Spotting in America

[kerick]

I've always had the crazy idea of making a book or a listing of displays like this and their locations.
Someone has probably already done it.

[NARSES2]

What's the (presumably) anti-tank gun ?

One thing I've noticed is that the American Legion has a stricter door policy than it's British counterpart  I just can't imagine that sort of stuff being on display anywhere near public land in the UK let alone outside a club serving beer. I assume the American Legion is licensed ?

Great pics btw Capt 

It's an 3-inch Gun M5
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-inch_Gun_M5

Why should there be problems displaying old tanks near beer-serving clubs? I suppose the tanks aren't filled up, and anyway I doubt their engines would start.

Firstly thanks for identifying the gun. It just didn't look "American" to me with that shield.

As for problems with displaying tanks etc outside pubs/clubs ? I must admit I have no personal experience of the issues Martin H describes and as for the graffiti Kit describes it doesn't appear to be a problem where I live anymore. No it's just the idea of alcohol and boys toys at closing time, could get interesting. Start amusing and then get interesting  It's something I just don't think you would see over here. The police would probably want to have something to say about it to start with.

[loupgarou]

But you DO have, I hope, tanks, guns etc as monuments in squares and so on?
In Europe there are LOTS of them in any small (and big) town.
One I liked a lot, a few years ago, was a Sherman in Strasbourg, in front of a school, just off the bridge to Germany, obviously with the gun pointing towards Germany, as a memento in case germans start acting funny once again...

[Supertom]

How often do you go to Mt Pleasant, Todd? Might have to make a trip to meet up with you sometime.

[Weaver]

But you DO have, I hope, tanks, guns etc as monuments in squares and so on?
In Europe there are LOTS of them in any small (and big) town.
One I liked a lot, a few years ago, was a Sherman in Strasbourg, in front of a school, just off the bridge to Germany, obviously with the gun pointing towards Germany, as a memento in case germans start acting funny once again...

In Britain, no we really don't. There are very few bits of military hardware on public display, and the majority of them are gate guardians outside military establishments where the security is likely to deter vandals and drunken hi-jinks. There are various museums and private collections that have different levels of public availability of course, and one or two examples, like the pink T-34 in London, that have been put there by private owners who have specifically encouraged people to use them as canvasses to make political points about war.

I suspect that if you proposed to put a tank on a plinth to honor soldiers in any British town today, it would get bogged down in years of objections from people claiming that it was 'culturally insensitive', 'disrespectful to the innocent victims or war', 'imperialist war mongering' or whatever combination of buzzwords they could muster.

Remember, when troops started coming back from deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, town councils were refusing to let them have homecoming parades on the ground that it might be 'warmongering' or 'insensitive to minorities'. Most of these councils were evetually 're-educated' about the difference between honoring servicemen's service and agreeing with the politics of the govenment that they served, but the fact that they had to be illustrates the underlying attitudes.

Completely off-topic but have to point it out: the row of houses I live in is called Mount Pleasant. There are at least two others in this area, as I'm occasionally reminded of by mis-directed post.

[Captain Canada]

PM me your cell number ST or post it here mine is 519-331-5744 and we can touch base. It's hit or miss when we go but I have my L1B now so I could be working at a base near you soon. How far are you from there ?

And check out this link guys :

http://the.shadock.free.fr/Registers.html

[kerick]

That's what I'm talk'n about!!!! Awesome!
Honey let's go for a drive. No place special......

[zenrat]

But you DO have, I hope, tanks, guns etc as monuments in squares and so on?
In Europe there are LOTS of them in any small (and big) town.
One I liked a lot, a few years ago, was a Sherman in Strasbourg, in front of a school, just off the bridge to Germany, obviously with the gun pointing towards Germany, as a memento in case germans start acting funny once again...

In Britain, no we really don't...

My current commute takes me past Rye RSL which has a pair of field guns out front.  Nowhere near as impressive as the IWM's guns though.

[Captain Canada]

That's what I'm talk'n about!!!! Awesome!
Honey let's go for a drive. No place special......

See you there ! lol I'm slowly going through the MI one. Might as well pick them off as I can. Probably see a few more in Ontario as well, now that I know where they all are !

[NARSES2]

Remember, when troops started coming back from deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, town councils were refusing to let them have homecoming parades on the ground that it might be 'warmongering' or 'insensitive to minorities'. Most of these councils were evetually 're-educated' about the difference between honoring servicemen's service and agreeing with the politics of the govenment that they served, but the fact that they had to be illustrates the underlying attitudes.

Completely off-topic but have to point it out: the row of houses I live in is called Mount Pleasant. There are at least two others in this area, as I'm occasionally reminded of by mis-directed post.

Yup our local council was very surprised by the pressure it was put under when it refused a parade on purely politically correct grounds. We eventually had one and now we do every Remembrance Day 

As for Mount Pleasant my first memory of that name was the huge Royal Mail sorting office in London.

[PR19_Kit]

There's an ex-WWI U-boat 105mm gun right in the middle of Chepstow about 10 miles south of me, and some 15-20 yrs ago a mis-guided youth decided to graffiti it and the town was in an uproar as a result! It's a good thing he/she wasn't found as I doubt they'd have survived!

Quite why there's a en ex-U-boat gun in Chepstow I'm not sure, but there it is.

[Rheged]

There's an ex-WWI U-boat 105mm gun right in the middle of Chepstow about 10 miles south of me, and some 15-20 yrs ago a mis-guided youth decided to graffiti it and the town was in an uproar as a result! It's a good thing he/she wasn't found as I doubt they'd have survived!

Quite why there's a en ex-U-boat gun in Chepstow I'm not sure, but there it is.

There's a plaque beside it to explain it all, but I can't remember a word it says.   I'll have a look next time I'm passing.

[PR19_Kit]

There's an ex-WWI U-boat 105mm gun right in the middle of Chepstow about 10 miles south of me, and some 15-20 yrs ago a mis-guided youth decided to graffiti it and the town was in an uproar as a result! It's a good thing he/she wasn't found as I doubt they'd have survived!

Quite why there's a en ex-U-boat gun in Chepstow I'm not sure, but there it is.

There's a plaque beside it to explain it all, but I can't remember a word it says.   I'll have a look next time I'm passing.

It may be in Welsh of course............ 

[Rheged]

There's an ex-WWI U-boat 105mm gun right in the middle of Chepstow about 10 miles south of me, and some 15-20 yrs ago a mis-guided youth decided to graffiti it and the town was in an uproar as a result! It's a good thing he/she wasn't found as I doubt they'd have survived!

Quite why there's a en ex-U-boat gun in Chepstow I'm not sure, but there it is.

There's a plaque beside it to explain it all, but I can't remember a word it says.   I'll have a look next time I'm passing.

It may be in Welsh of course............ 

True, in which case we are no further forward!!

[Nick]

There's an ex-WWI U-boat 105mm gun right in the middle of Chepstow about 10 miles south of me, and some 15-20 yrs ago a mis-guided youth decided to graffiti it and the town was in an uproar as a result! It's a good thing he/she wasn't found as I doubt they'd have survived!

Quite why there's a en ex-U-boat gun in Chepstow I'm not sure, but there it is.

From memory of a half forgotten radio show Chepstow wanted to celebrate a local chap who'd won the VC and this was the only gun they could get. It came from a captured U-Boat that had done rather well in a short career.