On Sunday 30 August 2015 00:07:44 David Wright wrote: This is quite off topic, and I probably should have just STHU.
> Quoting Gene Heskett (ghesk...@wdtv.com): > > He may have been, but it wasn't enough that he sent our "loaned" > > guns back when the festivities were over in 1945. Instead, they were > > all collected on a barge, taken out in the middle of the channel, > > and shoveled overboard. > > > > The hunters amd sportsmen of the USA loaned the English those > > weapons so that the english might have something to defend your land > > with should the Germans attempt an invasion, with the understanding > > they would be tracked, and returned to their rightfull owner when no > > longer needed. > > I think the idea of tracking small arms in private hands in wartime > Britain is a little unlikely, so I tried to follow up this story > because I've read it here before. You may well be correct, but to my grandfather they were loaned. I do know that when they left, each was equipt with a good sturdy tag/label bareing the owners name & address, well sealed against the elements. I would suspect that the possibility of a little history rewriting may have been done over the last 70 years to lesson the language from "loan" to "gift". Recall as always, that the history of a war is written by the winners. > I can find references to an organisation in the US that collected > guns and another in Britain that is said to have distributed them. > (How? To whom?) However, no mention is made of returning the weapons. > > Here are a couple of cut-and-pasteable extracts: > > 'The committee sent an urgent appeal--which appeared in the American > Rifleman magazine--for Americans to donate > "Pistols--Rifles--Revolvers--Shotguns--Binoculars" because "British > civilians, faced with the threat of invasion, desperately need arms > for the defense of their homes." > > 'Thousands of American arms were donated and shipped to the Civilian > Committee for the Protection of Homes in Birmingham, sorted for their > suitability and from there distributed to members of the LDV. > > 'Despite the lessons of the preceding years, the British government's > anti-gun paranoia remained undiminished and after the disbanding of > the Home Guard in 1944, their arms were collected and those not > considered suitable for storage as war reserves were disposed of in > 1945 and 1946 by dumping them into the North Sea!' > > and > > "Send a gun to defend a British home. > > "British civilians, faced with the threat of invasion, > desperately need arms to the defence of their homes. > > "This committee has organized to collect gifts of pistols, > rifles, revolvers, shotguns and binoculars from American > civilians who wish to answer the call and aid in defence of > British homes. > > "These arms are being shipped with the full consent of the > British government, to the Civilian Committee for the Protection > of Homes, Birmingham, England." > > But an interesting thing about the transcribed articles (as opposed > to the newspaper cuttings) is that they appear in documents bewailing > the folly of British (and, by implication, any) gun control. > > > My grandfather loaned 2 shotguns, top of the line Parkers that at > > auction today would have a starting bid of at least $2500 each. They > > were his most prized firearms possessions. He, and several thousand > > other Americans never saw their weapons again, thanks to Churchill. > > All the references that I can find use the words donations and gifts, > not loans. In one case there is an individual who appears to have used > these two organisations to solve the problem of a legal way to ship a > gun to his brother in Kent. If it ever got there, perhaps he even got > it back! > > Cheers, > David. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>