Mg08

saved from destruction..........

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Nice view of the jacket armour. There are repros but I am finding it difficult to locate a real one. Mark

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Didn't know that there WAS an easy end!

They are packing 80 pounds of sled-mount, 30 more of gun and another 10 of water..... unless they have drained the jacket.

In terrain such as that, that's a load!



Smellie You are probably right - I have my wife move my sleds so do not know really how uncomfortable it is. Having said that it takes a lot of effort to offer her words of encouragement or 'helpful criticism'........
must get her to wash the car today.
 
So I hope everybody had a good Christmas and New Year. I am still keen on locating parts and whole pieces in Canada so if anybody has any leads pse let me know. I heard last year that 2 Royal Legions had to close and due to the local museums being over sensitive about war trophys the items were given to the police and subsequently destroyed. I know these things are not rare but there could have been a better fate. This is not peculiar to Canada either and happens in UK all the time.
Mark
 
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Where many of these captured Machine Guns ended up. After WWI was over, there were so many of these that practically any organization that wanted one could have it.

There is even an account of a Woman in the Red Cross who someone thought did a good Service, and awarded her a German Machine Gun. No one told her about it, and the first she knew of it was when someone delivered it to her office.

That sounds a lot like the experience of noted MG author Dolf Goldsmith.

Dolf: .... By then I also had an 08 Maxim that I found playing around in my aunt's attic. I found an 08 Maxim in the attic, in mint condition. I asked how did you get that, how did it get there? She said it arrived one day by railroad express with a tag on it, to Amy Bassett, which was her name. The note said "For appreciation for your service in WWI." It was a gift from the US government for her service. I wish I had kept that tag. When it arrived she was quite surprised and she had a friend carry it up to her attic for her as she had no use for it. She left it in her attic and in 1945 she promised her son he could have it. I, of course, went to the son and asked if he wanted it. He said no, that he could use a .22 rifle, so I gave him a .22 and he gave me the Maxim 08. I still have it and the MG08/15, which I registered in the 1968 Amnesty.
 
duramaxvehtech did you have to ask local authority permission?? :eek:
or is this an official project - please send images. I am looking for such pieces but of cse appreciate such monuments are not for consideration. However if local authorities are removing them for potential destruction then I would purchase.

Great images chaps of your superb monuments - keep them coming.

I would love to know how many monument/trophy guns were destroyed in UK for the WWII wartime metal salvage effort. Several WWI German maxims or metal for a spitfire = it would not have been a difficult choice then.
Mark

Yes i did have permission. The local town council wanted it re done. Its now back up there and looking good.
 
Super job and great that it is preserved for at least another 100 years! Sadly that is not the case with many other MG memorials or items held in Veteran's clubs. All I ask is that if any members hear of such disposals please have them get in touch with me? I would rather pay and preserve than see them destroyed.
Mark
 
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