About,  Search team

The Team

Digging team

Bob Konings:
Living in Grandmenil, Bob runs a Guesthouse and is also a tour guide. He started researching the events concerning the Battle of the Bulge in 2008. In June 2013, he started the investigation of the aircraft. The plane’s identity stayed unknown until November 2017. In addition to this crash site, Bob researched a lot of other events. For more information about his other projects, check at these links: Grandmenil and Battle of the bulge

Michel van Eert:
Coming from Sint Oedenrode, Michel works in his daily life as a WiFi and Electricity technician. In his free time he collects ww2 materials and he owns a very nice collection. His interest in ww2 started early, when he heard the stories of his grandfather, who suffered a lot in the war. Michel has been several times on the crashsite and together with Bob and David, he searched the internet for hours and hours for the plane. He managed to reduce the long list with lost planes to about ten. The King Size was in ths list, but was said to have crashed in Prum.

David Martin:
Former Englishman David moved to Germany a couple of years ago and has been in the team for a long time. He has been involved in most of the researches and is always in the frontline, looking for clues and new information. He has been on the crashsite for many times and never stops till dark.
David is a well known tourguide, and is specialised in the Hurtgenwalt and many places in Germany.

Marco Eradus:
Teammember from the first hour, Marco, is a policeman from the Netherlands and always on the frontline on every research. His knowledge of ammunition has become very handy during the years, because there is still much to find. Marco too has visited the crashtime several times and dug up loads of stuff. In his free time, he is running a group which you hire for filmprojects.

Rick de Jong:
Another member form the first hours, Rick, is working for the Dutch army. In his free time he researches the events around Market Garden, but also spent many hours in the Ardennes with Bob and the others, looking for traces and evidence of the battle of the Bulge. Rick has been a couple of times on the crashsite, where he dug up,among other things, a huge part of a Wheel.

Marc Brand:
Business Controller Marc Brand, worked for big companies during the years, but always stayed close to his passion: World war II. That passion started when he was 8 years old. Marc collected hundreds of books about the second World war and reads the stories every day. He has visited many battlegrounds in Belgium, Germany and France. Marc met Marco and Bob in 2011 and became part of the team. He joines many researches and also helps out with online research.

Tom Konings:
The oldest son of Bob, has been affected by the bulge flue. He has been on the crashsite from day one and researched the plane for many hours. Because Tom speaks fluent Dutch, French and English he has been the interpreter for the team in many occasions. Tom is involved in most of the researches, altough he is not to fond on metaldetecting. It is the stories and psychological backgrounds of these stories that attrackt him the most. In his spare time he also  flies a drone, wich helps the team to get a better view on historical grounds.

Myra Miller:
Although Myra is one of newest team members, her influence and dedication to the team are indispensable. Living near the National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri, she’s the key player to all kinds of documents we need to obtain a higher level of research. Myra is helping out families in the US by researching for clients looking for relatives who fought or were killed in WW2. In addition to her WW2 research and tours, she is a college professor and co-author of “Soldiers Stories: A Collection of WWII Memoirs“.

Jan Ploeg:
Dutch researcher Jan has been connected for several years with Bob. He has been researching the men on the ground for many years, especially the 3rd Armored Division and the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment. Jan and Bob worked together on several projects, where Jans knowledge about the units who fought in the Ardennes area was incredible. Together with Bob’s knowledge of the Ardennes area, they made a great team. Sadly Jan passed away on 21 August 2020.

Peter Deprez:
Flemish technician Peter, has been interested in especially the battle of the bulge for a long time. He met many veterans during the years and knows the area in the Ardennes very well. Peter knows Bob since a couple of years and they met at several 82nd AB meetings and memorials. On several occasions they researched events and looked for traces in the woods. Peter was of great help to the crashsite because of his knowledge of equipment and materials.

Ron Langeveld:
Unfortunatly, this Dutch policeman was not able to join the weekend, he is still a long member of the team. Ron is most comfortable if he’s in the woods, looking for wartraces and enjoying talking with the other teammembers. Ron has been on the crashsite several times and also spent a lot of time cleaning up the findings. Digging two meters deep, smelling the aroma of kerosene and lifting up a big part of the tire is a thing he does remember vividly.

