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War & Peace Beltring 2009
written July 29, 2009, 10:48:00 pm by Tony Pearson | 341 Views | Rating:  (3 rates) 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
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