General Apathy Posted November 12, 2018 Share #13126 Posted November 12, 2018 Hello Ken, Thank you for going out of your way to help honor and remember all of those who came before us. A relative of mine spent about 20 months in France during WWI with the AEF, so it is always good to hear that period of history is not forgotten. That is both a sad yet interesting story of the 'Blosville Cemetery'. I cannot begin to imagine how deeply the invasion affected the civilian population of Normandy. In a matter of hours (and soon after, days) their quiet towns had become battlegrounds, and their fields had become cemeteries. Regards, RC . Hi Rusty, good to hear from you again, thanks for the kind comment, I enjoy adding images and text for members who are not here to see personally, it does help hearing that yourself and others enjoy that. My neighbor and myself were sat drinking coffee waiting for Sundays parade to form up, I spoke to a few guys close by that were obviously Americans, turned out to be fourteen ex-USN fliers and flight-deck crew who were on a private trip through Normandy, WWI sites, and the Ardennes. Had a great time talking with them and showing them a few of the things to be seen in the town square, we told them that we were waiting for a ceremony to begin and they were keen to hang around for that. Heres a squad of the town fire brigade lining up to lead the parade through the town square to the WWI monument. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 12 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 12, 2018 Share #13127 Posted November 12, 2018 Thanks again Ken for all you do and for all the photos of your days and travels. . Hi Ron, thanks for the kind comment, it's encouraging when hearing that yourself and others enjoy the posts. This is a group of flag bearing veterans forming up behind the town fire brigade, behind the veterans were about thirty schoolchildren carrying flowers to lay on three of the town monuments. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 12 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LtRGFRANK Posted November 12, 2018 Share #13128 Posted November 12, 2018 . Hi Rusty, good to hear from you again, thanks for the kind comment, I enjoy adding images and text for members who are not here to see personally, it does help hearing that yourself and others enjoy that. My neighbor and myself were sat drinking coffee waiting for Sundays parade to form up, I spoke to a few guys close by that were obviously Americans, turned out to be fourteen ex-USN fliers and flight-deck crew who were on a private trip through Normandy, WWI sites, and the Ardennes. Had a great time talking with them and showing them a few of the things to be seen in the town square, we told them that we were waiting for a ceremony to begin and they were keen to hang around for that. Heres a squad of the town fire brigade lining up to lead the parade through the town square to the WWI monument. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 12 2018. .IMG_2557.JPG as a retired Firefighter I like the picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsbody Posted November 12, 2018 Share #13129 Posted November 12, 2018 . Hi mike, thanks for the images of the hotel and the painting of the woman diving seen on the side. Looking at the b building and the more modern building on either side of it makes me recall a girlfriend I had before moving over here to France. We were out one weekend walking through the streets of Christchurch an historic town on the English south coast. Parts of our reason for visiting the town was the fact that she had recently passed her exams to be an architect, I was bemoaning the fact that modern glass buildings had bee allowed to be built alongside houses possibly 300, 400 and 500 years old. She however saws things a little differently in that if these more modern building were not allowed to be built then there would be no need for architects if all the designs resembled the more ancient historic houses. While on the subject of ancient buildings, heres a shot I captured this week of a WWII German barbed wire stake being used to support a weak and damaged wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . seventy-five years on and still giving service albeit in a different way to which it was intended. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 11 2018. .IMG_2549.JPG Clever girlfriend…..although some of these modern designs have me wondering what that specific architect was thinking at the time. Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsbody Posted November 12, 2018 Share #13130 Posted November 12, 2018 . Hundredth Anniversary of the end of WWI, 1918 - 2018 Yesterday myself and friends attended a ceremony for the hundredth anniversary of WWI, it was held yesterday as the larger main ceremony would be held today the 11th November in Ste Mere Eglise. When I have downloaded todays photos I will post some of the images on here. The man in the photo next to my Jeep and chosen to lay the flower arrangement to be laid after the two minutes silence worked for the American army after D-Day 1944. In 1944 his father was a local mayor and a farmer, the American gliders chose his fathers fields to land most of the gliders in for the attack on St Mere Eglise and Carentan. One of the lead gliders carried an American Sgt. Legg in charge of graves registration, he immediately started burying bodies in the same fields as the gliders. Mr. Delarue seen next to the Jeep was 16 and employed by the Graves Registration to dig graves and help process and bury the bodies, in all six thousand bodies were buried in his fathers fields and became known as the ‘ Blosville Cemetery ‘( Mr DeLarue and daughter by the Jeep ) There were two further cemeteries in Ste Mere Eglise each holding five thousand bodies. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 11 2018. .fullsizeoutput_3b8.jpeg Hi Ken, what a remarkable man. I can't begin to think what he must have witnessed back then. Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsbody Posted November 12, 2018 Share #13131 Posted November 12, 2018 Thanks again Ken for all you do and for all the photos of your days and travels. + 1 Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundance Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13132 Posted November 13, 2018 Great, great, great - Thanks for the pictures and history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13133 Posted November 13, 2018 Thanks again Ken for all you do and for all the photos of your days and travels. I'll toss in my 2 centimes and also say thanks for sharing your experiences with the people, places and happenings over there. Never get tired of it. Mikie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13134 Posted November 13, 2018 as a retired Firefighter I like the picture . Hi Robert, hope you can make out the fire-crew in this shot outside the town hall at the end of the parade. Normand D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13135 Posted November 13, 2018 Clever girlfriend…..although some of these modern designs have me wondering what that specific architect was thinking at the time. Rene . Hi Mikie, clever and quite beautiful as well, sadly her career was just starting and it would have been wrong of me asking her to move to a small village in Normandy. