July 5Jul 5 #30701 On 7/1/2026 at 10:11 PM, General Apathy said: . Hi earlymb, The photo you show is in the central square in Carentan, Normandy, however someone else has mistakenly listed it on the internet as Mont Saint Michel which 123 Kms from Carentan and hour and a half drive. !!!! Next time it's a quiet day and no cars parked in the square perhaps I can call into Carentan and make a comparison shot. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 01 July 2O26. .. . Hi earlymb, I went into Ste Mere Eglise this morning with the Jeep for a coffee, the town was heaving with parked cars and tourists. So later I thought I would drop down into Carentan to take a comparison shot of the image that you posted. I went in the car as I thought Carentan would also be heaving with parked cars, sadly I would have had a perfect place to park the Jeep if I had taken it, well it is what it is . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 05 July 2O26. ( today would have been my fathers birthday had he not died of MRSA virus caught in hospital ) ...
July 5Jul 5 #30702 . Ste Mere Eglise 05 July 2026 American tourists using the Jeep as a backdrop. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 05 July 2O26. ..
July 5Jul 5 #30703 , Another find at my friends farm. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 05 July 2O26. ..
July 5Jul 5 #30704 . Carentan today 05 July 2026. Making use of my time in Carentan today I tried to find the cafe that existed in 1915, It was not easy as most balconies have disappeared over the years which would have been the main way of identifying the building as the complete facade was not in the photo, rarely do upper floors or roofs change. It may be that the bar from 1915 was destroyed in German shelling in June 1944 after the Americans captured the town, if so it was rebuilt post war and certainly as with most stores and shops around town modernised since the rebuild. So maybe this is the best that I can offer by way of comparisons. a 1915 photo, a 1944 photo, a 2026 photo. Not a definitive identification but note the striped material of the sun blind in the first and second photo, by 1944 this might be a replacement of the 1915 sun blind !!!!!!! Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 05 July 2O26. ..
July 5Jul 5 #30705 . Carentan 1944 - 2026 I made more use of my time in Carentan this afternoon, Across the square from the cafe / bar is a comparison I had been planning for a while. The damaged building in the first photograph was demolished post war and an empty plot stood there for many years, about fifteen years or so ago the building was replaced with a new build about four floors high. The gateway on the left in the first photograph remains as a modern build gateway today and due to the new high rise building in close proximity then the windows of the building at the rear of the gate were bricked up and rendered over. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 05 July 2O26. ..
July 5Jul 5 #30706 4 hours ago, General Apathy said: . Hi earlymb, I went into Ste Mere Eglise this morning with the Jeep for a coffee, the town was heaving with parked cars and tourists. So later I thought I would drop down into Carentan to take a comparison shot of the image that you posted. I went in the car as I thought Carentan would also be heaving with parked cars, sadly I would have had a perfect place to park the Jeep if I had taken it, well it is what it is . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 05 July 2O26. ( today would have been my fathers birthday had he not died of MRSA virus caught in hospital ) ... Hi Ken, that's a great comparison photo, it's amazing to see that the biggest change is the cobbles around the statue, the buildings are almost unchanged since 1944.
