Millards at Edgcombe
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 9 Sep 2018 22:57
Martin, Oscar and Jacob Meet
Us at Mount Edgcombe
Opened in 1547, the Grade I listed
Mount Edgcombe was a beautiful venue to meet Martin and the
boys after lunch (sadly, Kim down with food poisoning) on a gloriously
sunny day.
Oh My. Since Martin has gathered some
white in with the silver his Mini-Me has come on
leaps and bounds.
Jacob and
Oscar settled for snacks as I spotted an information board on the
beach.
Then and
today.
The Information Board Reads: You are
about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many
months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of
liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” – General Dwight G.
Eisenhower, June 6, 1944
The momentous events that we now
know as D-Day, left a legacy at Mount Edgcumbe that you can see to this day.
US troops from the 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th
Infantry Division, departed here for Omaha beach in Normandy. Many would be
killed on the beachhead and over the coming weeks.
The 29th
Infantry (Blue and Grey) Division symbol represented both sides of the
American Civil War, from Maryland and Virginia.
A view from
one of the piers, looking from the seaward side, showing the huts in the
background. The huts must have been in the Amphitheatre where the duck pond is
now.
In the photograph below, the
anti-tank company is loading its ‘Weasels’: Studebaker M29 un-armoured and
unarmed tracked carriers.
In the US Navy photograph above,
the Anti-tank Company is loading 57 mm anti-tank guns
on LST 51 and 496. The prime-movers (towing lorries) are Dodge G-507 WC62 ‘6x6’
six-wheel-drive 1.5-ton cargo trucks. The Millbay docks grain silo (demolished
in 2008) is in the background. Not the ‘chocolate blocks’ on the
beach.
The US 115th Maryland (Eastern
Shore) Regiment was a National Guard unit (similar to the British Territorials)
from the Eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland; many of the men were
fishermen from that rocky shore which is rather like Cornwall.
The Regimental Anti-tank Company
and other elements of the US 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th (National Guard)
Infantry Division embarked on Landing Ships Tank (LST) for the Invasion of Omaha
beach on 6th June 1944 (“D-Day”).
The American boys would have swung
away from the beach and turned right, heading out to
sea.
We couldn’t get through to see the
cannons along the shoreline as there was an Abba-fest in progress so up the hill
we went, Oscar feigning tiredness so a quick fireman’s
lift from his dad. The boys investigated a
grotto and we passed a Frizbee course (not seen one of those since we
left New Zealand.
Football, Jacob
looking up toward the House and Oscar looking
downhill.
Time for a
rest......
Three generations
at rest.
Oscar cool
in his dad’s shades as Jacob sets about Martin in a play fight.
Bear stood in for the poorly Kim for
the family shot.
Off to the
ferry.
Down to the Edgcumbe Belle.
Waving as they
went.
ALL IN ALL GREAT TO SEE
THEM
A FINE
FAREWELL |