Centurion Arrives in BC

[Aide Memoire]

Originally Posted by Dan Martel

I posted this tank's ROF serial number on another site to (...) I was referred to the Tank Museum at Bovington. For a small fee it appears they will provide a vehicle history card for those who request it.

Yes, once I see if there's any proper data plate inside this thing I'll be talking to Bovington...but I didn't have that link, so cheers.

The source of the Korea-thing initially was a communication from Borden to Cornwallis which reads:

“They [Borden] have researched the history and that particular Centurion was the only one [currently in Canada that was] in Korea”

That became a sound bite fragment which got picked up by one press outlet and reinterpreted into "the last Centurion in Canada" - which other press folks just quoted and ran with. Had we known in advance that the copy was going to read like that we would've corrected it before it spread, but it didn't work out that way, and once things get out into the media they take on a life of their own. No surprises there to any of us who've been interviewed and misquoted or quoted out of context before, or quoted in a jenga-like puzzle of reordered sound bites.

The 'stolen valour'/ hitching-a-ride thing from someone up there aways...really? Despite the fact CN's community spirit and generosity got it transported across the country - and Brent and Carrie Hill from Lumpy's Lowbed got it to our local Legion for Remembrance Day...there were still huge costs involved in craneloading at Cornwallis - transporting it to the railhead - craning it on to the flatcar...all of which was borne by Mr. Newby so at least *some* vets and other folks *West* of the Rockies would have a chance to see an example of something they'd otherwise have to book WestJet for. I don't really see a downside to that - but I notice throughout this thread that some folks are grasping for one regardless.

It's a lot easier just to ask the people involved some basic questions vs. some of the stuff in this thread, but...with some folks there seems to be this compulsion to get political over everything and take the Low Road. Not really sure who that serves. Certainly not the museum community. Certainly not the collector community. And certainly not the public.

Andy Hill