How did World War 2 rummage sales work in the United States?

I just came back from a garage sale where they were selling 2 rummage sale donations, they were a trunk and a box of miscellaneous items. The box was Nazi occupation retreat items but the trunk was full of **GOOD** items: Mess kit from the 14th Armored Division, a set of U.S. Army combat chaplain dog tags, a French bugle from the start of WW1, a couple pairs of combat engineer assault engineer equipment, a set of ka-bar knives, a M1911 knife scabbard, some combat engineer equipment, compasses, a bunch of personal medical equipment from the 10th Division, several lots of other stuff like WWII caps, a WWI surgeons cap, a M1911. <br><br>I started to wonder, how did these end up in the hands of a garage sale when World War 2 ended, I mean why would a chaplain just leave them behind? It was an interesting thing to ponder, since the chaplain dog tags were the only ones still there, the rest of them were gone except for the M1911 scabbard.