Jeeper704 Posted January 12, 2009 Share #301 Posted January 12, 2009 How much is the house? Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LtRGFRANK Posted January 12, 2009 Share #302 Posted January 12, 2009 Maybe Lewis should buy it. Then he could rent it out to all whom wishes to tour Normandy. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 12, 2009 Share #303 Posted January 12, 2009 How much is the house? Erwin Hi Erwin, I will try to get the price details for you, may be a week or so that I will be that way again to find out the company selling it, can't pick them up off the photograph. ................................................................................ ........................................... Maybe Lewis should buy it. Then he could rent it out to all whom wishes to tour Normandy. Robert Hi Robert, your suggestion was so funny I laughed for all of 14 seconds. Heehee, Heehee Robert there are already plentiful places called Gites for hire a lot of them run by military history owners. There's also a hell of a lot of houses here for sale, there's not much work outside of agricultural. Cheers ( Lewis ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted January 12, 2009 Share #304 Posted January 12, 2009 Thanks, you can send a pm. Maybe a good job opportunity (Belgian - Romanian B&B in France). Keep posting those "then & now" pictures, because they're very valuable (especially when at some time some buildings will be gone) and very interesting (amazing how some areas never seem to change). Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
militariacollector Posted January 12, 2009 Share #305 Posted January 12, 2009 After the Battle magazine they show this Churchill AVRE assault tank that "lay buried beneath a minor road just off the invasion beaches". Supposedly, they were going to clean it up and set it up for display somewhere nearby. Just curious--to your knowledge, was this ever done? If so, could you post a picture of it being displayed? Thank you! Hi Gunbarrel, thanks for the post on the recovered Churchill tank, I believe it was recovered and is on display at Corseulles sur Mer ( Juno Beach ). Sadly I understand that it is in dire need of a fresh cost of paint, one of my friends Nigel Hay ( Milweb.net website ) has suggested that it maybe a good idea if the Imps Militaria club from Kent in England offer to repaint it whilst here visiting for the 65th anniversary this year. One of the people who was instrumental in recovering this tank was Peter Gray who was the founder of the Military Vehicle Conservation Group ( MVCG ) around 1970, currently called Military Vehicle Trust ( MVT ), possibly the first major military vehicle club in the world, and first to run 200 vehicle convoys through Normandy in 1974 and following years. Gunbarrel, Hope that helps to you answer your question on the recovery, I will try and get a photo of it for you sometime this spring, however as it is nearly two hours drive each way from here it will have to be when I am over that way. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 12 2009 I believe this is the AVRE in question. Took this while in France this summer, not the best picture, but we were driving by and didn't have time to stop. Disgusting to think of such people that would disgrace a monument like this. And if anyone's interested I could post some more pictures of my trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunbarrel Posted January 13, 2009 Share #306 Posted January 13, 2009 Thank you, Ken and thank you, Militariacollector! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 13, 2009 Share #307 Posted January 13, 2009 Thank you, Ken and thank you, Militariacollector! Hi Gunbarrel, and as stated above thank you, and thanks also to Militariacollector for a shot of the tank, as I said, I had heard that it was in need of a fresh coat of paint. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 13 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2009 Share #308 Posted January 19, 2009 Hi Forum Readers, today's post was raised by forum member No #60 Kim Fields of Ohio, Kim acquired a photo album containing 400 photographs taken post D-Day by 508th PIR trooper Roy Barger. Kim posted in another thread the photograph seen attached here asking if anyone could identify the house and religious cross. I live just about ten minutes from this house and cross and identified it for Kim, and offered to go there today and take a comparison shot, which can be seen above. The weather here has been atrocious for the last three days, high wind levels and rain. When I was stood taking the shots it started blowing frozen rain ( not quite snow ) horizontally. So, very little has changed at the crossroads which I believe are at Pont l'abbe, the building is virtually identical, the roof window on the top right of the original photo has been removed. two signs have been added at the lower right of the comparison photo, the top one is for the town of Valognes which is mid way between Cherbourg and St Mere Eglise. The lower sign is for the German cemetery at Orglandes 5 kilometres away, this cemetery has been there since the invasion. The barn to the left of the Chateau-farm is still there as are all the metal fencing around the front. The large bush in the front garden behind the cross is probably twice as large than it was during the war, this is a flowering bush and I have seen it during the summer in full bloom. The large tree seen on the left of the original photograph is still there, however it's now winter and the original photo was shot during the summer. Funny how it's very hard to shoot a perfectly identical photo, due to the difference in the sixty years between cameras and lenses and digital format. I am now thinking I may have seen another photograph of this crossroads taken during the war with piles of wooden ammunition crates stacked near the steps of the cross. The cross is dated 1928. I am also hoping to eventually identify a couple more Normandy photographs that Kim has. