Rakkasan187 Posted January 3, 2015 Share #7901 Posted January 3, 2015 Sad to hear that with some mortar and paint history can be covered up and lost forever.. Very sorry to hear of this loss Ken.. Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy144 Posted January 3, 2015 Share #7902 Posted January 3, 2015 Hi Ken I was in SME at the begining of the week, sad to admit my first time in 2 years.... I could not believe the change. I wanted to do some research in the original cemetry field out the back of the museum. Ehhh that will be a no then.... a very new looking car park... Normandy is changing at a fast rate... Regards Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 5, 2015 Share #7903 Posted January 5, 2015 Hi Dave, Third-Herd, Leigh & Tom, thanks for your comments on the changes we are seeing here in St Mere Eglise, here is a shot of the chimney showing bullet strikes, let's hope it remains like this for future visitors to see ? Norman D. Landing, forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 5 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willysmb44 Posted January 5, 2015 Share #7904 Posted January 5, 2015 Sad to hear about the removal of battle damage from SME buildings, but not overly shocked. A friend of mine who lives near Gettysburg says a neighbor of his has civil war shrapnel damage to the chimney and they recently repaired it. He almost had a stroke when he saw what they'd done at the end of the work day when he came home. The neighbors were new to the area and simply didn't 'get' it. He wasn't alone in his outcry on their front steps, either. But the damage had been undone, so to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 6, 2015 Share #7905 Posted January 6, 2015 Sad to hear about the removal of battle damage from SME buildings, but not overly shocked. A friend of mine who lives near Gettysburg says a neighbor of his has civil war shrapnel damage to the chimney and they recently repaired it. He almost had a stroke when he saw what they'd done at the end of the work day when he came home. The neighbors were new to the area and simply didn't 'get' it. He wasn't alone in his outcry on their front steps, either. But the damage had been undone, so to say. Hi Lee, good to hear from you, been some water under the bridge since we last met. Spooky that you have mentioned Gettysburg in your comment. I have just returned to the house from taking coffee with friends in St Mere Eglise., in conversation Mike stated that he has covered most of America as his mother a one time lived in Arizona. However the one place he would like to visit is Gettysburg, but we were saying ' what is there to see now after so long ' what remains the same as it did, which is almost parallel with what is still there now to see in St Mere Eglise. Museums and plaques on walls are post event symbols, where-as damage to stonework and such are tangible evidence of past events. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 6 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakkasan187 Posted January 6, 2015 Share #7906 Posted January 6, 2015 Ken, It is a sad reminder of things now past that the current generation does not focus on the past but on how to make money in the present time. A golf course or a strip mall over the fields where hundreds perished during the Civil War, or remodeling a building and covering up the battle scars in France are just two of the instances... When I was there at SME in 2012 I was amazed at the town and what the future plans were for the renovations.. I am glad I saw the before SME... Preservation of historic sites here in the US also face a lot of scrutiny by those who only see dollar signs.. There is a building at Fort Bliss Texas, the old Officers club, and during World War Two the foundation was laid by Italian Prisoners of War captured in Africa. At the corner of the original foundation one Italian scribbled in the concrete POW, Itay. Today it has been almost covered in blacktop tar, as the parking lot was widened. Unfortunatley this area is not well known and the construction crews paving the lot had no idea. It was too late for me to mention to post officials that they were covering up and destroying history.. Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted January 6, 2015 Share #7907 Posted January 6, 2015 Hi Lee, good to hear from you, been some water under the bridge since we last met. Spooky that you have mentioned Gettysburg in your comment. I have just returned to the house from taking coffee with friends in St Mere Eglise., in conversation Mike stated that he has covered most of America as his mother a one time lived in Arizona. However the one place he would like to visit is Gettysburg, but we were saying ' what is there to see now after so long ' what remains the same as it did, which is almost parallel with what is still there now to see in St Mere Eglise. Museums and plaques on walls are post event symbols, where-as damage to stonework and such are tangible evidence of past events. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 6 2015. . It is sad to see the changes, but at least in the US there is a growing awareness of what was lost and preservation groups are working to reclaim some of the lost history. In Franklin, Tennessee a major part of the battlefield was lost to a shopping mall. Now a preservation group was able to raise the funds to purchase the mall and the land and attempt to restore it back to how it looked during the Civil War. One comment about Ken's statement on plaques being post event. A park ranger friend of ours who worked the Gettysburg battlefield had a visitor tell him that it was "...so nice that the statues were there so the soldiers knew where to stand during the battle." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David D Posted January 6, 2015 Share #7908 Posted January 6, 2015 One comment about Ken's statement on plaques being post event. A park ranger friend of ours who worked the Gettysburg battlefield had a visitor tell him that it was "...so nice that the statues were there so the soldiers knew where to stand during the battle." Thats bad. To think people actually say that being serious is comedy gold for a history geek like me. -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 8, 2015 Share #7909 Posted January 8, 2015 Ken, It is a sad reminder of things now past that the current generation does not focus on the past but on how to make money in the present time. A golf course or a strip mall over the fields where hundreds perished during the Civil War, or remodeling a building and covering up the battle scars in France are just two of the instances... When I was there at SME in 2012 I was amazed at the town and what the future plans were for the renovations.. I am glad I saw the before SME... Preservation of historic sites here in the US also face a lot of scrutiny by those who only see dollar signs.. There is a building at Fort Bliss Texas, the old Officers club, and during World War Two the foundation was laid by Italian Prisoners of War captured in Africa. At the corner of the original foundation one Italian scribbled in the concrete POW, Itay. Today it has been almost covered in blacktop tar, as the parking lot was widened. Unfortunatley this area is not well known and the construction crews paving the lot had no idea. It was too late for me to mention to post officials that they were covering up and destroying history.. Leigh Hi Leigh, well I am pleased that you got to Ste Mere a couple of years back and saw it before it's most recent 'Renovations ', I am pleased that I have seen it even further back but sadly I didn't probably drink in the full extent of what I was seeing. From the day my daughter was born twenty years ago I took photos and lots of them on a daily basis as I could see the changes each day as she grew, I also knew that each day was one that would never return again, sad I didn't apply those same thoughts to inanimate objects. They do alter but not on such a quick scale, and you can't see the changes as they happen so slowly but given the number of years and suddenly it doesn't look how it did the first time you saw it, when young life is forever and your expectations that all around is forever also, but it never is. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 8 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 8, 2015 Share #7910 Posted January 8, 2015 It is sad to see the changes, but at least in the US there is a growing awareness of what was lost and preservation groups are working to reclaim some of the lost history. In Franklin, Tennessee a major part of the battlefield was lost to a shopping mall. Now a preservation group was able to raise the funds to purchase the mall and the land and attempt to restore it back to how it looked during the Civil War. One comment about Ken's statement on plaques being post event. A park ranger friend of ours who worked the Gettysburg battlefield had a visitor tell him that it was "...so nice that the statues were there so the soldiers knew where to stand during the battle." Hi Erick, it's been some years since I visited Gettysburg but at that time I heard that a lot of the post battle structures were going to be torn down to take the battlefield more back to how it would possibly have looked at the time, one piece in particular was a tall metal viewing tower and platform, anyone know whether that happened or not. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 8 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 8, 2015 Share #7911 Posted January 8, 2015 Thats bad. To think people actually say that being serious is comedy gold for a history geek like me. -Dave Hi Dave, yes sometimes it's best to not speak and be considered, dumb rather than open your mouth and remove that suspicion I think a lot of dumb stuff can be heard being made over here, and I know I and others have laughed when we heard things being said, but for the life of me I can't recall any of it now. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 8 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 8, 2015 Share #7912 Posted January 8, 2015 Normandy barn and field finds . . . . . . . . . . . I was a silent observer today as I watched a trade being made between two local friends of mine, one was clearing out his collection of barn and field finds, this display is just a small portion of what changed hands. This is part of a ten year collection. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, January 8 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David D Posted January 8, 2015 Share #7913 Posted January 8, 2015 Very nice items, I need to add some relics from that area to the collection at some time. -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 11, 2015 Share #7914 Posted January 11, 2015 Very nice items, I need to add some relics from that area to the collection at some time. -Dave Hi Dave, yesterday I was really pleased to be given back a manufacturers plate that was found in the village a couple of years back. Myself and a friend here in the village turned over the soil in his garden for an elderly French neighbour in the village too ill with cancer to do so himself, my friend spotted the metal plate in a shovel of soil he moved. Tony was given the plate by the neighbour but eventually traded it to another friend for some other item he wanted, and yesterday I was given the plate as Allan has disposed of all his barn and field finds collection due to storage space problems. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, December 11 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted January 11, 2015 Share #7915 Posted January 11, 2015 Nice one, Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 11, 2015 Share #7916 Posted January 11, 2015 A second item Allan gave me was this Jeep door safety strap. When I visited Allan after he and his family moved to France seven years ago I spotted this strap hanging in his barn and explained to him what it was, it was hung up mixed in amongst a load of horse leather straps leftover from the previous owner of the farm. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, December 11 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 11, 2015 Share #7917 Posted January 11, 2015 Nice one, Ken Hi Johan, thanks, I know that you enjoyed seeing this plate before when you visited the area, I have sprayed a light coat of varnish onto it to try and prevent further corrosion. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Coresspondent, December 11 2015. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake_E Posted January 13, 2015 Share #7918 Posted January 13, 2015 What's that revolver in part of the group? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72psb Posted January 13, 2015 Share #7919 Posted January 13, 2015 What's that revolver in part of the group? S&W Victory model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake_E Posted January 14, 2015 Share #7920 Posted January 14, 2015 Cool, always great to see a differing item from the standard .45 pistol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakkasan187 Posted January 14, 2015 Share #7921 Posted January 14, 2015 Those are some incredible finds.. Hard to imagine what is still under the soil and in the rafters and attics.. Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutiger83 Posted January 14, 2015 Share #7922 Posted January 14, 2015 Normandy barn and field finds . . . . . . . . . . . Ken, So sorry that I have not posted in here in a while. I have been following your posts with interest but my feeble old mind forgets to go back and respond! I hope you have been doing well. These barn and field finds are very interesting. Does anyone ever find any women's items in the field? ...Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted February 4, 2015 Share #7923 Posted February 4, 2015 Hey Ken, came across this picture of you whilst searching my computer for some photos.... Tanks in Town, Mons, Belgium, 2005.... Wow, 10 years ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutiger83 Posted February 4, 2015 Share #7924 Posted February 4, 2015 Hey Ken, came across this picture of you whilst searching my computer for some photos.... Tanks in Town, Mons, Belgium, 2005.... Wow, 10 years ago... Is Ken the one waving to the camera? ...Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted February 4, 2015 Share #7925 Posted February 4, 2015 Yes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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