Gerhard Jansen:
Dutch Human Resource consultant, Gerhard, is one of the guys who could not join in on the weekend. He is also one the guys who joined the team a long time ago. For some reason Gerhard is always in front of  new researches and a lot of times these started in…the winter. So, Gerhard and Bob spent a lot of time searching in the snow and freezing cold, finding a lot of excellent things. Both men are still looking for a US sherman tank, wich was used by the Germans and got lost in a story.

David Pratt:
Englishman David is our aviation expert and one of the newest members of this team. Via Myra Miller he was introduced to the team and it was he, who, together with the help of  Steven Volckaerts, identified the King Size. Because of his knowledge he was invited to the crashsite, where he spent two full days, looking at every bit of metal that was pulled out of the ground trying to identify it. Not only he became a very good addition to the team, but we all consider him and his girlfriend Heather, as friends.

Eveline Konings:
Not only Bob’s wife, but a psychologist, who got interest in the effects of war on soldiers and  civilians. In daily life she joins Bob while visiting civilians and hear their stories. Besides that she runs her own therapy practice for people who suffer from PTSS, stress or who are looking for new possibilities in work or relatonships. Besides that, she runs the guesthouse with Bob.

Aimee Gagnon Fogg
One of the new teammembers, is Aimee. She is an American researcher who connects people to relatives of veterans, and who looks up families of killed soldiers who are on Henri Chapelle. What is special is that her great-uncle PFC Paul M Lavoie, KIA February 10, 1945, rests at HCAC (C, 1, 9).She’s helping the team out with finding relatives of the King Size. Aimee runs a website, dedicated to the men who gave all: They speak, voices of Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and a facebookpage. In her daily life she works as an accountant .

Ben Konings:
The youngest son of Bob, and mainly busy with the small museum in the backyard, dedicated to all the men  who where in the Grandmenil area. Ben was a couple of times on the crashsite and enjoyed finding the small parts. He knows a lot about tanks and helped in several researches about tanks. Besides the small museum, Ben is a singer in a rockband and he likes to play his computergames.

Filmcrew:
For the weekend a filmcrew, under leadership of an American producer,  was assembled with Dutch guys.

Lee Ann Mentink:
Producer Lee Ann came all the way from Rolla /Missouri and was a former student of Myra on Drury University. She co-produces a weekly television news show that airs regionally in Missouri and on-line. As a very dedicated person she stepped into the Ardennes, not knowing what she could expect. What she did know, is that she and the team had to be as accurate as possible for most scenes, capuring the moment and the emotion.

Marco Eradus:
Introduced before and Marco was part of the filmcrew with his drone and as point of contact between the digging team and flmcrew.

Joey van Meesen:
Joey is well known in the World of WW2 buffs. He’s using social media at his best and has large crowds of followers on his website, instagram, youtube and facebook. Joey knows Bob since a couple of years and together they run several facebook projects. Joey is also a tour guide in several areas, but the battle of the bulge (Luxembourg area)  has his main interest. He was invited to join the filmcrew by Myra and that tunred out to be a fantastic choice. In 2021 he mad the documentary about the King Size.

Elco van Berkel:
Dutch policeman Elco, was invited to join the filmcrew by Marco. With the knowledge of filming and the right eqiupment he joined the team. Elco has the remarcable abillity to be invisible, which make s the people around him comfortable. In his free time Elco likes to ATB, plays guitar and is an excellent photographer.

Arjan Baijens:
Also working as a Dutch police officer and a airforce veteran, Arjan joins the team with his drone. And he knows how to use that thing. Together with Marco he was able to make great shot during the works on the crashsite. It also turned out that Arjan was a very good teamplayer and he ajusted quick to new situations.

Bob has been researching the B-24 crashsite from june 2013 till november 2017. He runs a B&B in the hamlet of Grandmenil since 2008 and researches the events of the Battle of the Bulge. www.grandmenil.com www.battle-of-the-bulge.be