![](http://www.netmuseum.de/media/museen/474.jpg)
Stars & Stripes: The village of Ladenburg, just north of Heidelberg, has the allure of many charming towns in Germanyss Neckar Valley.
But it has something more: a major historical find that U.S. soldiers helped uncover.
A stroll through the town's maze of cobblestone streets brings tourists face to face with crumbling Roman walls, an ancient standing column and an excavation that continues to yield items from long ago.
While the town's known history dates to the first century, the unearthing of its past goes back only about 50 years.
Villagers in the early 1950s noticed that large portions of crops throughout Ladenburg grew unevenly. German archaeologist Dr. Berndmark Heukemes knew of recent British finds that used a technique of flying high above oddly growing crops to find outlines of old ruins.
However, during this post-World War II time, Germans were not allowed to use aircraft for any reason.
Heukemes drafted a request for help from the U.S. Army, specifically from troops stationed in Heidelberg. In a letter sent to Washington, D.C., he said he strongly believed there were ancient wonders to be found in the fields of Ladenburg if he could only get an aircraft to see them. He proposed his idea as an international scientific project.
The proposal was accepted, and from 1952 to 1958, Army officers and soldiers helped unearth the remains of a Roman society that had long been forgotten.
Now, the Lobdengau museum, located inside Ladenburg's ancient city walls and next to fenced-off outdoor Roman ruins, has cultural finds from throughout the area going back two millenniums."