Honouring an old tanker, need pictures.

[Frank L.]

Well it's been quite a while since I last posted on this site, but I figured this would be the best place to go for the answers.

Recently my wife's grandfather passed away. He served with A Sqn in the 8th New Brunswick Hussars(PL) during WW2.

He made it through Italy and then through Holland. He drove in Sherman M3's, Stuarts (they nicknamed them Honey Tanks for their speed) and the last tank he crewed was a Sherman Firefly VC.

Involved in many battles and seen the nasty end of a few Panthers and Tigers made him appreciate his Firefly. I sat with him many times and he'd tell me of his antics throughout the war and the things he saw and the things that still bothered him. Unfortunately, with age came his slow decay and his ability to speak, move was on the decline....so getting any further information was not a priority, just making him comfortable.

That being said, I have an old photo of him and the rest of the crew he was with in the latter days of the war somewhere in Holland. He said he thought it was somewhere near the northwest corner just before they crossed into Germany.

What I'm trying to do is make an exact replica of his tank, however I only have the rear left portion to go off of that clearly shows the nickname of his tank, "Abegweit". His widow, my wife's grandmother, got rather choked up to say the least when she saw what I was making when she dropped by for a visit.

But I digress.

I'm looking for details on the radio box, the applique armour (if there was any) on the turret and hull sides, the style of sprockets and if they had .30cals on top for the commanders. Markings and indicators would definitely be top on the list.

It'd be awesome to find out what CT number was on the side of his tank, but I think It'd be a very long shot.

I was wondering if someone can point me in the right direction.

I've done numerous Google searches and only coming up with the same pictures that are of no use to this endevour.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards