70th Anniversary of D-Day - Drive a CMP to Canada

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

With the 70th anniversary of D-Day what are people planning to commemorate 6th of June?

Cheers Phil

Hi Ed - I've got a strange calendar

[Ed Storey]

Phil:

The last time I checked, D-Day was on 6 June. I will be on parade that day.

Not sure what I have planned for the 7th...*grin*

ED

[maple_leaf_eh]

I will be remembering the accomplishments of 5th Field Company RCE. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mr Stanley Fields, Cpl (retd) who landed on Juno Beach at HHr minus with the simple job of removing explosives and other obstacles. He and his men dashed ashore and then spent 2 hrs under fire before a meddlesome German MG could be destroyed. They then got out from behind the seawall and on with their job.

5th Field was distributed into sections and platoons all across the Canadian front. Their end of the day War Diary losses were reported in the dozens until two small landing craft filled with men who had been stranded offshore were able to land and join up with the HQ.

Before going to speak to Stanley, I read about their work in the 2nd volume of the Engineer's history and some of the excellent on-line histories of the landing. Mr Fields was the honoured guest at a recent unit mess dinner and although I was not able to attend, he was the star of the show. At age 95, every DDay survivor is a bit of a war hero.

[Jon Skagfeld]

I'll be on Juno Beach in August as part of a battlefield tour.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

I've been organizing a D-Day Commemoration Convoy, for the 7&8th of June, closest weekend. Event called Convoy Head 2014 the plan is drive a convoy from the Massachusetts State line the length of New Hampshire 235 miles to the Canadian Boarder and back again in two days. Figure 470 miles should be a pretty good run.

It will be a small convoy compared to some in Europe, but we are trying to get people back into the idea of driving their trucks in Convoy. Twenty years ago it was nothing for us to have 20+ vehicles take off on 200 mile trip, but lately the numbers have been dropping off.

We have 13 vehicles and 20+ people coming on the trip. One of the guys coming on the trip is an 83 year old Korean War Veteran who is flying in from Florida just to come on the trip.

Plan to make a short loop up into Canada so my CMP can return to Canada 72 years after it left.

Cheers Phil

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

My way of marking the 70th Anniversary of D-Day was to drive my C60S BEAUTY to Canada and back on the 7&8th. Project CONVOY AHEAD our club drove the length of New Hampshire south to north and back with a Convoy that at times had 12 vehicles.

I drove my truck some 600 miles over the weekend.



Picture is from a GoPro Camera mounted on the dash of the truck more pictures to follow.

Cheers Phil

[maple_leaf_eh]

Which border post is that? Pittsburg NH to Chartierville QC? Which my father pronounces Short-shay Ville.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Terry

Yes it was the Pittsburg NH to Chartierville QC crossing, which actually the only boarder crossing in New Hampshire, the others you cross briefly into Vermont before crossing into Quebec Province.

If we had more time and more people with passports I would have really linked to have taken a loop up through Chatierville that is a very pretty chunk of country surprising how much the terrain changes once you come down that long hill from the boarder.

Still sorting out the photos and waiting for the others in the group to send me their photos and then I'll be posting a bunch.

A 500-600 mile round trip convoy is not long by Australian or even European standards but it was the longest our local club has taken in the 34 years I've been involved. Yes we have had a couple of vehicles travel together to National events but this is the first that we run 10 or more on such a long haul.

Cheers Phil

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Stuart

I'm working on collecting photos from members, and we will be posting them all to our clubs over hauled website and posting a link on MLU. I have hours of GoPro dash cam video that I have to edit to a manageable post to you tube.

Of course the dash cam was off when we meet a Army National Guard Convoy going opposite direction in one of the notches in the mountains. Would have been a great video. Don't who wast more surprised them or us.

Not so sure about the number of hours involved in restoration, yes some of the trucks are full restorations, some are running restoration, and might have a coat of paint over how they were surplussed out.

Cheers Phil

Update- Here is a link to the clubs new web page with more photos of the trip http://mvmvc.clubhosting.org/photos/

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

May be only a Free newspaper but fun to see the story and the photos. Got a kick out of the being a cover story next to a story about the Royal Canadian Mounties Musical Performance, good company.

http://www.colebrookchronicle.com/June132014.pdf

Cheers Phil

[maple_leaf_eh]

The masthead announcement is a small fish in a small pond triumph. Whoever said nothing happens in rural US is wrong. A convoy rolls into town, the Mounties are just across the border and three miscreants dig up old Dad to rummage through his pockets. All in a casual folksy tone of voice. It must be hard to write in a such relaxed tone without missing deadlines.