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Norman D. Landing


bilko1
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General Apathy

Hi Fellow members,

 

Thanks to forum readers and in particular to the following contributors, Jim Baker, Tom Bowers, Erwin, Johan and LtRGFRANK who all added posts while I was away for the early part of this week.

 

Last Sunday evening I had to return to England to see a very close and long time friend Warwick Offredi ( aged 57 last month ) who was seriously ill with cancer. I am pleased say that myself and another friend got to spend some time with him on the Monday, and he sadly died early on Thursday morning, quiet and peacefully.

 

Warwick was an instrumental figure who helped the budding military vehicle group expand during the fledgling early

days back in the mid 70s to 80s. He is going to be deeply missed by the numerous people who had contact with him.

In the 90s and up till present he acted as the club shop organiser and sales person.

 

So I have to further apologise that it will possibly be a further few days before I add anything to the ' Report from Normandy ' section. I thank you all for reading these ramblings that I add on here. Hopefully I will be taking lots of photographs to add during the coming June 1st to 8th covering the D-day commemorations.

 

So sadly I sign off for this evening from Normandy, remembering a great friend.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 23 2008

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Kenneth,

 

I am very sorry to hear of your friends passing. As I told you earlier, I have been through this recently and I know how difficult it is.

 

No worries about this forum. Take care of yourself first.

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hbtcoveralls

quote]

Ken,

I'm so verry sorry for your loss. When I started re-enacting, my NCOs and buddies were all WWII and Korean war Veterans and as we all know they're all beginning to fall out of rank. Take care of your self and please accept our condolences.

Tom Bowers

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General Apathy

Hi Fellow members,

 

Thank you to Jim Baker, LtRGFRANK, Erwin and Tom Bowers for your kind thoughts that you have posted for me,

and my condolences to you Jim for your recent loss.

 

It is expected that there could easily be 200 people attending Warwick's cremation. Thirty years ago he decided that he wanted to be scattered on Utah beach, funnily I recently moved to Normandy a few miles behind Utah beach, so when he is scattered on the beach it will be real easy for me to visit and talk to him on a regular basis.

 

We met on the first military vehicle tour of the Normandy beaches in 1974. Years later when we both ended up going through divorce it was good to keep in touch on the phone and talk military stuff and patches and take your mind off all the problems raised with divorce proceedings.

 

Fortunately Warwick's ex-wife came back into his life a few years back and when he was diagnosed with cancer six months ago she cared for him and is now organising his funeral arrangements.

 

Apologies if I have rambled on regarding the loss of a great friend, and U.S. militaria collector.

 

Reports as normal next week

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 24 2008

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General Apathy

post-344-1211724562.jpg

 

Hi Fellow Members, time to post something else, this is from my collection. Around eight years ago I was attending

an outdoor show at the Maryland proving ground. There was a dealer there with a table full of assorted miltaria, I stood there for half and hour staring at his display, the whole table was astounding, and I was hesitant to ask prices it all appeared high dollar stuff. pinch.gif

 

Eventually another guy came over and stood by the side of me and looked at the items, he picked up a brass bound ' Family Bible' type book and flicked through it and it contained fifty or sixty U.S. civil war photographs of officers and all with inked autographs. He enquired of the price and was knocked back at how cheap it was, so he held onto that and asked the price of around eight or ten WWI USMC officers peaked caps with EGA's on the front. Again the prices were so cheap, I had been looking at these caps and had been afraid of asking the price. Well even this guy was amazed and asked why was everything so cheap, and the dealer said he was clearing out the families home and everything had to go. So the purchaser grabbed all the caps as well, and I had lucked out. crying.gif

 

So I just threw a question at him about the price of this frame with a squadron patch in and the other insignia, he came back with twenty five so I thought was that twenty five hundred or what, he said no twenty five dollars, so I pulled that out and paid him and picked up the frame, I went to walk off and he said don't forget the other frame. I turned back towards him and he handed me a second frame the same size with another related item to the same airman.

 

I then realised that I could have probably bought his entire table for less than 800 dollars w00t.gif , I was so amazed I walked away shell shocked, I think I was worried how would I ship it all back to England, there was far too much to carry.

 

So here is the frame belonging to 2Lt. Domenis ' Donny' Palese of the 752nd Bomb squadron / 458 Bomb Group out of Horsham St Faith Field, near Norwich, England, I think his service number is 02063462 but not certain. The watch has damage from a very small flak fragment which has passed through the glass and into the watch itself. The 8th and the squadron patch are both British made, the watch is a Bulova A-11, the wings are only marked sterling. ;)

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 25 2008

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General Apathy

post-344-1211724861.jpg

 

Hi Guys, here is the reverse of the two British made cloth patches, would appreciate any help on tracing more details on Mr Palese if any of you can trace anything further about him, Thanks. thumbsup.gif

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 25 2008

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Johan Willaert
Around eight years ago I was attending an outdoor show at the Maryland proving ground.

