict, but it is a sad indictment on man that progress has to come at the price of millions of innocent people together with a generation of young men being sacrificed as a result.

[@PrimetimeNut]

TheGodEmperorofMankind I think we would be better off still living with 1910 technology, especially if it meant bringing back the boys. With 110 years of peace we might have been able the advance without the need for bloodshed.

[@SMGJohn]

@TheGodEmperorofMankind War is not why technology progresses, its funding and working together, war just so happen to force those situations. But on the other hand, a lot of progress is lost, a lot of people are killed meaning economies collapse, a lot of projects have to be post phoned or even cancelled because they cannot get funding, everything goes towards war. So your argument makes no sense and has never made sense, you are simply just repeating a jingoist propaganda piece from the 19th century without being aware of it. Just to give you an example, the television was invented in 1928 and in the 30s saw tremendous progress going from mechanical driven to vacuum tubes what we call CRT today, Japan, Soviet Union, Germany, USA, Britain, France all had tremendous progress with television yet when WW2 broke out, all of this was set back at least 30 years in development. In Britain they had developed 30+ inches CRT televisions with an resolution greater than a 1000 lines.

[@hovanti]

Wow! A farmer has to be a brave man, just to plow a field with all that stuff possibly just under the surface. I would thoroughly enjoy visiting Stijn's museum.

[@mattcullen6109]

We used to get that in the Solomon islands. I'm a carpenter and I was forever digging up unexploded ordnance. Alot of naval artillery projectiles that had buried in the mud. One of the guys come back from ploughing a vegetable patch one day with an old American grenade jammed between the plough blades

[@F.Krueger-cs4vk]

@@mattcullen6109 i lived in PNG when i was a kid. I found live & spent munitions, water bottles, helmets, weapons, etc... i bought some items back to Brisbane in the late 70's. Still have them. Cannot do that now.

[@underwaterdick]

Well, everyone needs to make a living somehow, and I guess farmers in the area have little choice but to use the land we once had wars over.

[@johanengelen8979]

There are fields that they don't plow because this would be suicide

[@veerlesanty6355]

I visited the place... it is unique, the more because of Stijn his story around the place ! Nice collection which gives us a true thought about what happened there a 100 years ago....

[@sosteve9113]

agreed

[@alisonhilll4317]

All wars are bankers wars and all bankers are Zionist .

[@davidwatson8142]

@@alisonhilll4317 Only racist idiots say all wars are started by Zionist. It's so easy to make such generalizations.

[@alisonhilll4317]

@@davidwatson8142 How can anyone be racist to a political movement eh ? , and a political movement that says they are Gods chosen people ? With the highest IQs ? That shoot unarmed Palestine children !!!! , all sounds very master race to me , shut up Zionist you are very brainwashed and very very dumb .

[@bobski36]

What town/street can I find this? I'm am traveling to Ypres/Flanders in April and would to visit if possible. Thanks

[@joepalooka2145]

Absolutely incredible to see how much has come out of the ground on one farm.

[@owbeer]

if you really start to dig on that farm its 100 percent sure you will find remains of soldiers.

[@26TptCoy]

There were millions of artillery shells fired here. This would be just scratching the surface. He should be informed of the dangers of UXO no matter how old. He is also picking up gas bombs which can cause horrific reactions if they leak or explode. Good though he has made a small museum and refuses to sell anything. It is a sacred site anyway as I believe around 2000 Canadian soldiers died here.

[@zin360]

cows r cute lol following him around

[@Trund27]

zin360 I loved that! Cows are super cute.

[@andersonsroad5161]

They're not cows they're steers and would all been killed and eaten.

[@SMGJohn]

@@andersonsroad5161 Pretty sure the Chinese do not eat anything alive, you must be thinking about Africa and Indochina were that sort of stuff is more of a cultural thing, its mostly insects that are eaten alive over there though not animals.

[@brownwrench]

They are inquistive creatures. They all will do that.

[@martinjf467]

Ha ha! And Stijn still looks like a teenager ten years on! He's built a WW1 Mk IV tank with his friends since this video!

