M4 Medium Tank "Cookie" will return to Overloon war museum

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Some more photos of Cookie:


1950's picture postcard:
37828796_1794576983954611_8891073333446049792_n.jpg


Most likely taken somewhere in the 1960s:
77318890_2601983053213996_5345074838388080640_n.jpg
Source: https://proxy.archieven.nl/0/6299426...14CEF5897CC3E2

[maple_leaf_eh]

This story is about the practise of monuments as simple symbols without recognizing that individual tanks have important singular histories of their own. As I recall, a couple of strong personalities thought a tank is a tank is a tank, and Cookie's story in the Netherlands was undervalued when she was relocated to Italy.

Someone wanted a Sherman as a monument, and followed the path of least resistance to get one. By hook and by crook and by Golly, they were going to got themselves a monument. Supposedly that was going to be the end of the story. Can everyone hear the tinkle of ice in drinks behind the chatter of corporate donors, smell the well-perfumed crowd of onlookers, and hear as the conversation moves on to something else? Some people in some circles don't know what they don't know.

Except, unlike art museums and art dealers exchanging expensive paintings as commodities, there are other people who knew and cared more about what Cookie represented than someone getting a tank plonked down in a public place. I am very pleased the Dutch have been able to correct this mistake, and recover their historic piece.

[David Herbert]

I agree with Terry !

David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

This story is about the practise of monuments as simple symbols without recognizing that individual tanks have important singular histories of their own. As I recall, a couple of strong personalities thought a tank is a tank is a tank, and Cookie's story in the Netherlands was undervalued when she was relocated to Italy.

Someone wanted a Sherman as a monument, and followed the path of least resistance to get one. By hook and by crook and by Golly, they were going to got themselves a monument. Supposedly that was going to be the end of the story. Can everyone hear the tinkle of ice in drinks behind the chatter of corporate donors, smell the well-perfumed crowd of onlookers, and hear as the conversation moves on to something else? Some people in some circles don't know what they don't know.

Except, unlike art museums and art dealers exchanging expensive paintings as commodities, there are other people who knew and cared more about what Cookie represented than someone getting a tank plonked down in a public place. I am very pleased the Dutch have been able to correct this mistake, and recover their historic piece.

Terry, well put - but in itself the motives to establish the Ortona memorial were very honest, and it was no mean feat to realise it - see this thread: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7443

Sadly, the museum offered the wrong Sherman for this worthy cause: instead of selling an anonymous, but correct type of Sherman, they sold an inccorect type of Sherman and most importantly - a genuine battle relic

To make a long story short, "Committee Sherman tank Overloon" - a group of local enthusiasts - have corrected the museum management's mistake. First by making sure a proper tank memorial was established in the middle of Overloon village and outside the museum's influence, then they set to work to get Cookie back. They did an amazing job on both tanks

[Ed Storey]

The story about Cookie and its return to Overloon was documented in the most recent No. 188 edition of After the Battle Magazine.

Ortona Sherman Swap [1].jpg Ortona Sherman Swap [2].jpg

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Reading that, what I find odd is that the Overloon museum had the correct type of Sherman that they weren’t using, but sold the wrong type, that they were, to be a memorial in Italy.

But I guess this comes back to a common complaint about museums: a lot of them don’t seem to actually know much about what they have. (See, for example, comments by Mike Starmer on another forum about the repainting of British tanks at Bovington, using some random military-looking green paint from a DIY store.)

[James P]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

Reading that, what I find odd is that the Overloon museum had the correct type of Sherman that they weren’t using, but sold the wrong type, that they were, to be a memorial in Italy.

But I guess this comes back to a common complaint about museums: a lot of them don’t seem to actually know much about what they have. (See, for example, comments by Mike Starmer on another forum about the repainting of British tanks at Bovington, using some random military-looking green paint from a DIY store.)

Hey, give them some credit for at least attempting to paint them in a "military looking" paint, see the paint shot all over the tanks at the CFB Borden museum to truly see how low the bar can be set.

[Ed Storey]

For years I have been curious if other museums are as cavalier with their artifacts as military museums are? We know art museums don't display their collections outside for the birds to nest in and the kids to climb on but do the other museums loan and exchange their material like a kid with trading cards?

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by James P

Hey, give them some credit for at least attempting to paint them in a "military looking" paint

His actual complaint was not so much that they took a military green from a DIY store, but that they have one of the world’s best collections of original British manuals, instructions and more for this kind of work, and didn’t bother looking at them to see which colours the vehicles should have.

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

At the time they sold Cookie, there was an ongoing conflict between the Overloon museum and the people from the Marshall museum collection. The M4A4 was in the Marshall museum collection, so if Overloon would have sold that one to Italy, than I am sure the conflict would only have gotten worse!

Ah, that makes sense, yes. Better sell the one you own than one you don’t.