 

I attended some of the East Coast Military Vehicle Shows at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and there were indeed bargains to be found! Great stuff at even greater prices.

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My Army son took training twice at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and my Air Force Son was stationed at Andrews AFB outside of Washington DC so I was able to make the show a few times. A great show and always came away broke but happy.

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General Apathy

Hi Johan & LtRGFRANK. thanks for adding that you both attended the Aberdeen proving ground show, it certainly was

a great show some eight years ago, don't know if it still happens or not.

 

Funny thing about the show one year was, I woke up on the second morning of the show and was heading to the bathroom and felt a lump on my left buttock and when I tugged at it I was holding my first ever deer tick in my hand, ugliest son of a whatever I had ever had chewing on my person, so I killed it with my shoe. crying.gif

 

Now here's where it gets a little funnier the following year I wake up again on the second morning of the show and low and behold I have the second deer tick of my life chewing on the same buttock as the first. Well I had slept on the floor of a fellow dealer from the show and my friend Warwick attending the show as well had slept on a double size easy chair. I woke him up by thrusting my exposed buttock in his face and saying get this little creep out of my skin. w00t.gif

 

So we ended up outside on the porch steps both fairly naked with me bent forward on the top step and Warwick giving this critter close eye inspection and trying to burn him out with a cigarette. I took a look to one side to see why Warwick was appearing to be burning my butt more successfully than this little critters butt, when I spotted that the neighbour next door and his wife were stood watching two almost naked men with one peering closely at the others butt. pinch.gif Perhaps they didn't have television and we were the entertainment or what, have they never seen naked men at 6am of a morning with a lighted cigarette between them before. Funny what goes through peoples mind when they see two naked men together think.gif , but it's not the same thought as when they possibly see two naked women together. thumbsup.gif

 

Anyhow this is a little story about the friend I mentioned a couple of posts ago that died last week of cancer, I just

found out that he left me all his militaria in his will, thanks mate. When I have sorted it, I will be posting a few pieces of it here, and of possible interest to fellow members.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 31 2008

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OMG!! The memories shared between two great friends!!

 

That one had me laughing my a$$ off!! w00t.gif That's the kind of friend that would be sitting next to you in a jail cell. thumbsup.gif Thanks for sharing that.

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General Apathy

Hi Jim, pleased to hear that one had you laughing, we travelled to the states together on many successful and enjoyable trips, never had a bad one, I feel a real empathy for American people they have always been good to me, and there were some nice women.

 

I figured a few years back that if I had made it to the States in my twenties I would never have gone home again.

 

I will have to tell you another American trip story in another post, it tends to raise a great round of laughter and incredulity whenever I relate it.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 31 2008.

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Kenneth,

 

Having at this moment having had a beer or two....... I'm thinking of a friend I had like Warwick. Those memories are grand.

 

Please post any of those stories. I just love them. ;)

 

And always remember. As long as you remember him, he is alive!

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General Apathy

Hi Jim, friends are great and sadly as one door closes another opens, Warwick appointed another friend as his executor in his 1995 will. So Russell and his wife Wendy have walked in through the now open door and hopefully we will recover the years we have lost trough the problems of distance between our locations.

 

The story I was referring to relates to a meeting with a total stranger, and the differences between your American ' English ' and our English ' English'. so another time.

 

Tomorrow my village has our annual sale day, for one day a year you can put any of your unwanted household items outside your front door and sell them legally without taxation etc. So it's also an opportunity to meet other people from around the village, a chance to get rid of your rubbish and end up buying someone else's.

 

A group of us had a great afternoon today sat round peeling potatoes for the village association who man the food & drink stand for the day, with the profits going to benefit the village, there was a great deal of laughing and pranks played on one-another whilst peeling the potatoes, a lot of it involving cold water.

 

On Monday the village association is having a welcoming ceremony to welcome twenty of my friends from England in ten Jeeps, over here to commemorate the American landings in this sector..

 

Time for bed.

 

Norman D. landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, June 1 2008.

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reminds me of a story from the 70s. I was injured fighting a fire and had the structure fall on me. With several other injuries I suffered bad burns on my rear. I went to a class at the Police Academy and had to change bandages twice a day with new burn cream. It worked best by getting on a bed on my hands and knees with my roomate standing behind me doing the work. One night he didn't close our room door all the way and a couple guys walked by. The next day we both got odd looks from the class

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I attended some of the East Coast Military Vehicle Shows at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and there were indeed bargains to be found! Great stuff at even greater prices.

