JOHNSTON, IOWA—Trenches dug by American soldiers under the instruction of French military officers at Camp Dodge have been found with aerial photographs, historic maps, and geographic information systems technology. Zig-zag trenches that were used at the front of World War I combat areas, and trenches for communications, supplies, and other purposes were located. Artifacts such as ammunition casings, a practice hand grenade, a suppressor for a machine gun, barbed wire, and a glass medicine bottle were also unearthed. “This is a snapshot of time of what we were doing then as a nation. This is our legacy. You have to understand where you have been to know where you are going. This is a piece of where we have been,” Col. Gregory Hapgood Jr., public affairs officer for the Iowa National Guard, told The Des Moines Register.
