Normandy 2014

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Right guys - who's going to Normandy this year?!?

Post your details in this thread so we can find each other if wanted / need be.

Thanks and see you there!

Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

I'll be staying at the Commonwealth camp at the Batterie de Longues, together with a group of some 40 Dutchmen and 16 Czechs, all with Canadian and British vehicles. Am looking forward meeting Thomas and his group!

Drop in if you are passing by. PM me if you need my phone number.

Address: Site de la Batterie, Rue de la Mer, 14400 Longues-sur-Mer, France

Hanno

[Slava]

I´m going to be there with a company of Dutch people with Macks.
Don´t know exsactly the camp place although you´ll be able to find me around the red Soviet army flag.
Vlad

[Harry Moon]

My wife and I will be there by the 4th of June, until the 9th.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Sleeping in a Bell tent during a rainy night - great piece if kit! Pictures to follow later

So far met people from UK (Richard F.), Italy (F15A owners), Brazil (C60X owner), France (C60L Machinery owner).

H.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

To everyone taking part in a D-Day Commemoration anywhere in the world please post pictures.

Cheers Phil

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Sleeping in a Bell tent during a rainy night - great piece if kit! Pictures to follow later

So far so good - it held up quite nice during a wet night.



Line-up at our camp:

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Liberation Parade at Bayeux, Sunday 8th June - videos shot by my sons with a small photo camera:

http://youtu.be/U80HoS2o5Ik

http://youtu.be/nF2TxtXbo0E

Not the best quality, but it gives an impression of the enormous crowds lining the streets.

H.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Hanno

Tell your son he did a good job, you got to love the crowds and smiles. Interesting how YouTube put the videos in linked to the newsreels or did you insert the link so that the Pathe videos come up with it?

Cheers Phi

[r.morrison]

God....if the streets got any narrower, I'd get out and walk. Absolutely no room for error! Good show on your boys Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Parade in Port-en-Bessin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSS4jDrNzsQ

This event was organized by Marc de Bolster, Webmaster & Historian of the 47 Royal Marine Commando Association (www.47commando.org.uk)

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Source: https://picasaweb.google.com/kmbizal...39306679566226

I ran into a group of Maple Leaf Up members. Maple Leaf Up is a Canadian club. Check out their website by googling the name.

[Michael R.]

Canadian, eh? Uh-huh. So sez Minnesota, USA. Need some names there, the youngsters are getting tall...

[Richard Farrant]

You never know who you might bump in to when in Normandy ........ Hanno with his CMP

regards, Richard

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Richard, was great meeting you there. And thanks for getting me in touch with Preston so I could join the Bayeux parade!

H.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Richard, was great meeting you there. And thanks for getting me in touch with Preston so I could join the Bayeux parade!

No problem Hanno, a bit of co-operation between the Allies !

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Just like in 1994, my truck is featured in print - but in the background!

First picture was scanned from the book WW2 Allied Vehicles by John Blackman. My truck 796 LGU is following DAP 418, another F15A.
Brian Gough believes the majority of the pictures were taken at the 50th anniversary of D Day show on the Common in Portsmouth in early June 1994. Following that show many of those vehicles went directly to the Normandy beaches and more photos were taken there.

Fast forward 20 years; the second picture is a page scanned from the French Tank & Military Vehicles magazine issue August-September 2014. On 8 June my truck 796 LGU was following 248 UYG, Neil Davis' Chevrolet CGT Cab 12 FAT, of which the restoration was finished just hours before driving on the ferry and which had it's post-restoration shakedown cruise in Normandy!

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

First picture was scanned from the book WW2 Allied Vehicles by John Blackman. My truck 796 LGU is following DAP 418, another F15A.
Brian Gough believes the majority of the pictures were taken at the 50th anniversary of D Day show on the Common in Portsmouth in early June 1994. Following that show many of those vehicles went directly to the Normandy beaches and more photos were taken there.

Hi Hanno,
The photo on the left was taken at Beltring, this was in the field that was latterly used as the stall area. I cannot lay my hands on the book right now, but a lot of the photos were taken there.

regards, Richard

[maple_leaf_eh]

Not restoration or re-enacting related, but last spring I interviewed Cpl (Retd) Stanley Fields, 5th Field Company RCE. He landed on Nan Beach of Juno Beach ahead of the assault infantry. Stanley had a safe but productive war, bridging, mine-finding, building, blowing up and making fresh water. He twisted his back carrying a bridge panel at night, but only lost a week with his section. I have a copy of the declassified DDay obstacle map of Juno Beach, centred on Bernieres sur Mer. At a mutually agreed time, I hope to videotape him speaking to the map and that day in his life.

[James Gosling]

This is the place where it all began, the start point of the Kangaroos!

A small field just to the south of Longues Sur Mer, June 2014.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

The photo on the left was taken at Beltring, this was in the field that was latterly used as the stall area. I cannot lay my hands on the book right now, but a lot of the photos were taken there.

Ah yes. Anyway, the F15A sported a sticker of the 1994 Normandy event.

Here's a 2014 "in the background" picture!


source

[cordenj]

Here are a few relevant photos from June.



Regarding the last photo: sorry....it seems hard to photograph CMPs without dodgy looking individuals hanging around them and getting in the way (and I don't mean Marc)