After 911 the show moved off base to the nearby town of Churchville. I believe its still going. Some of our Eastcoast members can advise

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hbtcoveralls

[Hi All,

The Aberdeen show is alive and well, it moved from Churchtown to the parking lot of the local Baseball Stadium. It's still a great place to hunt Militaria. I miss the show as it was on the base. The first year I went, 1991, the Army actually gave M-88 rides on the tank recovery range! They also had a live fire for everything from a squad of infantry to the 240mm Howitzer and if that's not enough how about M-60A3 vs M-1 Abrams races and Bradley flying through the air while firing its main gun down range. Those were the days.

T. Bowers

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General Apathy

post-344-1213001671.jpg

 

Thanks LtRGFRANK & Tom Bowers for adding to the post. I was cycling into St Mere Eglise on the 8th June due to the limited amount of parking spaces with all the displays that were there. Cycling down a narrow side street I spotted an ' Aid-Station ' sign attached to a gate which can be seen in the photo with this post, I stopped to take this photograph. I hope to research this building further in the future

 

On the wall to the right of the gate is a plaque erected in 2005 to the memory of two 505 / 82nd Airborne troopers, which is shown in the following post after this one.

 

Thanks for reading my posts from Normandy and there will be more posts to follow, but it is still very busy here at the moment.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, June 9 2008

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General Apathy

post-344-1213001803.jpg

 

St Mere Eglise Aid-Station plaque erected 2005.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, June 9 2008.

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General Apathy

post-344-1213003247.jpg

 

Hi fellow members, Here is the first item from my friends estate ( Warwick Offredi ) in which he left me all his militaria.

 

It is an American home front item, not certain if it is home or factory made, it does have a patent number ( 22825 )printed on the picture of Hitler, who is being punched by a moving hand activated by the wheel. The face and hand are double sided, so they can be seen both sides.

 

Thanks for reading, more from his collection shortly.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, June 9 2008.

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Johan Willaert

Hi Ken,

 

Got back OK last night! Thanks again for having us over for a wonderful evening chatting away about the 'old' days and events to come.

Looking forward to seeing more of Warwick's stuff as it emerges from the boxes....

 

Johan

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General Apathy

post-344-1213196090.jpg

 

Hi Johan and fellow members, here is a shot of the group that I associate with 83rd Recon, 2nd Armored, this is eight heavily laden Jeeps with bustle rack on the rear, on Utah beach the morning of June 6th 2008.

 

A mixture of clothing is being worn as copied from period photo's of the unit portrayed, evident in the photo's are camouflaged trousers and shirts in the European pattern, along with standard HBT trousers and shirts topped off with ' tanker ' jackets.

 

The first two days of June were cold and wet and then it became blazing hot for the remainder of the week, a very

memorable week of events here.

 

Hi Johan enjoyed your visit for the evening and pleased that you had a good time in Normandy. ;)

 

Cheers all, more shortly thumbsup.gif

 

Norman D. Landing. Forum Normandy Correspondent, June 11 2008.

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General Apathy

post-344-1213471597.jpg

 

Hi fellow members, attached is a shot of 2nd Armored drivers (June 2nd 2008) receiving instructions for convoying from my village down to St Lo, for three days around that area, before returning to St Mere Eglise area.

 

Good shot of the short lived European camouflage uniforms that 2nd Armored were briefly issued with during WWII.

 

Sadly due to the loss of a friend to cancer I didn't take part as much in the celebrations as I had intended to with a view to posting on this forum for you.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy correspondent, June 14 2008.

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General Apathy

post-344-1213472536.jpg

 

Hi Forum Normandy Readers.

 

Attached is a shot of the Forum Normandy Correspondent stood next to one of the 2nd Armored Jeeps.

 

It can be said he is looking distinctively worse for wear, due to the lack of an alcoholic beverage.

 

A number of years ago a side group emerged on one of the trips to Europe with the military vehicles, the military vehicles of mixed European nationality all joined under the M.V.C.G. banner ( Military vehicle Conservation group ),

this was the first and forerunner of all other military vehicle groups at that time.

 

As there were a mixture of languages and sometimes a difficulty in conversing in all these languages it was generally found that after a couple beers of an evening the assorted group mixed more freely and easily, and so from this I.U.T.A was born ( International Understanding Through Alcohol ), it worked very well every evening.

 

Have a great weekend, more next week.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, June 14 2008.

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