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Could take them to Holland Oct 5th/6th/7th but i guess that doesn't help either. For future, i am happy to help if i can, and go to our place out in France 6 or 7 times a year. Now there is girl baby Mk2 to consider, i often end up going with a half empty vehicle as Cath and the girls can't be bothered sometimes..... Next trip after Oct 22nd or so is third week in December. Can't bring it fwd i'm afraid, have to be in the UK for long enough to set off to France! Ken

Not next week, but the last week in October, and with a half empty L200, i'l be near Bayeux......

While Adam composes a prosaic update.... The Sherman has moved forward about 40 feet and in to the 'blasting zone'. Once the space is cleared to get it in to the workshop, the plan is to blast it outside, and then put it in to the workshop for the last phase of the strip down. It's only one way then.... We will have reached the point where it is ready to be put back together. The global search for parts continues. We have been distracted by a LWB GMC (to add to the distraction of the WC16 and the jeep which is nearly done) which has not helped, but we are hopeful that in the next 4 weeks or so, the Sherman will be in the shed at last.... First image is Adam and the GMC352 on Omaha, second one is of bacon fat substituting for sun cream and third, Adam, me and my son on Omaha. Any leads on Sherman parts will be gratefully accepted by any of us - especially seats, prop shaft, and a dashboard for radial engined Sherman. Ken

As far as i can work out, this legislation has been in place since before WW2, and is the UK version of the French legislation which has been causing problems in France, loosely, controlling (or monitoring) the transit or sale of military related items across a country border. Until recently it has not been enforced in the UK (likewise in France until a couple of years ago). I sent an e-mail to the address on the web site, asking for clarification of the rules; did i need to apply individually for each of my vehicles, for each trip etc and got an out of office reply. As I was summoning up the mental strength to start the registration process 'solo' the following day, i got an e-mail back, telling me how to apply, and providing step by step instructions. It appears that for vehicles older than 50 years, the std OGEL is the licence to apply for, under the category for historic military vehicles. Having only had to complete the OGEL in relation to 50+ year old vehicles, i can only say that it was a quick and painless process. You need to register with the site first to get a user name (which is your e-mail address) and a password which they send you. The rest of it is just a form basically asking for your name and address (with a text field for any extra info which i used to explain that this is a private collection some or all of which, may or may not be taken to Europe at some point). I have had my application confirmed and await the licence - whatever that actually turns out to be. I intend to carry a copy with the application number with any other paperwork i have for each vehicle if i ever take them abroad, and as i understand it, now that the application has been accepted, i just need to keep a record of any trips made, (out date, return date, destination and vehicle details) should those records ever need to be interogated. Now the flaw in the plan is that it sounds as if it is more compliacted for vehicles less than 50 years old, and of course if you are not internet enabled then you can't apply on line (which i understand is the only way). If anyone anywhere near me (Leeds) needs access to the internet, i am more than happy to provide it, if it would help - but then without internet access i suppose you would not be reading this..... Ken

The 'revised' target is no later than Normandy 2014.... There is a lot of work to do on the Sherman, and we are still short of a lot of parts for it. Luckily there is a queue of vehicles for restoration to keep us busy in the meantime. Ken

I am 'The GMC Door Delivery Man' Tony, nice to speak to you again, if only in cyberspace. Thierry and his pals came over to join us one afternoon, and we met up again on Omaha beach the following day. Curiously, he had another closed cab GMC door in the back of their truck which was on it's way somewhere.....

The guy sat on the half track on his blackberry was/is me, sending some images over to the US (and adding to the fuel log)..... There is another one of me being propped up by the Diamond T doing the same thing. The pictures taken in the courtyard, are at our place out there, about 8 miles south of Bayeux on the St Lo Road. In one of the earlier photos, there's me, Adam (primary volunteer driver) and No1 Son - desparate to be driver. He drives everything Dodge, Jeep, GMCs, Diamond T, halftrack around in the field, but he's 3 years off being on the road.....

It wasn't a moment of madness, it was a deliberate and planned event, so that we could send some pictures over to some veterans in the US. I can always restore them again if i need to. If the Diamond T had been able to make the turn to get on to Omaha beach that day, and i hadn't been 2 drivers down, i would have had all 5 thundering down the beach. That's what they were built for - be a shame if they lived all their lives behind glass screens and converted to battery power to reduce pollution. A bit of salt water and sand won't kill them - they were hosed down afterwards and 'greased' out. As an aside, i do get through a fair bit of WD40 as well.... Seeing the obvious pleasure it brought to those 29th Div veterans we met on the beach made it all worthwhile. If you've not got fed up with looking at them, i'll post some more images.... You're never far away from a breakdown - condensor went on the GMC on the beach.... And the day before, the front pipe came away from it's flange - had to weld it back. Later the Dimoand T fried it's front battery and the downpipe gasket went on the Halftrack - and finally, the jeep stopped charging.....

