Jump to content

Norman D. Landing


bilko1
 Share

Recommended Posts

Great Items Lewis. Your friend must have been special. I haven't responded lately cause I've been on the road for our thanksgiving holidays. Enjoyed you latest post. To bad you can't reproduce those. We all would like to have a T-shirt or two. Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Ken,

 

I have spent a fun couple of hours today reading all of your posts on this thread. I must say "Bravo" on your choice of retirement homes, and please keep up the posts from the field of battle. I, too, hope to walk those hallowed beaches and fields one day....

 

Jim, from the fields of Illinois

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1229293633.jpg

 

Hi Clive, Robert and Jim, thanks for your comments and apologies for my lacklustre response, the M.P.s caught up with me again today for being AWOL from this post. I must sit down and compose something for tomorrow evening.

 

I will have to look through what I have on the area and pull it together, a snippet I heard two days ago was that work was being done on the cavernous tunnels under Cherbourg where the Germans held out for sometime, in order to open them up to the public by next June, 2009.

 

Now if only I can get the old French fellow next door to open up his cavernous wine cellar for a little private inspection, purely in order of scientific research you understand.

 

Well I couldn't sign off without a little taster for tomorrow, attached is a photograph of a WWI airship hanger just a few miles outside St Mere Eglise on the Cherbourg side, amazing that it was neither bombed by the allies pre D-Day or blown up by the Germans during retreat, I will give location and directions tomorrow evening.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1229379663.jpg

 

REPORT OF STOLEN M-8 ARMORED CAR BASTOGNE SHOW 13-14TH DECEMBER

 

This is not the actual vehicle that was stolen but it is this model of armored car that was stolen

 

 

Hi 517th & Meatcan, thanks for the interest on the airship hanger, some bad news so sorry I will have to post details tomorrow.

 

I have spent most of this evening helping to phone around the European military vehicle community to alert people to the news that a member of the 2nd Armored groups M-8 Armored car was stolen at this weekends military show in Bastogne, Belgium.

 

It was dropped off at an agreed location by the transport firm, and in the few minutes between the drop off and the owner arriving it was stolen.

 

A report of it being driven was given by people in the area but nothing positive has been reported so far. The value of this is around 38 - 40 thousand pounds, maybe 50 - 60 thousand USD.

 

It might be fairly impossible to ship out of Europe but there's certainly a lot of land and countries within Europe without border control.

 

If any European forum members are aware of any suspicious activity regarding six wheeled M-8 armored car since 13-14th December Bastogne event then please contact me and I will forward the information

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Either this was someone just jumping in to take it for a joy ride or a well planned theft. You just don't drive this down the road without attention. Just don't stuff it under your coat and walk away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

M-8 TRUCK RECOVERED THANKULLY

 

As Johan has just stated,thankfully the vehicle was recovered today, it was found in a truck and apparently had been stolen to order. More details as and when they come in.

 

 

Just read on Milweb it was found by the Slovakian Police inside a Rumanian truck....

 

 

Hi Robert, it was hoped that it was just going to be someone had taken it for a joy ride and abandon,

 

Thanks Johan for your help

 

Regards ( Ken )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1229547340.jpg

 

Hi Fellow Readers, Back to the directions to the WWI airship hanger near St Mere Eglise, sorry for the delay explained in the previous few posts about the stolen M-8 Armored car.

 

So leaving St Mere Eglise on the N-13 in the direction of Cherbourg, the first junction is Neuville au Plain, drive on past this to the second junction Ecausseville & Joganville and exit there, at the top of the ramp turn left and cross over the N-13 bridge heading to Ecausseville.

 

On the other side of the bridge pass the crossroads which are the ramps on and off the N-13 and another 100 metres at the T section turn right and take the next left D510 through Ecausseville carry on on this road until the

large hanger appears on the left hand side of the road. The hanger is visible on the sky line ahead of you when crossing the N-13 bridge.

 

Total distance from St Mere Eglise is approximately 8 kilometres.

 

Occasionally during the summer there are guided tours of the hanger and ground, however it has to be an organised party of twenty and details are posted on the gate.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must have passed this a few times back in 1994 without realizing what it was.

Thanks for pointing that out, I sure hope to see it next year or so.

 

Erwin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy
I must have passed this a few times back in 1994 without realizing what it was.

Thanks for pointing that out, I sure hope to see it next year or so.

 

Erwin

 

Hi Erwin, thanks for your post, sometimes things are just staring you in the face and if your thinking of other things you will miss them. I can't tell you how many times I have been past that area, however it's not visible from the sunken position of the N-13 only on the bridge above.

 

Just about to write some more on the Ste Marie du Mont with then and now photos.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Dec 17 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1229549942.jpg

post-344-1229549994.jpg

 

Hi Readers, So here are a couple of photographs from Ste Marie du Mont, which is approximately mid way between Carentan and Utah beach.

 

This well known wartime photograph shows members of the 101st Airborne at the town water pump surrounded by

local civilians of the town. With the second shot showing the pump as it still stands today, the pump is opposite the doors of the church which dominates the centre position of the town.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Dec 17 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1229551097.jpg

post-344-1229551120.jpg

 

 

Hi Fellow Members, here is another two comparison photographs from Ste Marie du Mont.

 

Again this is a fairly famous photograph of the 101st passing through the centre of the town on 7 June 1944, there

appears to be an element of posing on this as they are carrying slung rifles supposedly on the morning after the landing.

 

At the far right of the original 1944 photograph there were shuttered garage doors on the building there during 1944. These were still there until around 1980 when the building had a face lift and the garage was turned into a large window for a cafe and the doors next door into a living room for the house.