July 6Jul 6 #30707 On 7/3/2026 at 1:43 PM, earlymb said: I had exactly the same, a Cloudflare block for 8 or 9 days so I guess it was a geo-location issue? Anyway, happy it was solved! My guess it's some sort of blanket ban by Cloudflare. I've had this happen before, but only for a couple of IP-addresses (like my office PC) and it only prevented me from visiting the US MIlitaria forum home page, but not the forum. Visited a Brocante market on Saturday. Spotted a few small bits of US militaria, like a Infantry officer's collar insignia. But it was broken. Couple of German insignia as well, but I have doubts about their authenticity. So I came home a folding flower rack (that was typically splashed with white-wash and distressed, as is tradition with brocante sellers) 😁 Sunday, I visited the "Wings of Liberation" museum in Best to take some photos. It was host to a multi-period re-enactment event. Talked to some familiar faces in the hobby, and watched some knights in full kit going at it in their little MMA arena
July 6Jul 6 #30708 16 hours ago, earlymb said: Hi Ken, that's a great comparison photo, it's amazing to see that the biggest change is the cobbles around the statue, the buildings are almost unchanged since 1944. . Hi earlymb, The building in line behind the French flag to the left of the monument was the town bank, pre-war and shortly afterwards but it became empty for many years as there were / are five other banks surrounding the main carpark. The road to the right of the monument was the original main route N13 from Cherbourg to Paris, this route passed through all the larger towns from Cherbourg to Carentan and on to Paris. This family are stood at the corner of the bank and the sign above indicates Paris, most of the main route signs were paid for prewar by the Citroen car company, as they also included their company logo of two inverted stripes on the sign, the Citroen name is on the lower edge of the sign, Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. ..
July 6Jul 6 #30709 . Jeeps and Cars, never confuse the two . . . . . . . A while ago I had issues with starting my Volvo estate, that was until I realised I was trying to start it in the same way that I start the Jeep. Before engaging the starter motor on the Jeep I have always flipped the accelerator down lightly twice, this enable a couple of squirts of petrol to enter the inlet manifold prior to starting and always initiates the starting procedure. Sadly with my mind elsewhere I got into the habit of unconsciously trying to start the Volvo with two flips of the accelerator, which it disliked immensely, the Volvo has a far more sophisticated system for starting. I was in effect flooding the system, the correct starting is foot on the brake and foot OFF the accelerator and turn the key and it will start, everything back to normal again after that. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. ..
July 6Jul 6 #30710 1 hour ago, General Apathy said: . Jeeps and Cars, never confuse the two . . . . . . . A while ago I had issues with starting my Volvo estate, that was until I realised I was trying to start it in the same way that I start the Jeep. Before engaging the starter motor on the Jeep I have always flipped the accelerator down lightly twice, this enable a couple of squirts of petrol to enter the inlet manifold prior to starting and always initiates the starting procedure. Sadly with my mind elsewhere I got into the habit of unconsciously trying to start the Volvo with two flips of the accelerator, which it disliked immensely, the Volvo has a far more sophisticated system for starting. I was in effect flooding the system, the correct starting is foot on the brake and foot OFF the accelerator and turn the key and it will start, everything back to normal again after that. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. .. Sounds like you really put your foot in it 😁. mikie
July 6Jul 6 #30711 46 minutes ago, mikie said: Sounds like you really put your foot in it 😁. mikie . mikie, you really auto stop making car puns . . . . . . it just accelerates me to reply. What's the difference between a car insurance company and a new puppy, the new puppy stops whining after a couple of weeks. . . . . . . . . What's the difference between a Land Rover and a golf ball, you can drive the golf ball more than a hundred yards . . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. ..
July 6Jul 6 #30712 On 7/5/2026 at 4:09 PM, earlymb said: After a two-week break, work on the jeep has recommenced. We actually spent the whole day working on the wooden top of the battery case. The first job done was marking and drilling the holes for the Optima battery's terminals into the thin wooden sheet that will be the cover. . hi earlymb, well that's got the makings of a battery case that would fool most people when it's finished. have you realised what you can do with the old dead batteries, you could give them away free of charge !!!! 🤣 Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. ..