See below

There is something even more moving (than the time and trouble someone took to make it), in the fact that in due course, it will be swept back into the beach (by wind, rain etc. not someone with a broom), in the same way that physical evidence of the landings has been. I thought it was a magnificent thing. Ken

Someone took some time over this....

That halftrack, which used to be outside the museum and has now moved to the other side of the car park, it what stirred something in me, as a ten year old, in 1975..... I can still remember the first time i saw it, and thinking - i wonder how you get hold of one of them, probably can't.... 34 years down the line, i've been lucky enough to have got one... And a Sherman which similarly tormented me for years...... That halftrack has a lot to answer for as far as my wife is concerned.... Ken

That is the son of a pal of mine who came out to see us while we were in Normandy. I have posted some of the pictures of our trip elsewhere and there is a whole web site filling up daily with them. The point really about this shot, is that this lad (and his brother) would never have come to Normandy had we not been out there, and his Dad come along to see my vehicles out there. I can assure you that this act, was entirely unprovoked or initiated. This was a spontaneous act by a young man who realised what he was visiting. Terry Janes, puts it very well on the attached link. http://www.thetroubleshooters.com/pt-today/d-day09-122.html I found the image very moving which i why i shared it with you. Of all the experiences and images we have of this trip (which was the best so far), this is probably my favourite. Ken

And some more

As the dust settles, some more images are seeping out of people's hard disks.

Sometimes, a picture tells more than a thousand words ever can. I know this lad... It wasn't just a random photo. Ken

Went trhough Carentan on the way up to Utah Tony, was going to look for you, but looking for a big green machine, there, would have been like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Had a good trip, several field repairs including a replacement downpipe to manifold gasket for the half track out of the bottom of a bean tin, and some single filament stripped copper domestic electrical wire. Sounds better than ever and i may never have to change it..... Had to fit a new condensor to the GMC on Omaha as the tide was coming in.... Luckily it was only the condensor, and i had one.... Had to weld the down pipe back to the manifiold mounting on the GMC as well - oh and collapsed 12ft of my drains by parking the half track on top of it - digging that out was a job at 02:00...... Hope we waved at many of you, even if we did not get to meet up. Ken

Another couple

We are finally just back as well, vehicles are back to bed until they come out for Veteran's Day in a couple of weeks. http://www.thetroubleshooters.com/pt-today/d-day09-001.html Images are going up on the link above. It was good to see some of you out there, and ironic that we pulled in to Arromanches the other day just behind Ivor and Brandon (who live up the road), and last night were parked next to Dave Hebden (of Embsay/Bolton Railway) whilst waiting for the ferry - ours is a small world sometimes... It's always a relief when the loaders rumble in to view......

Sweet cakes and no milk it is then......

Sweet cakes and no milk it is then......

Vous serez tous tres bienvenu, 4eme Juin. l'apres midi chez nous, a Le Tronquay. C'est environs 15km sud ouest de Bayeux, un peu ouest de la rue de Bayeux a St Lo. Nous faisons un 'petit' manifestation le 4eme. Vous etes egalement bienvenu entre le 27 Mai et le 9eme Juin (sauf les jours que nous sommes pas la - et meme c'est jours, vous serez bienvenu, mais tanquille)..... Amities Ken

We sail Tuesday, staying south of Bayeux. Amongst others, i am taking the Diamond T, so if you need a 'lift' let me know. If you are out and about, and come across this sign, call in for a come up tea. Ken

Tony Pearson's had a fuel problem and didn't make it out of the gates. It is sort of a shame as it would have been quite a sight to recover it with the Diamond T.... There was another altercation in Elvington with an off duty policeman who was unhappy at being delayed by the convoy. Whilst my driver agreed that he did not know who this chap was, he certainly knew 'what' he was..... For posterity, i record that the conversation ended with this chap calling one of the stewards 'fat nuts' which is perhaps more of an indication of what he was himself. Luckily he didn't look up and see the kids with a .50 cal...... Ken

Last ones.