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Norman D. Landing


bilko1
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General Apathy
That was something coming across that gentleman. Can't imagine what he saw or experienced. You have to wonder how that experience effected him during his life.

 

Thanks for sharing with us Ken!

 

Hi Kevin, well whatever experiences he went through he certainly has great humility and friendlyness, for a first time meeting he was very welcoming and open, almost felt like being with a family grandparent. ;)

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

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General Apathy
Ken

 

There is nothing to fear as it's not to late at all as if it wasnt for you, you wouldnt have brought this gentlemans past to us at all. So thank you very much and you have just met another one of life's truly great people and thank god you met him in time and brought his story to us in time.

 

Many thanks

Buster

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Hi Buster, thanks for your comment, I think sadly that I myself came to this stage of my life a little late there must have been many more people with stories of their experiences, many of the people left to repeat their memories now were only children during the war.

 

However really pleased to be sharing this experience with others so that it might be further read and remembered and passed along as years go by.

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

 

 

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General Apathy
Ken,

 

Just wanted to say thanks for all the work you put into this topic. Many of us envy you "over here". This thread is truly a gift to us members. I really enjoy this and for the life of me do not know why this topic is not pinned??? It's one of the best threads on the forum.

 

Thanks again,

 

Troy

 

Hi Troy, many thanks for your very enthusiastic thoughts, not so certain that there is enough content to the thread to warrant being ' pinned ' it's just the day to day ramblings of my life and living in Normandy.

 

However should you feel charitable enough to make a donation then my favourite charity is the KNC trust. :thumbsup:

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

 

 

p.s. Oh yes the KNC trust stands for Ken Needs Cash, :unsure: only joking lifes too short not to smile. :lol:

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Johan Willaert

To start off the day on a lighter note, just wanted to share this joke about England which I received from a NATO-colleague yesterday...

 

ENjoy!!!

 

A Canadian Joke to complete your day:

 

 

 

Siamese twins walk into a pub in Ontario and park themselves on a bar

stool.

 

One of them says to the innkeeper, "Don't mind us, we're joined at the

hip.

 

I'm Joe, he's Jim, we'll have two Molson Canadian beers, draft please"

 

The innkeeper, feeling slightly awkward, tries to make polite

conversation while pouring the beers.

 

"Been on holiday yet, boys?"

 

"Off to England next month," says Joe. "We go to England every year and

hire a car and drive for miles, don't we, Jim?"

 

Jim agrees.

 

"Ah, England, "says the innkeeper." Wonderful country... the history, the

beer, the culture..."

 

"Nah, we don't like that British crap," says Joe. "Hamburgers & Molson's

beer, that's us, eh Jim?

 

And we can't stand the English - they're arrogant and rude.'

 

"So why keep going to England?" asks the innkeeper.

 

Joe replies, "It's the only chance Jim gets to drive."

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General Apathy
To start off the day on a lighter note, just wanted to share this joke about England which I received from a NATO-colleague yesterday...

 

ENjoy!!!

 

Hi Johan, clearly your hanging around with a strange bunch at that NATO headquarters, it's evidently not a funny joke who on earth has ever heard of Molsen Beers :lol:;)

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

 

 

..

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So... the Dutch tell jokes about the Belgians, and vice-versa. The Germans tell jokes about the Poles, and vice versa. The French about the Belgians, and vice-versa. The Americans about the Mexicans or Canadians. The Canadians about Newfoundlanders / Quebecois etc. It's the way of the world! Well, here's one for Johan .....(the Empire strikes back!)

 

"Did you know the Belgian Ministry of Transport has introduced a new sign?

It reads "End of Roundabout".

 

Ian :hapy0004:

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Johan Willaert

Hey, don't blame me.... It came from Canada!!! B)

 

 

BTW we have no Ministry of Transport... As a matter of fact, we have no real ministries at all, as we have been without a government for nearly 3 months.... And guess what?? Everything works... :think:

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General Apathy

post-344-1283593763.jpg

 

 

Hi Forum Members & Readers,

 

Here is an honorary member certificate made out to the gentleman's father who also worked at the American cemetery at Bloseville. Note across the centre of the paper the faint image of the 505th black panther dropping from top right to bottom left corner of the image.

 

It's also endorsed by John Steele the paratrooper recorded as hanging from the roof of the St Mere Eglise church on D-day 1944.

