My diary of the Victory Show 2009.

WEDNESDAY
The advance party head off to start getting most of the equipment on site and start setting up, apparently the weather was a nightmare, poor guys (thank god I don’t go until tomorrow).

THURSDAY
All the youngsters meet round at mine for 7.30am and we pack the last of the gear and get away for 8.00am picking up James shortly after, this means I have 6 in the car, Myself, James, Conor, Sean (his first event), Stiofan and Aidan.

We stop off at Newcastle for some cremated bacon; I did the right thing and thanked Brian for inviting us to the service, poor pig. James then jumps in Brian’s car and we head off. After one other stop we arrive at Victory around 4.45pm.
We had a quick catch up with the vanguard then immediately started putting the tents up, by the time we are finished for the night, the camp is beginning to look like it’s supposed to. Hats off to those in the vanguard, they had made up for the slow start due to the weather and had done a power of work done by the time we had arrived. A night round the fire and a couple of cans before hitting the sack, apart from Brian off course, he upheld the traditions of the 24hr watch and didn’t go to bed at all.............nutter.  

FRIDAY
Up early and got some more tents up before breakfast. We then had a lovely breakfast, I did hear that we were a couple of rashers of bacon short but I don’t think it caused a problem.  
A lot more graft done today and more guys arrive, display looks unbelievable. For those who didn’t see it, 4 dragons teeth, 2 hedgehogs, small guard post, a working checkpoint/stop sign, a polsen 20mm quad, 150 sand bags, the shower and toilet block, 11 small wall tents (four with awnings), 9 pyramidal tents and the mess tent, vehicles present were: a Sherman Tank, a Chaffee Tank, 2 Half-tracks, 2 Jimmy’s, 2 weapons carriers, a jeep and a weasel! All of this surrounded by a ten foot fence complete with wire and barb-wire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We then had dinner; fries and Cheese burgers, just like being back at home.

SATURDAY
Up early (well most of us) and had a cooked breakfast, then set to work getting everything ready for the public, including turning the beer tent into a movie theatre showing original GI training films, the public loved it. Brian and Yogi were doing sterling work at the gate keeping the crowds moving, over the weekend we were to have over 5,000 people pass through our checkpoint.
Lots of guys milling about on the display, playing cards and such like until it was time for the battle, we also got a look at the Vulcan bombing run, very impressive, in fact the airplanes over the whole weekend very immense. Watching a Hurricane land and take off on a grass strip................does it get any better? The battle then begun, didn’t think it was great (from my point of view) due to our unit coming “in” for just the later stages of the battle, everything else looked superb, PD you are a star mate, the bangs looked awesome. After the battle we continued on the display and then had dinner, with many having seconds......and thirds!!! Night time was excellent again, lots of visitors to the “disco”; guys you are allowed to go to bed BEFORE its light!!!!!!!!  

SUNDAY
Up for a cooked breakfast again, this time with a burger added into the mix of sausage, bacon, eggs and beans.
Today’s battle was much the same although those watching felt it looked better today, hard to tell sometimes when you are in your own little 7 x 7 bubble. Eventually Broke camp and got everything loaded (it was 8.30pm) and headed for the hotel. Never thought a shower could be so good, had a Chinese in the place next door to our hotel, it was lovely, we had a good craic when we got back to the hotel. A few of the guys nipped into Cosby, but no-one was about so they headed back. Nearly everyone was in bed for around midnight, yes, we were tired!

MONDAY
Up sharp for breakfast, got the gear sorted and on our way; Dropped gear and people off here and there, took a long time to unload the 7 tonner at Hartlepool, we then headed up the road, only for the A1 to be shut due to an accident, much detours later we arrived home about 8.00pm, my bed has never looked so good, that’s me until I unload the car, sometime during the week.

Summary
I think it was the best event I have been to so far, display was excellent (we started talking about next years before we had even loaded the van up at Victory), the guys both new and old were..........well................our guys, nothing else needs to be said.

The only minus was the poor 12 guys who had to pull out at the last moment, however the positive spin on that has to be: how many groups can have 12 pull out at the last minute (this doesn’t include those who said at the start they couldn’t make it) and still muster 37 on site.

Normandy 44..................................................Leads the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Event…………………………..9/10, next year just might get 10/10.

Roll on Pickering.

