MLU / CMP meeting, Normandy, June 2009

[zemsi]

... tonight is the inofficial Aussie-Swiss-Dutch Meeting.

Will have a small Barbie with Hanno, John & Fiona and my brother at their campsite at Etreham.

Greetings
Chris

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by zemsi

Will have a small Barbie with Hanno, John & Fiona and my brother at their campsite at Etreham.

Sadly, due to other commitments, I could not make it to Normandy before Thursday night.

Friday we had a nice evening with many of the Australians & Keith Orpin. Later on Alex van de Wetering turned up as well. We ended the evening watching the fireworks at Port-en-Bessin.
It was very good to be among MLU friends from across the globe!

Hanno

[Maurice Donckers]

Ha , I was standing on the other side of Port En Bessin on the German observation post , from there you could watch the fireworks till Asnelles ,brilliant how at the four places you could see the same firework at the same time intervals. If I turned around I could see another one from Omaha.
Passed Etreham several times , but never visited the camsite , saw the Australian vehicles anyway everywere along the coast.

[zemsi]

... on last Friday Hanno and I met John & Fiona for a little traditional Aussie BBQ on Micks & Graems Jeep-Grill.

Hanno brought from Dirk some parts for Max's Cab 11. From left to the right: Hanno (Dutch liaison Officer between Max & Dirk), John (Aussie Blitz Transport & Import Ltd.), and me (Swiss Paying Agent).

As you can see on the pics, it was a little bit cold for John, the temperature dropped to 16 degrees... Just kidding, it was freezing cold (with the windchill factor), sitting on the coast and watching the fireworks on Port en Bessing on June 5 at 2300.

[zemsi]

... another Aussie MLUer who's convoying with Lang. Jim and Sandy from Perth

[Alex van de Wetering]

The day of the MLU-meeting I was a little ill and we started the day quite late. Later on, we were held up in Arromanches and arrived at Longues-sur-Mer for the MLU meeting somewhere in the afternoon, a few hours after the start of the meeting. We were walking around the Dutch camp when a GMC, Aussie Chev and Bedford QL also arrived for the MLU meeting. It was fun talking to these guys, although the club was quite small. I guess everyone had other commitments that day...so eventually some MLU members did visit Longues, but spread over the whole day, making a real meet-up difficult.

Anyway, we met Swiss Chris, John Hedges, Lang, Hanno and Jim Sewell at the campsite later in the week and caught up on some CMP/MLU talk anyway. Dropped the bike tires for Keith Webb in the back of John hedges' truck.

The Etreham campsite was super and it was fun being surrounded by MV's all the time. I remember coming out of the tent one morning, when I found a very nice Humber Snipe right in front of our tent....so walked back in the tent to get the camera. I finished the brakes on my BSA bike on the campsite in the morning-sun and even drove some km's along the coast, like intended

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

We were walking around the Dutch camp when a GMC, Aussie Chev and Bedford QL also arrived for the MLU meeting. It was fun talking to these guys, although the club was quite small.

Hi Alex,

The QL was mine, the GMC and Lend Lease Chev drivers are not on MLU, we had been on the MVT run to Hill 112 hence why we were late. Nice to meet up with a few guys there though. I went up to Longues again later in the week and as we turned in by the shop, a Veteran pointed at the QL, we had barely stopped in the campsite before he appeared. Apparantly he was talking to one of our members saying that he had not seen a QL since he drove them in the Army, then we drove around the corner. He had his photo taken in the cab and I am sure it made his week.