Norman D. Landing

[bilko1]

No need for a write up Hi ken

 

http://www.norman-d-landing.com/

 

Dave.

[deros]

Top dealer, good friend. Knowledgeable and keen eyed to the point of being unbelievable. Many is the time he has shown me a picture which i will pore over and he will show some anomaly that turns accepted practice on its head. Honest to a fault.

[Gregory]

In the online US militaria business I would say it is one of the best in the world thanks to various factors. The items are professionally described moreover communication with Ken is very good. He is not simple seller but he treats his client as a partner, he advises and comments additionally the item if somebody has any doubts. Also the prices are fair and reasonable.

 

To sum up -- this is very friendly place to buy.

 

Congratulations Ken

[General Apathy]

A ' Big Thank You ' to Bilko, Deros and Gregory for their very kind words regarding myself and my company ' Norman D. Landing ' . I have always tried to be honest in both my descriptions and authenticity of the items being sold. No customer has ever been sold a fake or reproduction with them believing it to be original. Having been a collector all my life then I believed that honesty was the best policy, my parents raised me in the belief that an honest sale is a good sale.

 

Now for the sad part, I have started to wind down the business, and I am working on stock in the store and in the store rooms. There's still plenty to be sold, but I don't think that anything rare or ultra-rare will surface. ( It may take up to two years to sell off the present stocks, so please check the web-site out now and again ).

 

I have decided on a life change for the future, I will still be attending shows and talking militaria, maybe even more so once I stop selling it. So thanks again to all the friends, and customers that became friends, for their help over the years that I have been selling this stuff.

 

Kind regards to you all. ( Kenneth Lewis )

[Gregory]

Bad news, Ken

 

I know the Polish reenactors of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade who are not especially interested in the US militaria but they admire your shop, like it very much and from time to time they think if to buy something or not? They mean small items that potentially might be changed or trade between the Polish and US paras during UK-based common war games before Operation Market Garden for instance.

 

If you close your shop it will be big loss for various lovers of military history, technical culture, industrial design etc.

 

Do not close…

[GICOP]

Hi Ken

 

Forget the SLK I'll have to cruise down to Bournemouth and take you for a spin in my new Chrysler Crossfire Roadster I've just bought.

 

Cheers

 

Martyn

[General Apathy]

Hi Ken

 

Forget the Mercedes SLK I'll have to cruise down to Bournemouth and take you for a spin in my new Chrysler Crossfire Roadster I've just bought.

 

Cheers

 

Martyn

 

Hi Martyn, If we are playing cards then I'll see your Chrysler Crossfire and raise you one Sherman tank.

Cheers ( Lewis )

[Jeeper704]

I am just happy with my Jeep Cherokee Classic.

 

 

 

Btw, are those cards WWII-issue?

 

I might be interested in those.

 

 

 

Erwin

[General Apathy]

Hi Jeeper704, If your in the game your bid is too low, we are up to armor now, but you can still try the bluff if you want. Cheers ( Lewis )

[Jeeper704]

Well, I can always put some extra armor on it, paint it OD and put "3A - 704TD (star) C-15" on front and rear fender.

 

To remain on-topic; I sure heard some very positive comments on the way you handle things, so I join the legion of people saying it will be a big loss if you close down the shop.

 

Erwin

 

Hi Jeeper704, If your in the game your bid is too low, we are up to armor now, but you can still try the bluff if you want. Cheers ( Lewis )

[GICOP]

Hi Ken

 

If you're letting your Sherman go then we know you are definately winding down the business

 

You know WW2 collecting is in your blood, you would need a complete transfusion to get it out of your system

 

Cheers

 

Martyn

 

PS The SLK number plate is being transfered to the Crossfire

[General Apathy]

To remain on-topic; I sure heard some very positive comments on the way you handle things, so I join the legion of people saying it will be a big loss if you close down the shop.

 

Erwin

 

Hi Erwin, thanks very much for the compliment, I have sure enjoyed my time selling the stuff, but time to move on, I want to hang out the sign ' Gone Fishing ' get out there feel the sun on my back. ( I don't really fish, but it's a great saying )

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[General Apathy]

 

Now for the sad part, I have started to wind down the business, and I am working on stock in the store and in the store rooms. There's still plenty to be sold, but I don't think that anything rare or ultra-rare will surface. ( It may take up to two years to sell off the present stocks, so please check the web-site out now and again ).

 

Well I have finally gone ahead and done it. A few weeks back I wrote in the quote above that there was still plenty to sell and it might take two years to sell it. Well in those couple of weeks I found another house for myself in Normandy and I closed the store doors yesterday, and the website will run a banner starting next week that the company has ceased trading. I have managed to move over to Normandy as my property here is to be demolished and a block of apartments built in its place.

