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ANZAC NORMANDY D DAY CONVOY 2009

Article written by Karen Bracken
Published in the 2009 Spring Issue No. 122 Windscreen MVT

The Lang Kidby led expedition of 15 Australian World War II Vehicles is now a reality. With members airline tickets booked and containers allocated for vehicles and a definite port/deport plan in place Lang says “things are coming along nicely.”

The convoy will leave Istanbul on 1st May 2009 travelling through Europe via Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France and Belgium. Their object will be to reach Etreham, France, on 2nd June where they will join the British MVT group and participate in the activities associated with the 65th anniversary of the 6th June Normandy D Day landing by the Allied Forces in WWII. “As excitement grows, and the word gets around the scale of the experience significance is overwhelming,” says Lang.

Fifteen WWII vehicles will be containerized and transported to Istanbul from NZ, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle on or around the 21st February 2009.

Expedition members carrying only their personal gear will then follow up to help with the unloading and preparation of vehicles for the Anzac Military Convoy, “a trip of a lifetime,” says Lang. “Hoops, tarps, bumpers and wheels are some to the items needing to be reinstalled and tyres will need to be pumped up.” “Once general maintenance is completed, then we’ll be ready to take to the road,” added Lang.

“Our first stop will be Gallipoli which will really emotionally stimulate those participants who haven’t been over before.” “Then south westwards into Greece and Alexandropolis, Keramoti, Thessalonika, Volos, Athens and Piraeus.” “A visit to the Maleme war graves is a must.”

“We’ll spend five days looking over the militarily significant island of Crete before departing from Patra by ferry for an overnight journey to Ancona.” “We’ll also spend a week in Italy traveling across the mountains from Florence via Pisa, Garlenda, Turin and Verbano, crossing the Swiss Alps via Seelisberg and onto Mulhouse in France, where at Etreham we’ll meet up with the (British) Military Vehicle Trust to participate in the Normandy activities.”

Finally leaving Etreham to travel to the Australian National War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux and then preparing for our departure home from Zeebrugge, Belgium on 12th June.

“I expect to cover 5,000 kms and with 30 days of travel this averages out at 160 kms per day.”

“Putting the military significance of this trip aside, it is about relaxation, and explorative sight seeing and the pace reflects this. After all, the unpredictability of traveling in these old vehicles goes without saying,” says Lang. “Members have done their best preparation wise but deadlines are always stretched with the result that most vehicles would never have been tried under these daily driving conditions, sometimes on large motorways, sometimes on country lanes and sometimes winding through the Alps.”

Photos Karen and Dale Barnard with their 1942 Chevrolet without its body in place at this stage