My diary of Beltring

It should be mentioned straight away, as this is my diary of Beltring, the guys who were there for up to four days before I got there should be congratulated, so cheers to all of you. This event was different from most as we seemed to have men arriving all the time, usually we all arrive pretty much at the same time, The fact that we had a 7.5 tonner and 4 vans worth of kit didn’t help.

THURSDAY

Fitz arrived at my house at 7.30am, so we got his gear squared away, Conor arrived and we headed off at 9.15am and picked up Moray and Matt, it always surprises me the amount of stuff I can get in that transporter of mine. Anyway, of we went, with an uneventful trip resulting in us reaching Beltring 10 hours later (that would be 7.15pm for the lazy ones who don’t want to work it out).

It was great to see the camp up and all we had to do was unload the car and store our stuff away (apart from wiring most of the tents up with lighting), I might make a habit of arriving later; just joking Boss. Got to see my US army lighting kit as well (thanks to Gilly for picking it up for me), excellent value at £11 which will be used to its full potential at Victory, particularly as we managed to purchase a US WW2 generator over the weekend (Cheers Dave).

Met all the guys, both new and old and copious amounts of alcohol was then consumed, with our other new addition of pump, cooler and taps being utilized to its fullest in the bar, we managed to get through four kegs of lager over the weekend, I am sure that’s more than what most pubs would use!! I did manage to get to bed though, unlike some poor buggers who were forced (aye, right) to maintain a 24 hour watch on the camp, that’s becoming a bit of standard practise for some (no names mentioned).

FRIDAY.

Up early to help clean up camp and sort my other pet project, hot water for the kitchen. This was finally achieved by getting my 1936 dated water boiler up and running. Gilly by this time had made breakfast, that guy worked wonders in the kitchen all weekend, well done to you and Bradders, every meal had the guys looking for seconds (and usually getting them), thanks again mate.  

I should mention that the latrines (US WW2) and shower block was up and running, what a joy having a shower on camp, we do need to look at the water re-supply situation for both the shower and kitchen boiler though. (I do have a plan).

Time quickly rolled round to “getting ready for the battle” time, with usual confusion about guns, ammo, who, what where, but it seemed to go ok, with the Sherman, Chaffee and half-track, being joined with the 514th half-track to provide transport and support for the infantry, Cheers Mick!!! I will also mention that “C” company 29ers provided another half-track and infantry on the Saturday and Sunday, thanks also guys.

By the time the guns were returned and we had the after-battle de-brief (that always takes ages) it was time for.........yes you’ve guessed.......the bar to open!!!!!!! Had a couple of pints, then headed to the 514th show; well done at your award guys, you deserve it; a good time was had by all (although I did have to spend a bit of time keeping the Rangers in check who wanted some extra “action”, we then headed back to camp for a couple more pints then off to bed.

SATURDAY

Up sharp again, the day seemed to fly-by with the battle a bit better today than yesterday, not a lot happening around camp though, yes a proper R & R going on. Managed to see the “little piece of France” display, I won’t call it a battle, that would do it a disservice, it was a brilliant piece of theatre that happened to include shooting. Well done to Neily baby, you never fail to impress me with your attention to detail. I also watched the Vietnam battle, this was everything that was opposite to Neil’s, enough said.

Night beckoned and a mad night it was, including jumping about the mess tent, being very drunk I went to bed and missed the various police actions carried out by the 24hr guard, in particular young Keith!!! I should mention to Dale, the way to make sure you are on time for an 8.00am meeting is to have an alarm clock, not by staying up all night!

SUNDAY

Up a bit later today and helped to start getting the personal stuff squared away and general tidying up ready for the dismantling of the camp, fair play to the guys who took the latrines down. Some of the guys had a last look around the stalls, have to say I didn’t get to see any; we then had a couple of photo shoots before we went to the battle. Before this though I finally got to meet Bill and Beate and cash in some of the hugs I had been saving up, great to see you guys, let’s hope we meet again far sooner than it took to have this first meeting. The battle went well again today, with the newer guys performing particularly well. Back to camp and out of courtesy to the guy we got the beer kegs from, we then made sure these were empty.

Full break-up of the camp was then carried out before we got away at 8.15pm (after the group hug and goodbyes). Apart from a stop for fuel, we went to the hotel, arriving around 9.30pm, after a couple of pints and a bite to eat everyone went to bed.

MONDAY

Had a long lie, then headed up the road at 10.30am, we only stopped for lunch, thus getting home for 6.15pm, having dropped of James, Moray and Matt, poor Fitz still having around 1 hour 40 minutes to go before he would get home.