[@peteroconnell98]

I've visited Ypres over the years it's countryside steeped in history . The battlefields are a great experience to visit and to pay your respects to the men who gave lives for us to be here

[@AB1Vampire]

The piece of an old tank was really nice find!

[@dave623]

That’s exactly the same type of cage we use in the ATF for bomb disposal.

[@hardcorehunter9155]

Sure it is

[@komodonation2115]

Nice

[@TheKopakah]

@BATMANS VIDEO CAVE that's hilarious man, keep em coming

[@brownwrench]

Whole trains were loaded with battlefield scrap after the war.

[@TheKopakah]

@Nick Milligan what?

[@graemesydney38]

I have read that on the western front the rate of 'duds' was 25% (it varied nation to nation, time to time etc). At Gallipoli the Turkish dud rate was as high as 75%.

[@scotty20040]

Graeme SYDNEY I think it’s higher than that, especially on the U.K. side

[@gsmiley2707]

They were not necessarily duds. It's just that the fuse would not react when the shell fell into pudding-consistency mud.

[@diekje8728]

Over 100 years have past and farmers still dig up 40 metric tonnes of metal a year in the Westhoek.

[@louisseyns5458]

When I was a little boy, I used to go with my dad hunting. While he was hunting, I would search for bombs, shells, bullets, guns. And let me tell you finding them was not hard, they were just lying on the field. Fields never been cleaned up, I don't want to know how many explosives and cruel things lay beneath those.

[@PopeRecords]

2:59 , I like how he says it's live and sits by it.

[@shelbyseelbach9568]

I'm guessing none, seems like something he would've mentioned.

[@brownwrench]

The cows following ...lol. All the same. Such inquisitive creatures.

[@anthonylatham8584]

fantastic i love looking around the place there's always something new ive only been a couple of times last year and today with some mate of mine they have the same interest keep up the good work Stijn

[@blom440]

still very dangerous. at least 250 man died after the war around Yper till now from those lost boms

[@edwarddesoignie1396]

Yes and he has a collection of the fuses. In the US people have been blown up defusing Civil War munitions. Not safe at all!

[@duggiebader1798]

Thank you for this beautiful documentary. This young lad gets it. To so many people this represents making €£$¥, instead of the tragedy of it all. It should all stay on the farm for as long as they are able.

[@francisebbecke2727]

Be careful of what you pick up in that area. Don't die in a war that was over 100 years ago.

[@scottyweimuller6152]

🤦‍♂️cmon dude use your brain next time.....

[@barry5111]

I went to Ypres where my grandfather was killed and at 11 am there was a terrific bang so I reckon they regularly dispose of a lot of this stuff. I have a british shell as a doorstop so many of our ordnance didn't actually go bang it seems.

[@clark9992]

I hope it's been deactivated. If not, it could turn into a door REMOVER.

[@barry5111]

@@clark9992 haha yes indeed no they sell them as souvenirs all empty. Our early ordnance a lot of it was bad.

[@thibaultd7979]

Around 25% if shells didn’t go off

[@proactivex]

it must have been going off in that field. wow.

[@ferrari884]

proactivex Around Ypres? “Going off” is a bit of an understatement.

[@underwaterdick]

@@ferrari884 haha, well said. Someone needs a history lesson I think...

[@Stefan_Van_pellicom]

@Kabuki Kitsune Not completely, but it got pretty shot up ...

[@rbrucebicknell5038]

In a 100 years, a farmer around Bakhmut will have a similar but extraordinarily different museum

[@stijnvandamme76]

depends on the soil.. Flanders soil is heavy clay that keeps things oxygen free and thus extremely slow to rust away. That allows things to still be in reasonable shape (or dangerous depending on perspective) even after 100 years. The reason they survived this long is that the duds in most cases just sunk deep in the mud and the soil got churned a lot because of the war and explosions (up to 9 meters deep) Say Vietnam and Cambodia is not as long ago, but most of the iron based bombs have long rotted away , their main issue is plastic made cluster submunitions.. that don't rust as much, and are not as detectable since very little metal is used. For Ukraine, the main issue will indeed be cluster munitions.. lets hope that modern munitions have less unexploded duds in them.. I kinda doubt it. The good thing is , its not a jungle, so they will be more in the open.