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 19 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted January 19, 2009 Share #309 Posted January 19, 2009 As usual there was no copper around for the exact comparison? A really nice "then & now" comparison. Truly amazing how sometimes places are stuck in time. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LtRGFRANK Posted January 19, 2009 Share #310 Posted January 19, 2009 I simply amazed by the photos you have been showing on your posts. On my trip to Europe I had pictures my dad took while with the 16th AD. We were able to find "the Place" he was standing at in Czech Republic and it hadn't changed either. In my home town which was founded in 1859 theres probably three or four stuctures left that were there in the late 1800s. . I guess we don't build them to last. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2009 Share #311 Posted January 19, 2009 As usual there was no copper around for the exact comparison? A really nice "then & now" comparison. Truly amazing how sometimes places are stuck in time. Erwin Hi Erwin, that's the beauty of this place it's almost timeless, no rush to move along with progress regarding the land, the buildings and ambiance of the area. Cheers NDL. I am simply amazed by the photos you have been showing on your posts. On my trip to Europe I had pictures my dad took while with the 16th AD. We were able to find "the Place" he was standing at in Czech Republic and it hadn't changed either. In my home town which was founded in 1859 there's probably three or four structures left that were there in the late 1800s. . I guess we don't build them to last. Robert Hi Robert, that's a good story that you got to stand were your father had during the war, must have been a warm feeling for you. I guess it's not that you don't build them to last, it's that they are not required to last, it's progress. Probably when they built your town you had one person living on fifty acres, now they want fifty people living one one acre, and maybe in places like New York there are 500 people on one acre You will probably come back and correct me that in New York it's 5,000 per acre. Cheers NDL. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 19 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LtRGFRANK Posted January 20, 2009 Share #312 Posted January 20, 2009 This is the picture I was talking about. Thats my son in front of the Fountain. It was in Marienzke Lazne, Czech Republic. It was known as Marienbad when controled by Germany. My dad was housed in the building behind. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 20, 2009 Share #313 Posted January 20, 2009 [ This is the picture of my father I was talking about. It was in Marienzke Lazne, Czech Republic. It was known as Marienbad when controled by Germany. My dad was housed in the building behind. Robert Hi Robert, thanks for posting the ' then & now' photograph of your father standing at the fountain. It's sad with parents passing, I now realise the many unanswered questions that surround me, as a teenager these things are not so important, and maybe don't even come to mind, there's no thought really that one day they will not be there. I learnt a lot of general life and living from my parents, but never the more personal family side of it all, how my parents got together, the houses they were born in and where they grew up. All that knowledge that I should have learnt and missed. So I forgot to add directions to this crossroads, directions will be from St Mere Eglise. The D-15 runs all the way from St Mere Eglise to St Sauveur-le-Comte, it passes through the town of Pont l'abbe approximately 10 kilometers from St Mere. As you leave Pont l'abbe the D-24 runs off to the right at this crossroads, the photographed house sits in the corner of the crossroads. if you would like to see the German cemetery at Orglandes it is just 5 kilometers along the D-24. If you however carried on, on the D-15 to St Sauveur-le-Comte, I don't currently know of anything to see there other than the large medieval castle in the town. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 2- 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 22, 2009 Share #314 Posted January 22, 2009 Hi Forum Readers, I will be posting an interesting little find tomorrow evening ( Friday 23rd ) need daylight tomorrow to get some good shots of it, never seem to get the same results under room lights. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 22 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #315 Posted January 23, 2009 Hi Forum Readers, this is a bunker find on a farmers fields, he has known of the odd bits in the there for years but it has never meant anything to him, of no use for farming. It is a Milsco dated 1943, there appears to be a single letter ' M' scratched in the front and to one side maybe the intention was to put another initial to the side of the M, but there is nothing there. The leather is very dry and cracked and the metal bars at the throat have broken away. The rusting of the rivet holding the handle strap has also dried and torn the leather there. