I posted the four pages from my presentation that pertain to this site, they don't make a lot of sense unless you have been following this thread.
http://hila.webcentre.ca/514/514_squadron.html
With the images on-screen I spoke about this site, the development of the story, the people who contributed etc. - the pages make sense with the narrative.
Wayne

A very nice presentation indeed. Are some of the veterans your former crew members?
I will take many more pictures next time I go to St Cloud. I will try to push it as far as Freteval. Erich, I will have a picture for you later today. It's a picture from the fities with a former Falk platform on top of a church tower at the Chateaudun runway. The Germans took off the roof because it was too high for aircraft which may not notice it on time. Also it was a strategic place for a flak gun. The roof was restaured in the fifties.

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This is the church tower which used to have a Flak battery on it. It's at Lutz en Dunois, which is less than a mile from the Chateaudun base and one mile from Saint Cloud en Dunois. Many allied aircrafts fell near that place, including a B-24 bomber in march 1944.

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Yes,on the 100fr note the names in red ink are some of my crew members.
Here's a bit about ammumition. While in an American hospital under canvas I saw a soldier who was being treated for wounds from wooden bullets. They had splintered on striking the bone in his arm. The medics told me such wounds were difficult to deal with as they did not show up on X-Ray. I somehow aquired a small number of these that ended up back home with me. The calibre was about.303 with a brass cartridge and a wooden bullet. They were painted in different colours. They were live shells and I won a round of drinks in the Legion by some who disputed my claim.
I'm sure I was told the enemy used them but I can't comfirm that. They may have been practice rounds. This would be third week in August/44 at an unknown distance from Orleans (Patton's 3rd Army). More info on wooden bullets? They existed. Enough for tonite. Cheers Alex Campbell

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The wooden bullet story is amazing. I have heard several veterans who mentionned those. These were fit for rifles only. This is why most veterans stories are post D-Day, but they existed before in all kinds of colours, red, black and others I dont remember. These were firstly practise rounds, although not blanks. They were ok for short range combat and have apparently been used in combat by soldiers who had nothing else left to fire with. Splinters were painful and could easily get infected. However they were not as deadly as metal bullets, but good enough to get a man off the field. The germans used these for practise because they were cheap and helped to save metal.
If the wounded GI you mention was hit near Freteval, it must have been around August 13th. Orleans was liberated on August 16th.

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Dad e-mailed images of shoes he bought in France in 1944.
Shoes
" I bought these in either Le Mans or Orleans.
The name inside reads J. TACHON with S 9 R 1 4 4 just below it. The underside reads S 9 R"

Look like wood soles. He will post more details.

Wayne

These shoes were new and not worn till I got home. They may have been made in 43 as shown underside. We enjoyed a treat at a sidewalk cafe, first I'd ever seen. This could have been in Orleans where we were welcomed after some suspicious glances. Not much wonder as we were dressed in a great variety of clothing. This would be when we were preparing for our journey westward. We sat at lavish tables and had strong coffee liberally diluted with Calvados. Fourteen of us were assigned to one vehicle, a Dodge tandem truck with benches. This is the one that overturned later on. Hope to locate another piece of German equipment to show you.
Talk later thanks EA Campbell

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Amazing. The shoes are indeed a relic. I will ask Orleans veterans whether they remember a shoemaker called J. Tachon. This is the kind of stories I like. The local drink you had is called café-calva. It is an old fashioned drink that is still offered to guests in some places. The younger generations does not add Calvados any more (too strong). I didn't know you actually visited Orleans. I know some of you went to Bricy because that's where Joe Foreman met his pilot Robinson who he thought was dead in his crash, but was in fact saved by a farmer. (this frenchman is still alive and is a great man, who fought in the resistance and joined the regular army at the Lorient front in 1944-1945).Please tell us more about your stay in Orleans

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Skipper I cannot confirm the exact location of these events. I don't wish to disappoint you in having to tell you later that that it was not so. I,m sure some of my books will give the date of the accident in the truck. They told us we were being taken back to near the front lines where the hospital tent was newly located. Again this could be Aug 14th to 16th? I do know the 3rd Army was moving rapidly. We were joking with our Bomb Aimer Chappie about Le Mans when we saw a string of bombs had fallen 2 miles out in the fields. It was our first target back in May.
Thanks for the prompt and meaningful replies.
Cheers Alex Campbell

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If you were taken back to the the front it was probably LE MANS, especially if it was before August 16th. There were still fights going on in Orleans. I have a hint. The germans at Bricy spend the entire night between August 15th-16th blowing up their depots and buildings. The explosions lasted for hours and could be heard from miles. So if you were around you may have heard these. Another hint: at LE MANS, you were probably offered some Rilettes, which is a local sandwich spray porc meat speciality and easy to recognise because the farmers sealed the jars with the fat , so if you didn't know, you thought somebody had offered you a pot of disgusting fat...