 

My next post will be directions to the 101st, 506th Easy company monument at Brecourt manoir, the scene of Easy Co. taking the field guns in ' Band of Brothers'.

 

That's all for today's posts from the front

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent. Dec 17 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-344-1229547340.jpg

 

Hi Fellow Readers, Back to the directions to the WWI airship hanger near St Mere Eglise, sorry for the delay explained in the previous few posts about the stolen M-8 Armored car.

 

So leaving St Mere Eglise on the N-13 in the direction of Cherbourg, the first junction is Neuville au Plain, drive on past this to the second junction Ecausseville & Joganville and exit there, at the top of the ramp turn left and cross over the N-13 bridge heading to Ecausseville.

 

On the other side of the bridge pass the crossroads which are the ramps on and off the N-13 and another 100 metres at the T section turn right and take the next left D510 through Ecausseville carry on on this road until the

large hanger appears on the left hand side of the road. The hanger is visible on the sky line ahead of you when crossing the N-13 bridge.

 

Total distance from St Mere Eglise is approximately 8 kilometres.

 

Occasionally during the summer there are guided tours of the hanger and ground, however it has to be an organised party of twenty and details are posted on the gate.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

As the farmers said when they built an indoor football stadium here in town. "boy that would hold a lot of Hay"!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy
As the farmers said when they built an indoor football stadium here in town. "boy that would hold a lot of Hay"!

 

Hi Robert, How are they going to get all that hay in there without first emptying all the air out that they got stored in there. pinch.gif:lol::lol::lol:

 

Just received an interesting phone call from a friend who lives an hour away from me. His next door neighbour a farmer has just dug up on his farm a bullet riddled BMW motorcycle and sidecar. Six months ago he dug up two or three German bodies, which made the local papers. My friend is hoping to get round there tomorrow and get some photographs of the cycle, hope it happens I want to see those.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Dec 12 2008

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No way, really?

Wow, we sure want to see some photos of that.

 

As for the air out and hay in ..... easy, open BOTH doors (front and rear) and as you push the hay in, the air goes out the other way.

Now for this you need a University degree ...... :lol:

 

Erwin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy
No way, really?

Wow, we sure want to see some photos of that.

 

As for the air out and hay in ..... easy, open BOTH doors (front and rear) and as you push the hay in, the air goes out the other way.

Now for this you need a University degree ...... :lol:

 

Erwin

 

O.k. Moriarty, now you got the air out, how do you move the ship ( air-ship ???? ) pinch.gifthink.gif

 

You will need more than a signed piece of paper from a university for that one :lol:

 

Sorry Erwin just joshing with you.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Dec 19 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ken.

 

Would be interested to know if they had any history behind the bodies - who they were and what they would have been doing in the area when they were killed...same goes for the motorcycle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come to think of it, are the discoveries of the bodies related to the discovery of that motorcycle?

 

Erwin

(The airship can be put in the second hangar about 2 miles further up the road .....)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

Hi Dave & Erwin, sorry to say that I don't think I am going to learn anything more about the motorcycle and sidecar and the German bodies found earlier in the year until after the new year.

 

Everybody is busy with the festivities, family and friends, I have seen photos of the motorcycle but I don't have any details to post with it till after new Year.

 

Well wishing one and all a great Christmas, and let's hope a better year for 2009.

 

Norman D. landing, Normandy Forum Correspondent, Dec 23 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And a VERY Merry Christmas to you. And God Bless all our Military people spending Christmas away from their familys to see that we can celebrate the Holidays in peace and safety. Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1230233442.jpg

 

Hi Forum members, I hope you all had a good Christmas day today.

 

Hi Robert, thanks for your Christmas greetings in the post above, I hope you managed to either spend time with your son's or spoke with them on the phone and a safe posting in Afghanistan.

 

Well members, Christmas eve I went to the recycling tip in my village ( dechetterie ) to dispose of household waste before friends arrive over Christmas for a few days visit. I was separating the items out into the various skips when in the wood skip I spotted the above K ration box, and climbed in and retrieved it. A nice unexpected free Christmas present for myself.

 

It's amazing what military items get disposed of in the village tips, lots of people do not understand that these items have become collectible, two months ago were several pieces of metal Perforated Steel Plank ( PSP ) used for airfields and camps locally by the Americans sixty-four years ago.

 

Another item which I got from the village tip six months ago was a fiberglass model of an opened white parachute,

not certain what it had been used for, a museum display, a canopy above a door entrance or what, will have to get it out of the garage and take a shot of it to post on here. I am hoping to make some use of it next year for the 65th anniversary of D-Day, might look good hooked onto a wall with a parachutist mannequin hung below it ????

 

SO I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GOOD NEW YEARS NITE AND A GOOD 2009

 

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General Apathy

post-344-1230238642.jpg

 

Hi Jim, Thanks for the compliment that you like the Normandy posts. ;)

 

You may recall in earlier posts my friend that died of cancer early this year, well I was just going through his effects, and found letters that he wrote back in the mid 1970's to various American wartime vehicle manufacturers.

 

He got replies from almost all of them, and lots of them actually sent original wartime photos of their vehicles, even workshop manuals and related paperwork. I will take a shot tomorrow of one photograph showing a line of White half-tracks with anti-tank guns mounted in the back, and post it here for you.

 

Hope to have a beer with you sometime if you make it over here. :lol:

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Christmas Day 2008

 

apologies the photo is a little blurred from camera shake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...