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunbarrel Posted January 23, 2009 Share #316 Posted January 23, 2009 I find it amazing that it is in that good a shape! The soil in Normandy must not be very acidic. Thank you for sharing it with us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #317 Posted January 23, 2009 I find it amazing that it is in that good a shape! The soil in Normandy must not be very acidic. Thank you for sharing it with us Hi Gunbarrel, thankfully it was not in soil, it was just dumped in the bunker so it's more or less been in the dry for sixty-four years. A lot of the area here is marsh land as it floods regularly every winter, I have seen some amazing finds come out of the decomposed layers of leaf and peat. There was a recent video clip on You-tube showing a crashed Soviet fighter in marshland somewhere in the Eastern part advancing towards Germany, the body was complete with all the skin and uniform as if it was last week. The wet peat closes in on the object and omits oxygen I believe. All of his possessions in his pockets were still legible and so were all his badges and metal parts of his uniform. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted January 23, 2009 Share #318 Posted January 23, 2009 There have been discoveries of people from the Middle Ages in swamps who were pretty well preserved. So not surprising a WWII pilot can be found in such a condition. Btw, thanks for the information on that pilot. I found it very interesting. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ww2vault Posted January 23, 2009 Share #319 Posted January 23, 2009 There have been discoveries of people from the Middle Ages in swamps who were pretty well preserved.So not surprising a WWII pilot can be found in such a condition. Btw, thanks for the information on that pilot. I found it very interesting. Erwin Wow, I never realized that people from the Middle Ages were actually found quite preserved. That reminds me of the scene in the recent Indy movie where he discovers the Spanish conquistadors in cocoons, well preserved. At least until the oxygen hits them! - Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #320 Posted January 23, 2009 Btw, thanks for the information on that pilot.I found it very interesting. Erwin Hi Erwin, I thought you would enjoy seeing the plane and pilot recovery that I sent you via PM, I didn't mention it on the forum as it was a non U.S. item. I think I might go ahead and post the details of that house that is for sale in St Marie du Mont, which stands behind the U.S. paratroopers in that famous photo of them passing through the village. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
militariacollector Posted January 23, 2009 Share #321 Posted January 23, 2009 That's a great find, I'm impressed that everything is still intact. I had wondered how much stuff are still in the bunkers there, do you come across many items like this? -Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #322 Posted January 23, 2009 That's a great find, I'm impressed that everything is still intact. I had wondered how much stuff are still in the bunkers there, do you come across many items like this?-Michael Hi Michael, there are not things to find in bunkers, the bunkers you will see all along the coast line have been looked through for sixty-five years, and people looking in them has accelerated sine the late 1970's and reached fever pitch after Saving Private Ryan and BoBrothers. If there's anything to be found now it is either in private hands or in private property, sheds, barns, or bunkers on private land. The scabbard is as I stated beginning to break apart especially where the metal parts are in the leather. Attached is a photo I took in a farmers field back in 1973, and there was many such piles of stuff around as this, these piles didn't survive long one the vehicle people started seeing them and buying off the farmers for spares. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #323 Posted January 23, 2009 Hi Forum Readers, Cont...................... Attached is another photo I took in a farmers field back in 1973, these things were too heavy for tractors to move, the government and the councils were too hard up for money because of the war, so all that was done was the munitions and such were removed by the army and from then on it was the farmers problem. The farmers just used to gather up all the other lighter debris from around their fields and the tanks became the focal point for assembling the scrap, they then worked the field around these piles. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #324 Posted January 23, 2009 Hi Forum Readers, in the attached photo of the paratroops walking through St Marie du Mont in the background is a gap between the house's with steel fencing and steel gates, laying back behind these gates is a house for sale that was mentioned several posts backs. The details of the house are shown on the post following to this one if anyone is interested in seeing them. An historic village in the front row of the liberation June 6th 1944. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 23, 2009 Share #325 Posted January 23, 2009 Fiche_MaisonAvancee_284.PDF Hi Readers, Cont.......................... The details of the house mentioned in the previous post of paratroops passing through St Marie du Mont. Norman, D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, Jan 23 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now