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2019. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13136 Posted November 13, 2018 Hi Ken, what a remarkable man. I can't begin to think what he must have witnessed back then. Rene . Hi Rene, I believe Monsieur Delarue is stood on the left in this photograph and as a teenager helping to deal with German corpses. Thats a German truck on the left and the steel nailed soles evident on the German bodies on the left. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13137 Posted November 13, 2018 + 1 Rene . Hi Rene, many thanks, appreciated, as is your contribution of Dutch Then & Now's. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13138 Posted November 13, 2018 Great, great, great - Thanks for the pictures and history. . . Hi Sundance, thanks once again for expressing your regular enjoyment of these pages. A shot of the post parade toast. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13139 Posted November 13, 2018 . Hi Rene, many thanks, appreciated, as is your contribution of Dutch Then & Now's. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . photo.JPG +1..thouroughly enjoy the Venlo contributions and all the work that Rene does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13140 Posted November 13, 2018 I'll toss in my 2 centimes and also say thanks for sharing your experiences with the people, places and happenings over there. Never get tired of it. Mikie . Hi Mikie, the anniversary parades were Saturday and Sunday, and this was Monday, three of us removing the six cylinder block in readiness for a rebuild from a friends Canadian Chevrolet, piston number one had melted to pieces in the cylinder. Never a dull moment, coffee in Ste Mere on Wednesday with American friends Barbara & Bob returning back home now that the summer season has ended here. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13141 Posted November 13, 2018 . Hi Mikie, the anniversary parades were Saturday and Sunday, and this was Monday, three of us removing the six cylinder block in readiness for a rebuild from a friends Canadian Chevrolet, piston number one had melted to pieces in the cylinder. Never a dull moment, coffee in Ste Mere on Wednesday with American friends Barbara & Bob returning back home now that the summer season has ended here. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018 . IMG_2580.JPG . well I know that we hadn't been drinking, but maybe the forum app has, we were defiantly not horizontal when we took that engine out . . . . . . . . . . . I will have a go at rotating the image in my album file and see if that corrects the way its seen . . . . .?????????, IT DIDN'T Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13142 Posted November 13, 2018 Carry on 'Wrenchin' ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13143 Posted November 13, 2018 Carry on 'Wrenchin' ;-) . Hi Johan, congratulations your post arrived on the forum exactly as the count reached 947.000 hits . . . . . . . . . and you have been adding here since this blog started in 2007. Thanks for your encouragement to ' carry on wrenchin ', I laughed in case you had misspelt it, intended it to be ' Carry on Wenching " Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13144 Posted November 13, 2018 WOW, just checked an my first post in this topic goes back over 11 years to page 1 (Post #14) on 15th June 2007... Amazing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LtRGFRANK Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13145 Posted November 13, 2018 I'm right behind you Johan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13146 Posted November 13, 2018 . well I know that we hadn't been drinking, but maybe the forum app has, we were defiantly not horizontal when we took that engine out . . . . . . . . . . . I will have a go at rotating the image in my album file and see if that corrects the way its seen . . . . .?????????, IT DIDN'T Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. .fullsizeoutput_3d5.jpeg The only thing I'm drinking is a nice cup of tea, but I'm starting to feel a little seasick. Mikie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13147 Posted November 13, 2018 WOW, just checked an my first post in this topic goes back over 11 years to page 1 (Post #14) on 15th June 2007... Amazing... As the old saying goes...Time flies when you are having fun! Mikie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakkasan187 Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13148 Posted November 13, 2018 Ken and everyone else who have contributed to this topic.. Many thanks over the years for providing some remarkable photos and stories.. I never get tired reading these posts from all of you who are there in these historic areas.. They help bring this history alive once again.. It was an incredible trip with my father a few years back and I look forward to someday revisiting the areas with my son.. Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsbody Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13149 Posted November 13, 2018 +1..thouroughly enjoy the Venlo contributions and all the work that Rene does. Thanks Ron. Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsbody Posted November 13, 2018 Share #13150 Posted November 13, 2018 . Hi Johan, congratulations your post arrived on the forum exactly as the count reached 947.000 hits . . . . . . . . . and you have been adding here since this blog started in 2007. Thanks for your encouragement to ' carry on wrenchin ', I laughed in case you had misspelt it, intended it to be ' Carry on Wenching " Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, November 13 2018. . Hi Ken, had to look this one up in a dictionary. Now I understand the laughter……….. So to share my new found knowledge of the English language I have added the explanation of the word 'wenching' for those of you who are not familiar with it...……(my guess is there won't be that many around here but you never know……..) Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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