[@beerborn]

Cow says; "WTF dude. Why you scaring Betsy away. I was hitting on her?! 3:51

[@russg1801]

That would be a BULL hitting on Betsy, right? Unless the cows Went Lezzie!

[@robbegrijp9224]

Underrated comment.

[@leopoldo3884]

i doubt the cow is lesbian

[@larrythompson5617]

He is interviewed on the show War Junk. Very cool and level headed individual........

[@Jarod-vg9wq]

Trench art is incredible I would be so bonkers to see it up closed.

[@thelostarchivesserialvault5353]

You can get that leather back into shape by putting it into a cabinet that will steam and that will gradually get the moisture content back close to normal. You can also get leather cream and rub it onto the leather which will soak in and over time make it flexible. It just may take many coats.

[@PacoOtis]

Wow! Excellent! Thanks for the video as it is rather sobering.

[@annachrissy4874]

Anyone interested in this video should purchase and read the book, Aftermath, by Donovan Webster. Fascinating book!

[@roodandersson161]

Yes, but you have to wonder how many bombs the cows have "found".

[@WaterlooExpat]

Cows were known to fall down the shafts, to the tunnels, that were dug under battle fields.

[@kookaburrakookaburra]

Great stuff. I want to visit that museum some day. I love those trench art shells.

[@kingjames4886]

3:50 that cow is just like "WTF MAN!? I WAS STANDING ON A BOMB!?!"

[@derekstocker6661]

Fantastic collection, let us all hope that this guy get's it all checked out as inactive, we would not want to have an innocent injured whilst commemorating the already lost souls of brave soldiers.

[@kalicom2937]

Amazing. Really really good to see this.

[@albertschultz7151]

Thank you for a very informative video.

[@patrickmcleod111]

I like a little mustard and ketchup gas on my hot dog.

[@hopatease1]

yuck only a sick person puts ketchup on a hot dog !

[@CherryBlossomOhka]

@@hopatease1 you just became my favorite person

[@hopatease1]

@Steve Campbell UGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[@hopatease1]

@Steve Campbell : )

[@underwaterdick]

English, french or Dijon mustard? 😉

[@klilinoklire4403]

Some people might be interested in looking up the dangers still posed by artillery shells with chemical agents that the Germans were forced to dump in the North Sea and Baltic Sea after the two World Wars. Pieces still get washed up on the shores and harm tourists thinking they're amber or harmless stones. Test screenings still show huge quantities of material just a few meters below the water line, but thorough sweeps are only worth their cost when oil rigs and wind parks are to be built.

[@FUG_GOOGL]

I saw a report of that once. There are indeed a lot (!) of shells and such that were dumped in the sea. They said it's starting to become a problem now because they are deteriorated to a point where the toxins such as mustard gas can start to leak by their own or shells that could detonate by light touch.

[@Screwedup3013]

those curious cows were as interesting as the shell exploration,,,lol

[@stevewilson7857]

There are still many active bombs. At Somme a couple pulled their car onto the side of a road for a picnic and drove over a bomb killing them both.

[@DRSHANKER]

source?

[@geyotepilkington2892]

@@DRSHANKER I saw it on the news, try google it

[@grahamjordan1040]

A few years ago we went on a First World War battle field tour and we saw piles of shells left by farmers ready to be collected for disposal, brave farmers.

[@phaedracollins6051]

Well done in preserving historical relics - but do take care

[@malcolmalexander5615]

You absolute beauty! Salute.

[@UBeTrollin11]

never forgot, never again

[@F.Krueger-cs4vk]

Wow great video, very interesting history. Be careful touching those munitions. Thankyou for sharing. 👋 🇦🇺 .

[@klilinoklire4403]

2:22 Seriously, that playful music creeps me out!

[@johnquinn456]

This is REAL RIGION.

