Picture of the day

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"Bomb" a Canadian M4A2 that fought from D-Day to VE Day.

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^Looking rather shabby and neglected

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^ All cleaned up and given the respect due
 
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Unfortunately, the Bomb is loosing its new Home, since being moved from a public park to the front lawn of the Sherbrooke Hussars/52nd Medical Unit Armory ( Building has structural problems to its foundation to expensive to repair). The Government is closing down the Armory in a few years and moving all the Units into the Fusilliers de Sherbrooke Armory. Since all available land will be used to expand the size the Fusilliers de Sherbrooke Armory to make room for these units, there will be little room for the Bomb I am afraid.
 
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I imagine we've all heard of the 25-pounder field gun. Are you familiar with the high-speed/low-drag jungle fightin' version, the "Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short"?

Here's the stock model:
0.0._Ordnance_QF_25-pounder_Gun_Cobourg_Ontario_Andre_Blanchard.jpg


And the shortened, lightened, slimmer-by-700-pounds version:

25_pounder_Short_1944.jpg
 
Unfortunately, the Bomb is loosing its new Home, since being moved from a public park to the front lawn of the Sherbrooke Hussars/52nd Medical Unit Armory ( Building has structural problems to its foundation to expensive to repair). The Government is closing down the Armory in a few years and moving all the Units into the Fusilliers de Sherbrooke Armory. Since all available land will be used to expand the size the Fusilliers de Sherbrooke Armory to make room for these units, there will be little room for the Bomb I am afraid.

Won't the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa take her?? I'm sure that someone could be convinced to loan a military transporter (or even a modern heavy hauler) for a day or two to haul her from Sherbrooke to Ottawa.
 
Won't the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa take her?? I'm sure that someone could be convinced to loan a military transporter (or even a modern heavy hauler) for a day or two to haul her from Sherbrooke to Ottawa.

You would hope that community pride would kick in in Sherbrooke and that action would be taken to keep the tank and preserve it in a place of honor. This is what was done in London, ON with the First Hussars Sherman, named Holy Roller. Interestingly, Holy Roller appears to be a twin of Bomb and is also a WW2 veteran which was brought home. Both look like early M4A2 diesel variants with the early direct vision slots for driver and bow gunner and the early type of gun mantlet.

Towns and cities are always eager to pee away lots of tax dollars for a sports arena or a casino, so it shouldn`t be too hard to find a few thousand dollars for a suitable preservation and memorial project.
 
Stumbled over an older video clip yesterday.

Panzerkinder - Children of Israel

This was taken at the artillery school in Switzerland in 2004.

The clip was taken from company 2. I was in company 4, so I know the officers and sergeants in the clip personally.

At the time I served as a "sergeant on a limited contract", which means that I had just finished my mandatory time, done my NCO-school and was in fact one of the few professional full time soldiers of the Swiss Army.

A new concept they tried out at the time. Turned out, the Swiss Army just doesn't know what to do with full time soldiers. The army is quite unfamiliar with the concept.

I'm carried away. The clip was taken in 2004, just months after the "Army XXI" concept, during which the whole army was restructured. It did suck, big times.

One of the recruits was an avid amateur movie maker. The higher up didn't like it much and tried to keep it from being spread, which of course didn't work.

Quite a bit of the equipment shown is outdated now, the M113 is being phased out, at least in the mortar variant. We no longer have the steel helmets and a few other things.
 
It's illegal in this country to speak my mind on this particular subject, even when backed by hard evidence. Gee, makes one wonder eh ?

As for your opinions ... nothing deeper than the indoctrination of repetition

Wow...A real life denier. It thought you guys were just made up like the boogie man.

This is my Grandfathers wedding in London just before he deployed over to Europe as a motorcycle Dispatch Rider>


 
Won't the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa take her?? I'm sure that someone could be convinced to loan a military transporter (or even a modern heavy hauler) for a day or two to haul her from Sherbrooke to Ottawa.

Bad, bad, bad call about Bomb and the CWM. The CWM has enough Shermans on display and it would probably just be shoved into storage or jammed into some corner of the Gallery. I hope it stays in Sherbrooke, gets pampered, and a bunch of minor things corrected then displayed in a respectful and secure setting.

http://4.bp.########.com/-9YOBozGvTow/VVAFhcUjDyI/AAAAAAAAGGU/0BcGi_0RI3U/s1600/Holyroller1.jpg

HOLY ROLLER, note the pock marks in the armour. I am not a big fan of plaques mounted on the vehicles myself (sort of looks like an official "tag") and think Sherbrooke did things right
 
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Bad, bad, bad call about Bomb and the CWM. The CWM has enough Shermans on display and it would probably just be shoved into storage or jammed into some corner of the Gallery. I hope it stays in Sherbrooke, gets pampered, and a bunch of minor things corrected then displayed in a respectful and secure setting.

http://4.bp.########.com/-9YOBozGvTow/VVAFhcUjDyI/AAAAAAAAGGU/0BcGi_0RI3U/s1600/Holyroller1.jpg

HOLY ROLLER, note the pock marks in the armour. I am not a big fan of plaques mounted on the vehicles myself (sort of looks like an official "tag") and think Sherbrooke did things right

I agree about the plaques. The First Hussars DD Sherman at Courseulles sur Mer in Normandy is festooned with plaques from every Tom #### and Harry which detracts from the overall idea.
 
I agree about the plaques. The First Hussars DD Sherman at Courseulles sur Mer in Normandy is festooned with plaques from every Tom #### and Harry which detracts from the overall idea.

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And for some reason I will never understand we (Canada) LOVE painting monument guns, tanks and vehicles the most bizarre shades of green imaginable or painting it in some colour it never was in the first place (like a certain East German T72 out west or any the Borden East German tanks and their groovy cam paint jobs. I honestly take a second look when I spot one done half ways correct.
 
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It was in the local city park for years, but it was the target of war protestors. It got the weird green colour from a restoration attempt, it was eventually restored properly at the Valcartier base and moved to the Armory.
 
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Weird, really weird. Good lord if you are going to the bother of shooting paint at least shoot the right colour on, full stop.
 
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