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
 
 
 
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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.
 
 
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Oh My. Since Martin has gathered some white in with the silver his Mini-Me has come on leaps and bounds.
 
 
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Jacob and Oscar settled for snacks as I spotted an information board on the beach.
 
 
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Then and today.
 
 
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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.
 
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The 29th Infantry (Blue and Grey) Division symbol represented both sides of the American Civil War, from Maryland and Virginia.
 
 
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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.
 
 
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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”).
 
 
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The American boys would have swung away from the beach and turned right, heading out to sea.
 
 
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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.
 
 
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Football, Jacob looking up toward the House and Oscar looking downhill.
 
 
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Time for a rest......
 
 
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Three generations at rest.
 
 
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Oscar cool in his dad’s shades as Jacob sets about Martin in a play fight.
 
 
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Bear stood in for the poorly Kim for the family shot.
 
 
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Off to the ferry.
 
 
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Down to the Edgcumbe Belle.
 
 
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Waving as they went.
 
 
 
ALL IN ALL GREAT TO SEE THEM
                     A FINE FAREWELL