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D-Day + 1

up196

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Two members of the British 6th Airborne, the Ox and Bucks, meet with the French Resistance on June 7 . . .
 

PADDY

I'll Lock Up
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Fantastic Brit Paras re-enactment!

What a super shot. Don't you just love those DPM (disruptive pattern material) combat jump smocks! I can still remember British paras wearing those in the early 70's on street patrol in Belfast (my home city). Then they updated it to the modern NATO DPM pattern you see today.

I was lucky enough earlier this year to see their DZ in Normandie, about a mile from Pegasus Bridge, and also got to see where the glider landings were right on Pegasus Bridge. Amazing area for history, if you ever have the chance to visit northern France.

Make sure you dress in all that kit!

Pic below is of me and my good friend from school days by the Cafe Grandee, right beside Pegasus Bridge in Normandie.
 

PADDY

I'll Lock Up
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And one of Pegasus Bridge..

The famous Pegasus Bridge...

Next time I go back there, I am taking a few weeks off and cycling around the area, just to see more of the little treasures that are hidden away behind hedge rows (the Bocage, as the French call it) that made fighting so difficult in that area.
 

up196

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Thanks for the compliment!

We were getting ready to participate in a live-fire demonstrarion of the Allied weapons used at Normandy. Smallest caliber was the .380 Enfield, visible in the photo; largest was the US 37mm anti-tank gun, and just about everything in between. You can see a .30 cal. Browning on the ground. There was a .50 cal. mounted on a Jeep, lots of Garands, Thompsons, etc. Not too often you can shoot all that stuff in the middle of downtown New Orleans and get away with it!
 

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