More earthworks at LM

[Nordic]

Found this posted on another fourm, makes for sober reading.

just did some googling in french to have some numbers about those bombs, the french mine clearing department have found in the last 60 years some 660000 bombs ,13.5 million mines, 24 million shells. 617 persons died in those clearing operation . more then 50% of those bomb are from WW1(la grande guerre) , the estimation is that 1 billion shell /"obus" were shot during the ww1 . 200 million during WW2 ,15 to 25 % didnt explode. the french government have to destroy 300 tons of those bombs every year . and now they have the ecologist on there back

[Bob U]

Wow that is a hell of a lot of explosive. Do these things deteriorate over the years and become safer due to the detonaters etc rusting away or do they become more unstable and become even more dangerous?

[Ferrari Spider]

Wow that is a hell of a lot of explosive. Do these things deteriorate over the years and become safer due to the detonaters etc rusting away or do they become more unstable and become even more dangerous?

BOB ITS THE LATER.  THAT GOES FOR ALL THINGS THAT GO BANG, FROM BULLETS TO HIGH EXPLOSIVE, MOST OF IT IS DISPOSED OF IN SITU IF POSSIBLE.  GAS ORDANACE WHICH STILL TURNS UP IN THE WW 1 BATTLEFIELDS HAS TO BE TAKEN AWAY.

[Perdu]

So now it can be told!

The ACO is pressing car makers to produce quieter race cars, simply because the old bombs are getting more unstable every day.

And the reason they keep effin around with the circuit is...

Ditto.

The more they find the less we do

 


roll on June and I can get over there and do my patriotic duty...

Carrefour will provide, - mine detectors no doubt.

now I am even more excited.

 

[Lorry]

Carrefour will provide, - mine detectors no doubt.

Its top of the shopping list.  I'm not going to knock in another tent peg without one.

This could explain why some of the firework displays are so good.  One dropped fag end and WHOOSH.

[Fax]

Tap, tap,tap....ka,boom!
All joking aside, its unfortunate that we have to discuss things like unexploded bombs burried in the sod we hold so near and dear.  There were a lot of damn good young men who gave their lives so that we can camp & drink our faces off on this bit of French turf.
They probably would've enjoyed the race too...
Fax

[Nordic]

I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to be living somewhere that was being bombed, be it london, Le Mans or Berlin.

The freedoms we take for granted came at a very high price and should be treasured not abused.

[Fax]

All of this had me thinking of a encounter I had back in summer.  One Saturday afternoon a couple of buddies and I were out for a long ride on the motorbikes and decided to stop in a little typical road side Pub.  Sitting alone was a small, elderly man wearing a cap with the insignia of a Eighth Air Force bomber group and a small pin of a B-17.  I politely asked him if he served with that group and he replied that he was a tail gunner on a B-17 between July of 1944 through Feb 1945.  I told him how heroic I thought he was and he replied very modestly that there was nothing heroic about it, just doing his bit.
I asked if he had any kills and he told me that he shares a ME-109 kill, he said he and about five other gunners put fire on it and brought it down, but he said one of their waist gunners had a confirmed ME-109. When he talked about looking out his position and seeing another Fortress hit and in trouble he became very emotional.
As you said, it came at a very high price.
Fax

[Steve Pyro]

The tail gunners position on most large Allied bombers was a cold, remote and lonely place.
You were also vunerable to attack from behind.
I don't envy him one bit but take my hat off to his bravery and determination.

[Rhino]

And of courrse a rear gunner couldn't wear his parachute in the turret, having to hope the hydraulics still work, straighten the turret, climb out put on parachute and then jump!

[Piglet]

In a similar vein, I never fail to be moved by the area around Spa, so many lives lost in both first and second world wars - civilian, Allied forces and German forces.    It's one of my favourite places and the whole area is now so peaceful it seems hard to imagine the carnage and loss of life that occured there.   We try to go and visit at least one monument or war cemetary when we are there. 

[Doris]

The war cemetarys up on the Normandy Coast are moving places to visit also.  Stopped off at one on the way home fom LM one year and was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight of the rows of white crosses.  Going to Pegasus Bridge just two weeks after the 60th Anniversary of D Day had a similar effect.  It is truly humbling to think of what people did back then so we can enjoy the lives and freedom we have today.

[jpchenet]

Ferrari Spider and I stopped off at Pegasus Bridge on the way back from The Classic in 2004 and is well worth a visit! If you do go, try to make sure you get to listen to the British chaps doing the commentary on what happened. He's one of those people who brings the whole thing to life and you could sit and listen to for hours!

[Ferrari Spider]

Pegasus Bridge not only a very interesting place to visit but also absolutely key for the British part of the assault.  Unfortunately, Mr Worthington, who gave the talk, is now at Arromanches, so you can catch him there.

Very popular place to stop, plenty of other worthwhile D-Day sites to visit.

[Neal]

The 360 degree cinema at Amoranches is well worth a visit. If the film doesn't make you come out in goose bumps then nothing will.