The Forgotten DEAD.

[LeeEnfield]

Have just finished reading this book, by Ken Small, pub Bloomsbury.

isbn 0-7475-7543-6. @5.99

 

What a well written, and gripping book, .........could'nt put it down once I had started, in my ('umble)opinion, well worth the price paid, and one of the most interesting books I 've read, for a while.

 

Subject is Exercise Tiger, the story of one mans mission to get a fitting memorial to the 946 american servicemen who died off the devon coast

on the night of 27 april '44.

 

Anyone else read it ?

 

Andy

[Karoshi]

Andy yes. I was a frequent visitor to the Slapton area a few years ago, and had pleasure in seeing the whole recovery thing develope. As a sports diver I actually dived on one of these tanks, very eery.

 

It was just stood there on a hard and firm bottom as if ready to drive away. They were a well kept secret by sports divers for many years.

 

Interesting figure there.. 946. Other writings suggest 749.

 

An (other) excellent account can be read at :

 

http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/slapton.html.

 

Regretably Ken Small died in early 2004, and the memorial is in danger of being "lost" because of " insurance risks" beaurocricy.

 

`

[LeeEnfield]

Hi Karoshi,

Cheers for that;

Respects (belated, I know,) to his family, and friends.

I Dunno, the spineless wimps that run this great country, isn't it about time to turn around and tell people, that if they are idiotic enough to climb over a tank/touch a steam engine/try drying their dog in a micro wave etc, and get hurt, IT'S THEIR OWN BL***Y STUPID FAULT :

Too many events are being ruined by this 'compensation culture',- and I don't think we've seen the half of it - yet.

 

If people cannot/willnot abide by a few simple rules, eg. Keep Off,- or Don't Touch. I don't know.

It seems that in this era of clean- plastic throw-away living, common sense has gone out the window.

 

 

Is their any way we, as a group,(military vehicle/re-enactors) can hope to change the powers that be, minds.

By that, I mean, the whole 'scene', IMPS, MVT, and all the others.

 

 

 

 

PHEW,...........Rant Over

 

All the Best,

Andy

[whistlinwolf]

Hi Andy, totally agree with you there, we had parents with wide eyed kids desperate to see inside the tanks last week but unfortunately we had to tell them sorry no can do, they seemed to understand and all left with a chunky kitkat in their sweaty hands but not that priceless memory they would have had in my younger days.

Beaurocracy gone raving mad.

My daughter worked for Asda whilst at uni and they could not even pick up a lost kiddie in the store, had to leave em bawling all on their own sat on the floor......... Madness.

I reckon this has a lot to do with why people are like they are in todays society.

 

 

 

OK rant over as well

 

Tim(1)

[Karoshi]

Living in a ferry port we often take advantage of a cross channel trip to Cherbourg. The city centre houses the docks, and a very deep Dry Basin, not a single warning sign to be seen, and NO pile of dead bodies that have fallen in!

 

You can walk along, ride your bike along and even drive your car along the dock edge, not a barrier or restraint to be seen. Perhaps they're just allowed to be responsible.

 

and don't get me started on the Tanks In Town series, Mons and Carentan, bloody great tanks live in the town streets, not A SINGLE squashed person. How come THEY can do it. Here we'd have a police cordon with linked arms a 50mtr exclusion zone, two rows of crash barriers, seated attendence by ticket entry only, and patroling dog handlers, thats of course IF Health and Safety would let you do it in the first place!

 

Give me strength.

[Degsy]

Got to agree with you about France,so noticeable last year in Normandy both at Pointe du Hoc and Longue battery at how dangerous it could be but not a sign in sight and allowed to go anywhere and clamber over anything. In this country you would not even be allowed anywhere near, whatever happened to those little words 'take care'. I could go on for hours about it but i'd better shut up in case the thought police are listening.

[Great War truck]

Quite right. it makes you wonder where it is all going to end.

 

Anyway, when i was down that way last i noticed that the other memorial (given by the USA to thank the people of Slapton for vacating the coastal area) had been dismantled. There was concern that it was going to fall into the sea so they thought better remove it first. Also the road was down to one lane due to the other one having fallen into the sea. They indicated that the sand bar was about to collapse and that there was no money to prevent the road and lake dissapearing into the sea entirely. Does any body know if anywork has been done to prevent this happening?

 

I was down there a few years ago around Christmas time and met Ken Small. A bit of a curious chap. It is strange how a hobby becomes an obsession and takes over your life resulting in estrangement and divorce. Wouldn't happen to me, oh hang on a minute.

[Guest matt]

As with many things there are two sides to this.for years Ken Small claimed that what happened at Slapton was a massive cover up by the US military and it was he who exposed what happened.this was not the case.the losses were mentioned in the press,both here and in the US,after D-Day.

 

If you do a search of the web you will find several pages on operation Tiger and Mr Small.he did actually admit that some parts of his book were based on conjecture rather than research.

 

Matt.

[Karoshi]

Lets also remember that Leslie Thomas highlighted this event some years before when he wrote his novel: Invisible Army.

 

A good read in itself.