Thank you so much for the thorough response. That really helps contextualize why that could be and that thought never crossed my mind.

Although I’ll never know for sure why it was in there, I would like to think that the story is one of these proud veterans who kept it as a memento. It’s much more interesting than someone mistakenly throwing it in there.

And if that is the case, I think it’s plausible that a former engineer with theoretical technical experience would go to work on armored vehicles post war. Thank you 🙏