July 6Jul 6 #30713 13 minutes ago, General Apathy said: . mikie, you really auto stop making car puns . . . . . . it just accelerates me to reply. What's the difference between a car insurance company and a new puppy, the new puppy stops whining after a couple of weeks. . . . . . . . . What's the difference between a Land Rover and a golf ball, you can drive the golf ball more than a hundred yards . . . . . Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. .. 🤣🤣🤣
July 6Jul 6 #30714 2 minutes ago, General Apathy said: . hi earlymb, well that's got the makings of a battery case that would fool most people when it's finished. have you realised what you can do with the old dead batteries, you could give them away free of charge !!!! 🤣 Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. .. 🤣🤣🤣 Recharging batteries is revolting. mikie
July 6Jul 6 #30715 10 hours ago, General Apathy said: . Hi earlymb, The building in line behind the French flag to the left of the monument was the town bank, pre-war and shortly afterwards but it became empty for many years as there were / are five other banks surrounding the main carpark. The road to the right of the monument was the original main route N13 from Cherbourg to Paris, this route passed through all the larger towns from Cherbourg to Carentan and on to Paris. This family are stood at the corner of the bank and the sign above indicates Paris, most of the main route signs were paid for prewar by the Citroen car company, as they also included their company logo of two inverted stripes on the sign, the Citroen name is on the lower edge of the sign, Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. .. I don't think dad and grandma got the memo on how to do the Victory-sign correctly 😆 Also interesting to see that road was closed for WW1-era trucks with wine/beer barrels... 7 hours ago, General Apathy said: . hi earlymb, well that's got the makings of a battery case that would fool most people when it's finished. have you realised what you can do with the old dead batteries, you could give them away free of charge !!!! 🤣 Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 06 July 2O26. .. 🤣
July 7Jul 7 #30716 On 7/2/2026 at 3:06 PM, Mr_Flibble said: wOOt! I'm back! Apparently I was banned from visiting the forum for some 10 days. No idea why. Also back from a extremely hot weekend in Germany, visiting the Panzer museum in Munster, Gedenkstatte Bergen-Belsen and the Helicopter museum in Buckeburg. On the way over we also stopped at the Memory Libration Museum in Nijverdal. . Hi Flibble, I hope this link works it is a British army documentary on Youtube, it shows the British army learning postwar from the German technicians of how to build, transport, fuel and fire the A2 rocket with which they bombarded London in the final months of the war. https://www.youtube.com?watch?v=ek3yh-AyAZU Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 07 July 2O26. ..
July 7Jul 7 #30717 On 7/3/2026 at 9:39 PM, General Apathy said: . Hi earlymb, Sorry to say that I had used up my phone battery photographing the parts being dug up, When I got to the Jeep I had very little battery left, so for today these three shots are it, one being the inner wheel arch drivers side he had just managed to get most of the grey overspray off. I will try again after the weekend. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 03 July 2O26. .. . Hi earlymb, as you requested this is the air-horn that is on top of the carburettor, not necessarily the one attached at the factory during manufacture but it's the one presently on there, I am not certain it will answer any questions you have on the air-horn. You will see that it is a brand new ' possibly reproduction' carburettor that has been fitted on there recently before shipping from the USA. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 07 July 2O26. ..
July 7Jul 7 #30718 . Longest Yarn Part 2 / Britain at War. The second 80 metres showing Britain and the home front is currently on tour in the UK, it's just reached Nothe Fort in Weymouth and will be on display until the 24th of August. https://nothefort.org.uk/events/the-longest-yarn/ The first 80 metres are still in residence in Saint Hilaire-Petitville, Carentan, this covers the events around D-Day preparations and the airborne and sea landings in Normandy Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 07 July 2O26. ..
July 8Jul 8 #30719 16 hours ago, General Apathy said: . Hi Flibble, I hope this link works it is a British army documentary on Youtube, it shows the British army learning postwar from the German technicians of how to build, transport, fuel and fire the A2 rocket with which they bombarded London in the final months of the war. https://www.youtube.com?watch?v=ek3yh-AyAZU Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 07 July 2O26. .. The Link is broken for me, but I've found it through the YT search. Thanks. Interesting stuff. Got to admire some of the breakneck engineering that went into the wunderwaffen. The V-1 is practically a toy compared the liquid-fueled rocketry shenanigans they got up to. War truly is the mother of invention. :( A close up of the top of the V-2 combustion chamber and venturi. But to get back to US Militaria here's a shot of the M4A1(76) at the Panzermuseum in Munster Sort of a oddity in the first hall, between all that WW2 German armour.