 

The house in Normandy was built in 1750 and has a traditional stone staircase, and that will be my own little ' Stairway to Heaven ' (sic ) Led Zeppelin.

It looks over the marshes that the Germans flooded and the American Paratroops dropped into.

 

This may help clear up things for a few friends, collectors and reenactors as a local reenactor stated on an English forum he belongs to ' Sad news about Kenneth Lewis of Norman D. Landing ' The news of my demise is greatly exaggerated

 

So to paraphrase a song from Snow-white and the seven dwarfs ' Hi Ho Hi Ho and it's off to a new life I go '

 

Best regards to one and all, Kenneth Lewis

[Johan Willaert]

Good Luck in France, Ken!!!!

 

Hope to see you when I'm in Normandy in July.... (twice )

 

Johan

[General Apathy]

Hi Johan and fellow members on this link, Johan we have met and spoken since your last post on this link, I enjoyed seeing you at Beltring despite the rain, mud and general poor weather.

 

I have almost completed my packing and storage of my house ready for the move to Normandy France, and thanks again for the kind comments that you guys added.

 

Unfortunately after next week I think I will be off the forum for a while until I have secured a land telephone line and hence a computer link on it, so I will miss reading everyones posts and the odd contribution to some of the subjects.

 

Hope to catch up again later in the year, I will not wish you all a ' Merry Christmas ' yet, as I would hope to be back on line again before then.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[Johan Willaert]

Good Luck, Ken...

 

I'll try to look you up in June!

 

Johan

[GICOP]

Good luck mate

 

All the best

 

Martyn

[Jeeper704]

Welcome to the continent.

Get back here as soon as you can, ok?

I like reading your posts/comments and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

 

Erwin

[General Apathy]

Well I finally made it to Normandy at the end of November, a few days after I moved into the house the flood plains around my village and to the west of St Mere Eglise started to fill up as they do every winter. Attached is a photograph I took of a small part of the plain from the field at the front of my house, it covers acres of land, and the causeways ( narrow roads ) that the troopers fought for during the landings are still the only way to get from village to village.

 

These are the fields that Germans deliberately flooded in the summer of 1944 to help prevent invasion, it must have been very frightening and also over very quickly for the troopers landing in this during darkness and not knowing where the land areas were to be found.

 

The small house across from mine is actually recorded in unit histories as being a German machine gun post firing across the plain area, having lunch last week with the French owner he stated that belts of machine gun ammunition were found in the ground during extension works to the house several years ago . The house was attacked by members of the 101st on D+3 0r D+4.

 

Lots to discover when I have the time to root around, there's a farm-workers house along the lane to one side of my house and it has sections of aircraft matting as it's fence, I will photograph it in a couple of days and add to this report .

 

Merry Christmas ( Lewis )

 

[General Apathy]

 

Hi Everyone, I have been here in Normandy now for just three weeks, there's still a lot of interesting stuff around.

 

Yesterday as I was driving along I spotted a builder working on a front wall of a garden, he had some wooden trestles and he was using sixty-odd year old airfield perforated planking for boards across the trestles. I attempted to pullover to photograph this and then realised I didn't have my camera with me.

 

However as I stated in my previous report I said I would post other items I saw around. So here are two photos taken near my village, one is a front garden fence made up of airfield perforated planking, and the second is an old barn with what appear to be either two German Panther or Hetzer road wheels, sorry I am not very knowledgeable on German items.

 

More when I can

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[General Apathy]

Hi Everyone, here is another report from Normandy, Today 29th January I was taken by a neighbour to a V-1 rocket launching site, one I have never heard of before or seen any reference to it. It was a little bit dull and misty and I wouldn't enter the field without permission from the farmer, however I will try to return on a sunnier day and try to find the farmer for permission. The area covered is quite large and there are maybe twenty to thirty bunkers of various sizes. The two shown here are the ramps and the assembly sheds, the ramps appear to be directed towards the invasion assembly ports of Portsmouth and Southampton.

 

[General Apathy]

 

Here is one of the many bunkers on the site, at the moment I have no idea what the function of each bunker was.

[General Apathy]

 

Another of the bunkers again no idea of it's purpose at the moment.

[General Apathy]

 

Here is the farmhouse which had been fortified with a blockhouse added to either side of it, possibly used as the barracks, from the air it would possibly have looked like an unassuming French farm.

[General Apathy]

 

This is the blockhouse on the left side of the farmhouse, so that's all for this report, hopefully further reports as and when I find items of interest, which I hope in turn interests forum members.

 

Your correspondent Normandy beaches area France 29th Jan 08.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )