What saddens a lot of people here in the Netherlands (including me!) is this:
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What city fathers really wanted was a Sherman tank, with its 75mm gun, as a monument.
“Too bad they didn’t ask for it 60 years ago,” quips Tojo. “A lot of them were lying around after the battle.”
As it turned out, Canadian military attaches scoured Europe and found that the Dutch War and Resistance Museum in Overloon had a Sherman which they’d sell for $90,000.
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The Overloon museum management, in their eternal wisdom, decided to sell a genuine Overloon battle Sherman veteran. Not just any old Sherman, but good ole "Cookie". This M4 Sherman was part of Task Force Brown, Combat Command "A", 7th tank division, and was abandoned by it's crew when it ran in a ditch during the battle. As someone who spent many years on compiling the
Sherman Register, I can tell you that of the thousands of still surviving Sherman tanks, only few have a known war history. Even less are left at the spot where they fought for freedom. This is a truly unique tank!
Now the Ortona memorial - which I wholehartedly support - is graced with a Sherman of a type the Canadians did not even use. For a budget of $90,000 I could have gotten them a host of Shermans to choose from.
Hanno
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picture source)