July 8Jul 8 #30720 . photo that has it all . . . dated 1942, old American cars, two beautiful women, a dog and mention of a Jeep . . . . . . . . what more !! 🤔 Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 08 July 2O26. ..
July 8Jul 8 #30721 . House clearance find . . . . This was brought into the Collins museum this week found in a local Carentan house clearance, Complete inside inside lining, I forgot to get a shot of that as well . It will be displayed in the museum, and not for sale. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 08 July 2O26. ..
July 9Jul 9 #30722 On 6/24/2026 at 12:37 AM, Salvage Sailor said: This is not news to me, they are all endangered species ex-MGB owner, only drive on a sunny day and never more that 50 miles at a time, darn carburetors, clanking rods, you know... Now, my Kraut built Karmann Ghia, that was a joyride . Hi Salvage, I was amused with your comment only on a sunny day and never more than fifty miles from home . . . well it was an MGB I suppose. !!! Back in 1973 I made my first visit to Normandy, my Jeep, myself and my passenger, Normandy was probably a 200 mile drive from my parents house. We drove around Normandy for a week, there was far less to see back then, the museums at Utah beach and the one in Ste Mere Eglise, and the Omaha beach cemetery. we came across a small private museum in Carentan which was one French Franc, but a group ticket at 30 Francs allowed entry into several museums in Belgium, we hadn't made any plans to visit Belgium on this trip. However at the end of the first week we decided there was little more to visit in Normandy, opening a large map one morning to see where we had been and hadn't been, I spotted the name Bastogne on the map, and in a heartbeat made the decision to head there We gassed up and hit the road, my passenger map reading ( NO GPS in those days ), anyway we got to Bastogne after several more gas stops and then realised it was a 650 kilometre run each way. Driving around the Ardennes we encountered two young guys dressed as wartime soldiers, so we pulled over and spoke to them, we learnt that the one dressed in German SS helmet was an item his grandfather had scooped up when he was released from a German prison camp in 1945. The guy dressed in US pieces related that there was a huge surplus store in the village of Vielsalm so they guided us there, and it was a store that was unbelievable in the amount of items it had from war stocks, including GMC's Jeeps and halftracks. Collecting and collections hadn't really begun then, and everything was surplus prices, even what would afterwards become rare and desirable. I started by saying I was amused you restricted your driving to fifty miles, in 1973 I decided to drive 650 kilometres with no thought about doing so, well the Jeep was ONLY 30 years old at that time and I had full confidence in it's capabilities. Would I do that again now as the Jeep is now 80 years old, it would probably take some thought and pre-planning now. But I can clarify that in fifty years of Jeep owning I have NEVER trailered the Jeep anywhere, they have all been driven miles. Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 09 July 2O26. ..
July 9Jul 9 #30723 Those two pictures, no.5 and 6, with the Panther are in Houfalize, right? That one was restored a few years ago. Heh, Grottes de Remouchamps. I remember the first time visiting those as a little kid, back in the 80s.
July 9Jul 9 #30724 1 hour ago, Mr_Flibble said: Those two pictures, no.5 and 6, with the Panther are in Houfalize, right? That one was restored a few years ago. Heh, Grottes de Remouchamps. I remember the first time visiting those as a little kid, back in the 80s. . Hi Flibble, yes it was / is the Panther at Houffalize, a couple of more photos of it from more recent trips... Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 09 July 2O26. ..
July 9Jul 9 #30725 Vielsalm pictures bring back memories, couldn't believe our eyes when we first saw that lot. We were there in April 1974 and the vehicles had snow on them and looked very forlorn on that grey April day. Nice to see a picture of the Panther at Celles, think I only ever visited the once I'm hoping to drop in on my old haunts in the Ardennes later this summer, tried to get to La Gleize in June for the militaria fair but ended up with family event same weekend.
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