So I will bite the bullet. This is the big one guys. Weather is great so far. Anybody attending ?
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Unfortunately not. If half term holidays had fallen in this week I would’ve.
Went to Normandy in 2003 with University. We did an entire semester of the second year on the Normandy campaign and a week’s trip over was part of the course. Mostly in the British and Canadian sector. Would love to go again sometime.
I will though be doing an assembly at school about the landings and have a PowerPoint put together. Lots of photos included. It’s primary school kids, so not in-depth (believe me, it wasn’t easy to keep it within 10 slides and to the point!) and nothing gory in the photos. Hopefully they’ll get something from it.
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Im noticing overall a completely unrealistic level of mud and weathering around here. Some tyres look toy-like.
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We couldn’t make it on the day 40 years ago, but Dad & I did do a tour the following month in 1984…
Dad was Engineer officer/ground crew/Lancaster squadron 504, involved in what was termed “maximum effort” to bomb the crap out of the Normandy coast/hinterland, and the Calais region to perpetuate the deception of Operation Bodyguard. He never compared his experiences to air-crews (who he admired beyond anyone/anything), but 8 months after D-day 92 of his colleagues were blown to bits in a catastrophic bombing-up mishap at Waterbeach. It was the one day of February 1945 that Dad had Leave (which a peer officer had asked to swap with him)…which is why I’m alive. Lest we forget.
I can’t believe those photos were 40 years ago, or that it’s the 80th anniversary. Alarming how my Kodak moments have already turned from colour to sepia. I also wonder what that caisson in the lower photo looks like today.
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80 years ago today I had three Great Uncles land on Juno with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (North Novies). All three celebrated VE Day and returned home to Canada.
I believe there are only 115 living WWII veterans remaining in Canada.
Lest We Forget.
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Thank You for sharing those stories. There were certainly a lot more people who contributed to the Victory, then those who hit the beaches and field on this day 80 years ago.
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A friend who was in Normandy earlier this week sent these pics to me of what he saw around and about
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Great pics there and some interesting vehicles as well.
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Well I would, but can you identify the flag next to my avatar? I was actually hoping someone closer than 12,000 miles away might have taken a photo of the caisson recently to gauge its rate of dilapidation/corrosion.
Agreed Normandy is a wonderful place (apart from during WW2) - during a cycling tour with a mate in 1982 we found the present-day equivalent of over a thousand quid in mint-condition 10,000 French franc denomination bills fluttering across a field in the bocage. Not a soul around, we thought it was monopoly money until we risked a grande bouffe at a village restaurant that night…we got (a lot of) change. Then we decided it was remnants of a local heist so pedalled all the way deep into Brittany asap. I’m assuming there’s a statute of limitations in French law…?
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I assume these are in Arromanches. Im in US sector right now, not sure if I will have time to drive over there, but I have some pictures of them from 2022. I have to check. But cmon Man, book the ticket. Go to Bastogne, go to Arnhem, do the big tour. Life is short.
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Hah yeah I know, but the bucket list’s already heaving & I’d rather go to places I haven’t been before e.g. Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Cracow and various Spanish cities, Amalfi coast etc. etc. for starters. Besides I’d rather not risk being wrestled to the ground by burly gendarmes at Charles de Gaulle, having just made the above confession.
PS yes that caisson is/was at Arromanches.
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What was the intended purpose for the M7 Priest? Was it just a self-propelled howitzer for supporting the infantry?
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Self propelled Arty for general use. It was rather good design in comparison to german attempts with 105 mm guns. They simply couldnt afford to use enough PzIII and IV hulls for SP arty and had to divert to lighter hulls, which didnt work as good as the Sherman hull.
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The Sherman was quite a good platform, especially given its conditions. Much of the German SP Arty at the time was indeed a mishmash of captured hulls and discarded light hulls. The StuG was good, but it wasn’t really arty; from A-E, it was an SP Howitzer for infantry support, but later, they made the platform into a pazerjager/TD.
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