Category Archives: Normandy Trips

Day 8: 7th June

September 8, 2012 – 6:16 pm

3rd Battalion Scots Guards, Hill 226 & Operation BLUECOAT As mentioned earlier, investigating this unit’s contribution to the success of Operation BLUECOAT has been another interest of mine and earlier in the year, I delivered a talk to the South Manchester Tactical Society about it. Having visited the area on many occasions & taken lots of […]

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Day 7: 6th June

September 8, 2012 – 5:13 pm

Swapping history Before we could set off from Bayeux to meet Bill & Elizabeth Sullivan, we’d arranged to meet up with Stéphane Jacquet who is the curator of the museum at Tilly sur Seulles, just South of Bayeux. Stéphane and I had made contact through a Facebook group interested in the 6th Guards Tank Brigade […]

By ColinAuthor | Also posted in M/Sgt Morris Sheppard | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Day 6: 5th June

September 8, 2012 – 3:46 pm

This was quite a busy day, covering Operation EPSOM, the “Scottish Corridor” and Hill 112 and then on the trail of Ray Elledge and Francis Gillespie with some “Calvados hunting” in between. Operation EPSOM, the “Scottish Corridor” and Hill 112 Last year, we had visited the “shoulder” of the Operation EPSOM battlefield when we took a look around Rauray & […]

By ColinAuthor | Also posted in 1st Lt FT Gillespie, M/Sgt Morris Sheppard, Major Ray Elledge Jnr | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Day 5: 4th June

September 1, 2012 – 8:37 pm

Still in Honfleur So, what would today bring? Typical summer weather for 2012… drizzle! Very disappointing after yesterday’s glorious sunshine, however, undeterred (well, largely undeterred!) we set off to find the local supermarket to stock up on some food for our meals and the odd amount of liquid refreshment to avoid us dehydrating! Having stocked […]

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Day4: 3rd June

September 1, 2012 – 6:13 pm

Lost in France… as usual Having had a very nice breakfast & a sort of chat with a French couple also staying at the Brewery, (‘though their English was not as good as my French!) we set off for a tour around the loop of the River Seine that Canteleu sits in as the weather […]

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Day3: 2nd June

September 1, 2012 – 4:27 pm

Still in England This was the last day that we would see England for a while, so, bearing in mind our departure time on the Chunnel, we had a stroll around an early Saturday-morning Canterbury before heading off towards the terminal. However, we needed food & being aware that a new brew pub had set […]

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Day2: 1st June

August 29, 2012 – 1:52 pm

Friday saw us heading round & into Kent, initially heading for Herne Bay followed by Reculver, RAF Manston & Plucks Gutter (honest!) before ending up in Canterbury for the evening. We’d decided not to eat at the hotel & instead, once round the south of London on the M25, headed off the motorway in search […]

By ColinAuthor | Also posted in Flt Lt John W Harder | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Day1: 31st May

August 28, 2012 – 11:16 pm

Having planned our trip in reasonable detail, we decided on a change almost immediately when the opportunity presented itself to travel down early & meet up with Stuart Hadaway. Stuart used to work at the RAF Museum in Hendon & was exceptionally helpful in assisting the research I have done on Flt Lt John Harder. […]

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Normandy June 2012 trip summary

August 28, 2012 – 11:14 pm

I actually started this in the Eurotunnel terminus waiting for our train (must be a song in there, somewhere), as the plan was, rather than in previous years when I’ve waited until after the trip to do any updates, this time to try to do daily updates. However, as any military historian will tell you: No plan […]

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