[@marcohouwaart808]

Nice video Thanks

[@kurtostara3274]

he just sits next to a decayed mustard gas shell i would have yeeted that thing as far as i could have and ran the other way

[@orlando124431]

Belongs in a museum really.

[@psymons9133]

the mustard shell uxb would concern me a little more than the young fella appeared

[@VeroniquePerren]

bien le musée ,

[@ihsanbajwa3974]

Ypres کا محاذ جنگ بیلجیئم میں ہے ۔۔۔۔کیا یہ معلومات درست ہیں؟؟؟

[@islanddreams4805]

that farm was a battle field ,,,i think it must be haunted by the souls of the dead in battle for sure.

[@Songbird645]

It is intresting that people in 21st century still belive in ghosts and souls.

[@blank1778]

Songbird645 because it’s what makes us conscious of life

[@Songbird645]

@@blank1778 I think it is the exact opposite. Any belief in the afterlife devalues the importance of life.

[@Unaaa9]

song name? 2:21

[@AGDemo]

Way cool finds!

[@Axelfl6161]

The gas shells are the biggest danger

[@fredhoy6697]

Amazing. Be careful.

[@MA_808]

he is thoughtful

[@Mat_6st]

Kan ik uw museum een keer gaan bezoeken? Ik ben heel geïnteresseerd

[@Baked_Potato1996]

thats actually really cool

[@Baked_Potato1996]

ps the cows look very happy

[@gsmiley2707]

I once brought him a couple of shells while I was visiting. This is near the place called Sanctuary Wood. For those smart alecks commenting below (probably know-it-all Americans, thanks for joining the war effort, by the way, even for the last 8 months of the war), the shells in the metal cage are going to be defused by a special unit of the Belgian police. I found two shells during my visit; one spent, the other unexploded. I called the cops, and they said in an exasperated voice that they would see to it, but that the unit was busy somewhere else. Just goes to show how much there is unexploded ordnance. The year this video was published, two people got killed in those parts by an unexploded WWI bomb. And for those who are interested in statistics, for every man killed on the Western Front, 200 artillery shells were shot. There were 15 million dead in that war.

[@tlt3921]

You mean thanks for winning the world war... Twice. Next time clean up your own mess. When you have as many soldiers buried on Miami Beach as we have buried at Omaha Beach you can make insulting remarks about American troops who died in your country's freeing them from your enemies.

[@HydroSnips]

@@tlt3921 Every combatant lost men in that war, every combatant put their people’s lives on hold to go fight or manufacture, every combatant contributed to the victory and liberation. Stop acting like you guys were the only ones to sacrifice anything - you weren’t.

[@inkydoug]

That that embossed shell casing was left on the battlefield is a mini-synopsis.

[@Sulerhy]

Excuse me, forgive me to say something. Owing to the war in the 20th century of American, now, in my country, there still have some underground bombs which haven't explored. But it was the consequense of past, we forget gradually the war and American are welcome in Vietnam nowadays :)

[@mathewsiemaszko3988]

K

[@mattcullen6109]

I really hope to visit your amazing country soon, best wishes from Australia

[@paulbradford8240]

I know the area (down to a stretch of road a couple of hundred metres long) where my Great Grandfather was mortally wounded. He died the following day in a Casualty Clearing Station. He was wounded by a shell blast. Others were killed and wounded at the same time. I'd like to go to the area to see if I can find a German fuse.

[@granskare]

I have an internet friend who is from Ypres. He drives a bulker truck.

[@stevenweaver3386]

Another battlefield guide video stated about 500 tons of ordnance is found each year along what was the front line.

[@trythinking6676]

Sad. 100 years ago and still finding munitions. Ought to quit fighting wars for four generations.

[@THEQueeferSutherland]

3:54 Cow: wtf breh?

[@Mat_6st]

Can I visit your museum sometime? I'm very interested

[@josteuwen9606]

Een oorlogscollectie uniek in de wereld Stijn!

[@acalisal]

He probably started doing it to keep his dad safe.

[@leonardscully7538]

being a farmer there is very dangerous 😲😲😧

[@robertneven7563]

leonard indeed a lot off people are been killled afther the 1second war greets from Belguim

[@miked1765]

Being a farmer is dangerous even without the ordinance.