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Dad sent some images of another memento from WW2, a German backpack. The outer cover of the backpack is hide (horse?)
German Backpack
Anyone seen a backpack like this before?
Dad will post more information about this.

Wayne

Backpack: This unit displays expert workmanship. It had been used at one time and is still in good shape. There was a name scribed in ink which has now completely ceased to exist. The only markings consist of three lower case letters- eee- with the number 43 right below. They are clearly stamped into the wide black leather near the horse hide.This pack also was found in Freteval Forest.
It must have been Rilettes we had. A farm lady came out with a stone or earthen tub some 4 inches wide. Under a thick layer of fat were chunks of preserved pork. They were indeed tasty. Also tasty was our next surprise. A cloth bag containing a ball of cheese was offered to us. The contents had a rather leathery skin. Between this skin and the main ball of cheese was a thin creamy layer. In this layer dwelt a number of tiny wiggly creatures which was rather disconcerting. However we did manage to eat a few with no unpleasant results.You folks help to bring back memories,its interesting. Well time for bed Cheerio Alex Campbell

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Regarding the cheese with maggots, this site:
Beginner's Guide to French Cheeses
has this reference:
"Be warned, though, that the rinds of very hard, old cheeses become infested with cheese mites, even maggots after aging a year or more, which add a special pungency."

Forgive me for again butting into this fascinating thread but the backpack appears to be a standard German army issue M34/M39 'tornister' rucksack.
Cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Adam,
You are not butting in at all! Searching with your term "tornister" this came up:
Tornister

That most certainly is the backpack and they were used as props in Starwars!

Wayne

This is a link to the Le Mans "Rillettes". If the link is in french, there is an English translation link available at the lower left angle of the first page. And guess what: it's also a Canadian specialty called "Creton" in Quebec. You will read that this "could be offered to a guest of honnor"
The German rucksack is a nice relic. You could almost open a private museum with all these items

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rillettes

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We managed to get some more memorabilia images uploaded:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewc.hila/1944

The images include some items from my standard RAF issue escape kit and a couple of cigarettes from that period.
The Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer was used to calculate true airspeed, course and altitude.
I'll add more details in a future posting.

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Those pictures are fascinating. It is like going back in time. Gauloises cigarettes still exist nowadays. I noticed you even have the matches that go with the package. The Dalton computer looks like a quite sophisticated navigation item. It's incredible that you actually kept all these things. Thank you for sharing this personnal collection with us.

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Escape Kit-1) The large tube was likely tooth paste.
2) The Autostrop razor was made in England. A thin leather strap or belt was looped over a door knob then fed between two rollers on the razor (not visible here).Pulling the strap taught with one hand the razor was then pushed and pulled which flip-flopped the blade with each stroke honing it to a keen edge.
3) A tiny stick of shaving soap is seen next to the razor.
4) Tooth brush bristles must have been bio-degradable. The back may have been of whalebone or ivory.
5) So Gauloises are still available. Starting smoking in 1937 I quit in 1977 before it became a habit.
6) Next,I believe, are two Halizone tablets. While on a daytime journey to Freteval Forest Jonesy and I dissolved four of these in a wine bottle filled with water from a slime covered sheep bucket. We enjoyed it tasting of chlorine.
7) The Dalton computer was widely used in pilot and aircrew training. It strapped on to your leg.
8) The Aircrew Manual I never ran across. I aquired it a few years ago.
Although tardy I must add my congratulations to the composers of this fine new format. I am becoming more and more convinced that I did not win WWII all by myself. I had no desire to join the navy and be trapped underwater in a submarine. The army had powerful tanks but you could be caught inside and incinerated in a "brewup". This has taken long enough.
The hurrier I go the behinder I get. Cheers Alex Campbell

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Forgot the soap. Bottom right is a grey rectangle. This is a type of soap made from fine sand and I suspect blue clay. Rather than a soapy lather it produced a grey slime which soon gathered in the basin at the Arthurs' house. Hope to send a more explicit photo of the VALET razor. EAC

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This is absolutely fascinating. The water must have looked disgusting after a few days. I still haven't figured out why water was such an issue at the Arthur's. All the people I talked to said there was plenty of water (remember the Freteval creek) One possibility is that the germans could have suspected a presence if all the sudden farmers multiplied the amounts of water they used . I am about to write a letter to the Mayor of St Cloud and ask him if there are any survivors that would accept to meet me for my next visit.

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