Unloading the vans can wait until tomorrow.

The summary is quite simple; brilliant weekend, brilliant company, so many highlights, but great to meet Keith, Chippy Steve, John, Steve C, his son Scott, Rob, Justin Timberlake, Craig and Graham and all the others who I had met before, as always it felt as though we had never been apart. I always find events with Normandy 44 more like a family gathering (without the arguments), than anything else, I will again give thanks to Gilly in the kitchen, cheers again mate.

If I have left someone out who I should have mentioned, I am truly sorry, but everyone there made my weekend, thank you all

My final thanks go to the Boss, you’re a star mate and the thread that holds us all together, my thanks for convincing me to get into this hobby, I have had comrades before but none like you.

Roll on Victory.

The guys who attended were;

Rangers

Dale
Mick Mac
Liam
Phil
Keith
John
Chippy Steve
Aidan
Richy
Ant
Moray
Matt
Conor
Wullie
Wookie
Fitz
James
Gilly
Tony P
Johny P
Bradders
Popeye
Pete the Icon
Dave
Phil Jones
Andy Jones
Yogi

102nd Cav

Dave Hogarth
Kev B.
Moray
Tim B.
Keith
Drew


Our helpful guests

Steve C.
Graham
Justin
Scott
Craig
Rob

My diary of France

Tuesday

Left house at the excellent time of 1.30p.m. (Not dark o clock!) Dave having arrived at mines the day before. Picked up Dale, Kyle, Wookie, Joe and Malky. Arrived and left the airport without too much ado, getting to Gatwick without any arrests or deaths.............score!
Tony (a lover not a fighter) picked us up at Gatwick and took us to Portsmouth; cheers mate. After checking into the hotel we went to the pub (surprise surprise). The Grey Icon (previously known as The Icon) and Zane had already arrived, with Dave, Teabag and Steve Hood arriving later. A few pints later bed beckoned.

Wednesday

Up at 5.45am to get organised; then onto the Ferry for 7.30am. Trip over was ok, we even met up with an old friend who is also a Ranger veteran, Lawrence. He was happy to see us and promptly called his “pick up” to let them know to stay at home as he would be arriving at St Mere in a WW2 weapons carrier with us.

Got into St Mere around 1.45pm then dispersed to our various accommodations, where some interesting sleeping arrangements were decided  , meeting back up in the square about 5.45pm, everyone looking good and clean shaven, well almost everyone! We then spent an excellent night having a bit of craic with serving American Army, Navy and Air force personnel, including taking one load to UTAH beach another 7 loads had to be content with a drive around St Mere. Those guys (and the odd gal) loved the WW2 vehicles!! It should also be mentioned that we also took groups of German servicemen to be similarly entertained.

Thursday

Up early(ish), as we had arranged to give two groups of American special forces a trip to Utah, So Steve, Warrior, Teabag, Wookie and myself were at the square for 8.00am. I stayed behind and the guys gave them “the tour”. Went back to the Gites, collect the rest of the guys and headed to the Maisey Battery, Grandcamp and then Point de hoc, where we again met the same servicemen that had enjoyed the trip in the morning. A visit to our good friends the Yankees was then made before heading back to the Gites (via the supermarket to load up with “supplies”). A small rest was had and at our Gite we watched some of “Zulu Dawn”. The guys headed back to the square, another good night was had with the Americans and the Vets, then back to bed, minus the “last of the hold outs”, I wonder who they were?


Friday

Headed into St Mere around 11.30am, with everyone splitting up, some going to the military fair, some to the museum, all meeting up later in the square for a few drinks, had a good craic with Allied Airborne Scotland guys amongst many others. Headed home nice and early (big day tomorrow), unfortunately one of the weapons carriers had some problems, which resulted in it having to be left in the camp at St Mere and the rest of us not getting back until midnight.

Saturday

Up at 4.30am, got the entire kit ready, met up with the rest of the guys and headed for Omaha beach, arriving at 5.50am. We formed up on the beach for a church parade attended by over 100 people; the rumours of the beach being closed had appeared to have been grossly exaggerated, glad we tried to get there anyway.

A couple of charges up the beach later, with our comrades from the 29th (not sure if I liked the idea), but the French TV people were very keen and anything that helps the public be reminded of the great sacrifice that was made, must be worthwhile.