[@troyupshaw3846]

Backhoe and excavator workers doing new construction and water/sewer lines have one of the most dangerous jobs in Europe today, so I've heard. Always digging up unexploded ordinance.

[@MrCsepregi]

very cool

[@timvanacker5129]

I drove by his farm a few days ago, imagining what kind of bombs, materials, maybe bodies, would lie under the surface... WW1 is not over yet...

[@mariusdionysius2498]

I love the cows

[@Walmart_Joji]

If u step on one of those it is a vibe check

[@stijnvandamme76]

My cat came from that farm, I called him Shrapnel von Pondfarm..

[@halethewhale]

Yeah they dont show you them digging up bodies, i bet theres a lot of them there and pritty grim to find aswell.

[@Daisy-ef6bq]

Where can I go around Ypres to find relics?

[@eagle003]

Just go to Ypres and ask locals (not in the citycenter, but on the farm lands). They know. You could even find an old shovel laying around in one of the many ditches.

[@Daisy-ef6bq]

@@eagle003 I want to find an old bomb and blow a cow up with it.

[@aleksandersuur9475]

@@Daisy-ef6bq with that attitude you are more likely to blow yourself up than a cow. You don't really need a place like Somme or Ypres to find old munitions, there are millions of tons littered all over Europe, you can find some in pretty much any country, just learn some history what battles have happened around you or what old military practice grounds have been active in your area. It's pretty much guaranteed there is lots of stuff left over in the ground.

[@Xergecuz]

@aleksander suur He sounds like an american, he's probably the cow he talks about.

[@owbeer]

go the where the battlefield was, put a shovel in the ground and voila

[@alexm566]

how big is that bloody farm?

[@TheWheels1965]

Is this guy still alive!

[@Mat_6st]

Hi I'm Mathias and I also have a small collection of war I'd love to go along with you for going looking for war stuff

[@kaboutertjeplop7379]

I live in ypres

[@sosteve9113]

cool im from belgium to

[@jensbelg]

Ik ben er ook geboren

[@joranvdv8018]

ja ik ook grts

[@jaysonhuys25]

ikke in zunnebeke

[@JamesBond-lj6ms]

Your user is misleading. You have 1 video.

[@youdontwantthesecrumbs3996]

if your shelf falls....

[@chrislovecchio7958]

in flanders fields, they are still finding and counting the casualties ,every month, as you see,the munitions still come up, they have to remove live bombs- One Hundred Years ,and it is like the war never ended,does it not make you wonder?

[@Trund27]

Woah; so many LIVE bombs! 😥😥😥

[@jeffyoung60]

I don't know if this man should be collecting all these WW1 munitions and fuzes. It's a big safety issue.

[@bigdummy9844]

Prolly need to add in caption to ur videos

[@dervaretyndigtland4760]

0:15 There are no creatures in the world more curious than cows, except for women of course :)

[@Maxime_K-G]

This is cute, but I thought you were going to talk about the danger farmers face on a daily bases and DOVO. Who have to retrieve the bombs to then neutralize and destroy them. They pick up about 250 tons of unexploded bombs each year.

[@Spasmomen]

Americans have guns on the street, we have bombs on our fields.

[@justonemori]

The guns in our houses prevent bombs in our fields. Cheers!

[@magdavanthuis3924]

@@justonemori you should look up "broken arrows". then you will find out what bombs are in the american fields/swamps LOL dropped by the american air force and never found again. and sooner or later one of them will go off

[@highflyerl23]

Cows are wondering why their human is so strange

[@thomaspridmore106]

Rather him than me brave lad

[@Alexis2andsoOn]

I'm pretty sure that's illegal what he is doing. Not to speak of, very dangerous. But since it's the NYT I guess it's okay to encourage this as a hobby of sorts...

[@stijnvandamme76]

Its not illegal because they just find things on the farm land, as they farm it. Using the metal detector on your own land and extracting things before you run em over with the tractor is not a bad idea. He does not go out to look for artifacts in the wild. and he is in close coordination with Police and EOD