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

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So Lauren inherits your collection. Every collector with an single son is showing her picture to them and saying. Heres a really sweet girl. You should call her. Umm I have a really nice grandson. He's in Reserve Officer Training right now ;) I'm back. Catching up on all you postings. You never fail to amaze me Thanks Robert

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craig_pickrall
Ken,

 

Just wanted to say thanks for all the work you put into this topic. Many of us envy you "over here". This thread is truly a gift to us members. I really enjoy this and for the life of me do not know why this topic is not pinned??? It's one of the best threads on the forum.

 

Thanks again,

 

Troy

 

 

Troy, there has never been a need to pin this as it is always near the top of the page. It is one of the most active threads on the forum and those that want it know where it is.

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craig_pickrall
Hey, don't blame me.... It came from Canada!!! B)

BTW we have no Ministry of Transport... As a matter of fact, we have no real ministries at all, as we have been without a government for nearly 3 months.... And guess what?? Everything works... :think:

 

 

Lucky you, wish we could say the same.

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Going back to the dentist chair. My former dentist (until he retired) was a Korean War dentist. He had his silver star document hangin in his offce,a s he was caught up in one of the "withdrawel actions" and rallied a bunch of men and brought them back to US lines safey. He didn;t like ot talk about it, so knowing him and vets I can only think he earned th emedal.

 

But he had one of the WW2 foot powered drills in his basement for fun. He always said if I wanted he would use it on a filling for me, and even withhold the novacaine for reality. Didn't take him up on that, but I really should call him up and ask if he wants to get rid of the drill.

 

And in WW2 my father in law started getting his dental work done. He has continued to this day never having any novacaine. He said he got used to it in the army so why start now.

 

Phil Charbonnier's grandfather was a French dentist in Paris in WW2. He had totally run out of supplies by 44, and the Americans supplied him (unofficially) so he could get back to work.

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General Apathy
So Lauren inherits your collection. Every collector with an single son is showing her picture to them and saying. Heres a really sweet girl. You should call her. Umm I have a really nice grandson. He's in Reserve Officer Training right now ;) I'm back. Catching up on all you postings. You never fail to amaze me Thanks Robert

 

Hi Robert, well welcome home and welcome back to the forum, appears you were born a little to soon to date my daughter and her inheritance, bad luck old son. :pinch:

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

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General Apathy
Troy, there has never been a need to pin this as it is always near the top of the page. It is one of the most active threads on the forum and those that want it know where it is.

 

 

Hi Craig, couldn't have said it better my self ' Those that want it ' :think: :thumbsup:

 

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

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General Apathy
And in WW2 my father in law started getting his dental work done. He has continued to this day never having any novacaine. He said he got used to it in the army so why start now.

 

Phil Charbonnier's grandfather was a French dentist in Paris in WW2. He had totally run out of supplies by 44, and the Americans supplied him (unofficially) so he could get back to work.

 

Hi Jon, Thanks for your reminiscenses, I have to say that I am told that the best dentist locally does not use pain-killer she swears there is no pain when she works. :w00t: I go else where obviously ;)

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

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Troy, there has never been a need to pin this as it is always near the top of the page. It is one of the most active threads on the forum and those that want it know where it is.

 

 

Understood.....very well then. Thanks Craig and carry on Ken. :thumbsup:

 

Troy

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General Apathy

post-344-1283613208.jpg

 

 

Hi Forum Members & Readers.

 

Here is a the first part of a two part letter written in 1944 to the gentleman who's photographs and artefacts I have been reviewing here.

 

I enlisted the help of ' sabrejet ' with the translation of this pencilled note, with him being a teacher and used to pupils sometimes poor writing, here's what Ian came back with.

 

Hmmmm...a bit of a scrawl and a bit of a challenge! Something about....the commander of this division sincerely thanks you for your help and cooperation.....indestructible spirit...faith in Christ....in the face of such horrors....i

 

I will reveal in the following post who the writer of this letter was. :think:

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

 

 

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General Apathy

post-344-1283613461.jpg

 

 

Cont ..........................

 

The letter was written by General Ridgeway, who again signed it in ink in 1964 twenty years after first writing it.

 

Hmmmm...a bit of a scrawl and a bit of a challenge! Something about....the commander of this division sincerely thanks you for your help and cooperation.....indestructible spirit...faith in Christ....in the face of such horrors....i

 

Couldn't believe what I was being shown when all of his artefacts started coming out. :unsure: :thumbsup:

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

 

 

..