We then rested at the beach prior to going on the “Lead the way” march to Longville. This started at 10.00 am. We marched for about a mile, ditched our gas masks and life preservers, then set off in combat order. This was unbelievable, marching through the very country lanes the poor guys fought through 65 years ago. We continued until 11.55am, and then stopped for a rest, and food for those who brought some. We set of again at 12.20pm reaching another rest stop at 1.05pm (felt a LOT longer though); we then waited until 1.40pm for the last section of the march into Longville. We reached “camp” at 02.00pm. A small parade was held, before we set out to re-enact the taking of the village. Being in the actual place at the actual time of day it happened is as close to re-enactment as I am likely to get.

A memorial service was then conducted before we headed to the bar; most of the guys had soft drinks with a couple having some pints. We stayed there for over an hour and a half then headed back to the Gites, the weather was pretty bad, so we had a quiet night in watching the “Great Escape”. Thankfully we were not camping.

What a day though, outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything I had hoped for, plus more.

Sunday

Long lie today, getting up at 9.50 am, hung about the Gite then watched the Para drop from the garden, complete with a bottle of Stella, amazing.

We then had a lovely lunch, well, when I say a lovely lunch, we had chips, beans and apple pie, unfortunately they were on the same plate as Yogi (keeping one eye on the price) had got them, thinking they were steak pies! We then headed into St. Mere.

This turned out to be a night of highlights starting with meeting lots of American serviceman (again); this included the ones we met on the first night who insisted their first night experience of being driven to Utah made their whole visit and set the tone for one of the best weeks they had ever had (their words not mines). We then met a guy whose grandfather served in France with Paton and had a copy of the prayer and message Paton gave out to his troops at Christmas 1944, a poignant piece of history. The final highlight being the trooper who come up to us and said “I don’t know you, but I wish I did, I wish you were my friends, I wish I lived next to you, it would be so Cool, thank you very much for wearing the uniform of those who came before us and sacrificed everything in the pursuit of freedom. Thank you for doing what you do, please don’t stop doing it” he then shook our hands one by one and walked away, a couple of damp eyes were visible as he moved out of sight.

Not much more to be said.

Monday

Went up to the American cemetery in the morning, many of the guys had a tear in their eye (again!) as they walked round but no visit is complete without going there and spending a bit of time contemplating.

In the afternoon we headed up to the friend of our Gite owner, he has an amazing amount of stuff he has dug out of the ground and rivers, unfortunately he also only has one hand after a 20mm shell he was cleaning went off, extensive damage to his abdomen was also visible (he showed us his scars). Some of the stuff was unbelievable including an engine and prop from a C47 down to American and English coins (and everything in-between).

A trip around the Gites and a bit of craic with the lads followed before bed.

Tuesday

Back to Pointe de hoc today and a photo at rudders CP, before heading to the Maisey Battery as 5th Rangers. The weather was shocking but then again, a bit of rain never harmed anyone. We then headed to Longville to say goodbye to the French Rangers. Great news though, when we got back the other dodge was working!!!!!

A bit of time was then spent packing and eating before we headed back into town, it was like a ghost town, so we only had a few bears then went back to the Gite and bed, giving the sickly dodge a little run.

Wednesday

Up early (6.50am) and got everything ready before meeting the other guys, sadly the sick dodge wouldn’t start, so a stressful 45 minutes was had before we set off. Dave and Mick’s poor baby was not running properly so a slow trip to Cherbourg was made. However we got there safely and got on the ferry without any further hiccups. Ferry was nice and soon we docked at Poole, we had to push start the dodge to get her off and we all went our separate ways; unfortunately she (he?) didn’t last long and had to be recovered by the RAC. The “flyers” reached Gatwick early and the nice people of Easyjet transferred us to an earlier flight so I arrived home at 8.15pm. Dave and Wookie waited at my house until Zane and Pete the Icon (he had shaved the grey off) arrived at 11.15pm (that is some trip guys!). Everyone then left and off to bed I went!!!

I have no doubt I have omitted some things that at time of writing have went clear out of my mind, for those who were there forgive me, for those who were not, will hear all the other stories soon enough.

Summary: Unbelievable week, great company, amazing sights, met so many people. I WILL be back!!!!

Rangers

Dale
Liam
Phil (Medic)
Kyle
Zane
Malky
Joe
Wullie
Wookie
Mick Parker
Warrior
Dave
Steve Hood
Yogi
The Grey Icon

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