What's up at home today...?

Who knows, how many "souvenirs" of WW2 are still sleeping in hidden areas...?

Well Morty, of course i don't know much about other places in other countries but what i can say is that here, in Brittany, such discoverings of WW2 ammunitions is something very common. Each time a new construction site is planned in cities as Lorient or Brest, there is a lot of chances to find such "souvenirs" and also, in the countries in center of Brittany, many farmers find WW2 bombs and others explosives when they work on their fields. Also, in WW1 battlefields in France, there are still areas indicated very dangerous and even forbidden because of the presence of all the explosive muck which the ground still holds, and we can easily understand that this situation is going to last, considering the blunder of the work to be carried out if we wanted to search everything in depth. This specific discovery in Locmariaquer is special only because it was the work of the storm.

Peaceful landscape, a nice place to live at, isn't it...?
Far beyond civilization, surrounded by pure nature...

Well, each fact is true, but...

at the same time, this is the largest souvenir of War ever.

The farm is nowadays named "La Basse Cour" (its original name was "Petite Douve Farm").
But what happend there?

very simple:
WW1 the Battle of Messines, near the town Ypres, Belgium
deep under this farmhouse is sleeping the biggest unexplodet bomb ever, a 50,000 lb mine.



A very informative report you can find here
Another one here and a recent photo-sightseeing-tour about WW1 you will find here

YouTube-video: Digging Up The Trenches of WWI

The SNAFU Special is a mythical Dakota that was involved in all major airborne operations of World War II.





Named Douglas C-47 -A -80- DL, manufacturer number c / n 19539, it was delivered to the USAF January 29, 1944 under registration number 43-15073. On March 11, 1944, it was assigned to the 8th U.S. Army Air Force and, on April 17, 1944 , to the 9th U.S. Army Air Force in the 95th Troop Carrier Squadron based in Exeter ( marking door 9X ) in the 440th Troop Carrier Group.

He participated to:

Operation Overlord
Operation Dragoon
Operation Market Garden
Operation Repulse
Operation Varsity

Sold to Czechoslovakia after WW II, it is converted into airliner before being bought in 1960 by the French air force who sells it to Yugoslavia in 1972. Strafed on ground during the Balkans war in the early 90s, he was discovered on the Rajlovac base, near Sarajevo, by a French UN peacekeeper who identifies it and begins early research on its history. Repeatedly saved from destruction, it became in 1994 a military bar, “Dakota club”, for EUFOR troops stationed in Bosnia - Herzegovina.

After six months of intense negotiations, sometimes at the highest level, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina decides to offer to France the wreck of SNAFU Special on November 12, 2007. This decision comes at the same time of the day dedicated to veterans in the United States and follows a considerable mobilization of both sides of the Atlantic. In Normandy, Merville Dakota Association team managed to reconstruct the history of this aircraft, collecting the money for its return and restoration ( € 90,000 ) from more than 450 donors. In the United States, veterans who served in this aircraft and families of various crews were mobilized and alerted the press to defend the project.

On June 7, 2008 took place the ceremony marking the return of SNAFU Special in Normandy, attended by the President of Bosnia and Ambassador of the United States in Paris. Two former pilots of SNAFU Special, Lieutenant Eugene Noble and Henry Moreland were also present.

Chris Buckner, the son of Joseph R. Buckner, who was radio operator onboard from April 1944 to May 1945, then told the U.S. media : "I caress the fuselage with my hands and it's as if i touched a part of my father's life."


On January 2014, on decision of French Ministry of Culture, the SNAFU Special becomes an Historical Monument and thus, as such, this veteran is from now under ministerial protection. According to the newspaper Ouest France , it's the first plane of WW2 that got this status in France.


See also here , the website of French Snafu Special Association.

Who said that everything went badly in France? Everything goes well, nice people. Our factories close one after the other but France is always the fourth world exporter of weapons and is very proud that her most mattering customer this year, with 28 % of the orders, is this great democracy that is Saudi Arabia...

Some pictures of Iroise sea , taken on saturday February 1st, 2014.

The lighthouse of the Jument, off Ouessant, island of Sein and the lighthouse of Tévennec on its rock peak.



Also here , wonderful pictures of the storm Petra, taken by Benoit Merle In Lomener and Quiberon, near Lorient.