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General Apathy
Understood.....very well then. Thanks Craig and carry on Ken. :thumbsup:

 

Troy

 

Hi Troy, a lot of what I write here is drivel without any depth to it, however the little gem of the last two days is something else, the gentleman and his family that tended to all those fallen Americans will go unread by all those that don't dip in and out of these posts.

 

There's more to post yet and I hope that I might be shown much more yet to share here with everyone.

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 4 2010

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Sacre bleu et mon dieu Monsieur Ken! When one of our French-speaking forum-members claps eyes on it and provides us with a verbatim translation it'll probably turn out to be Gen.Ridgeway's laundry list and I'll seem like Crabtree (le gendarme) from "allo! allo!"

 

Notre lecteurs français pardonez-moi s'il vous plaît! :blushing:

 

Ian

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Hi Forum Members & Readers,

 

Here's the contents of a post I just added to a topic started by member ' Desertrat ' on where you found stuff, weirdest places.

 

...............................

 

You found it where

 

Back in the mid 1990's I used to travel to Chicago a couple of times a year to do the surplus stores there, I also used to do a militaria store called ' Jim's Military Relics ' out south-west of Chicago in Plano. I also used to enjoy driving through Joliet as some scenes of the ' Blues Brother's ' were filmed there.

 

So on the one trip to Jim's in Plano I found a steel plated U.S. meatcan set made in France WWI, I didn't need the item myself as I had one but I just figured that it was such a little rarity that I would stash it away somewhere for another trip or in case a friend wanted one, in which case we could phone Jim's describe where I had stashed it and get it shipped.

 

Well somewhere about the same time I had got to become pen-friends with a guy called Dan Pomone of Sterling, Illinois, we used to exchange information and stuff on our collections, however sadly we never managed to get to meet. A month after being at Jim's militaria I got a letter off Dan asking if I could find him any European made U.S. meatcans or canteens for his collection and specifically he would like a French made U.S. meatcan set.

 

I gave him a call and told him that I could help him find one to which he exclaimed that was quick, I didn't mention that I had stashed one at Jim's in Plano. I said to Dan take a ride out to Jim's militaria at Plano, once in the store follow the shelving along the left wall to the last compartment bottom shelf lift out all the modern camping type items and reach right into the back of the shelf and there's one there.

 

Well a couple of day's later I get a call from Dan and his first words were ' How the hell did you know I would find one there, are you psychic ' , then I had to explain that I had stashed it there the month before. As I had a travelling business companion it was never really convenient to meet up with Dan on the times that I was through Chicago.

 

It was however amusing that my rarity find and squirreling away of the item led to one happy collector a month later,he never thought he would find one so easily.

 

Ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, August 16 2010

 

 

Ken,

 

Found this in my files and thought you might enjoy seeing it:

 

post-203-1283655356.jpg

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General Apathy

post-344-1283667788.jpg

 

 

These items and encounters you have are true gems Ken. If you had not met this gentlemen, these items and his story might have been lost forever.

 

Hi Troy, the gentleman concerned is known about and has been mentioned in a couple of books, however the paperwork and photographs he has allowed me to take images of, I don't think these have been featured anywhere else.

 

The calling card above has three very recognisable names on it, across the top General Bradley, Ridgeway and Steele signed at post war dates.

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 5 2010

 

 

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General Apathy
Ken,

 

Found this in my files and thought you might enjoy seeing it:

 

post-203-1283655356.jpg

 

Hi Beast, many thanks for that walk down memory lane, I can't recall how I ever picked up on Jim unless he was maybe at a show sometime, I'm not certain Military Trader was in print at that time.

 

I recall going from Jim's once to John Coy to see his collection, somewhere packed away are photo's of Johns collection. While I was John's a neighbour of his dropped by with a couple of pairs of gloves and gave them to John he held onto the one pair a heavy grade engineers pair, he sold me the other thinner cavalry 'airborne ' gloves for five bucks or so. :lol: I came out of there with a zing in my step ;)

 

ken

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, September 5 2010

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Hi Ken. That calling card has a remarkable collection of famous signatures on it! It's the kind of item that autograph collectors would kill for! I hope it'll be preserved for future generations to see and enjoy. Maybe, after the gentleman's days it should be donated to one of the principle Normandy/D-Day museums, along with his other related papers, for the sake of preservation in an appropriate environment?

 

Ian

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