Military Convoy Makes A Stop in P.G.
Monday, July 30, 2012 @ 12:35 PM
One of the vehicles that made the stop in Prince George today
Prince George, B.C. – With a little luck, and some spare parts, the convoy of historic military vehicles will make it to Fairbanks Alaska.
Several of the vehicles made the stop in Prince George today as part of the trek to salute veterans and raise awareness of their contributions over the years, and to commemorate the construction of the Alaskan Highway 70 years ago. This contingent will meet up with another group in Dawson Creek at mile “0” of the Highway and carry on from there.
At least one of the vehicles is older than the highway. “Old Pokey” is a cargo/troop carrier built by a Dutch/British consortium and used by the British Army.
( "Old Pokey at right arrives- photo opinion250) Owner John Hawthorne says the biggest challenge of this journey is to keep the vehicles running “This one is over 70 years old, so it’s a bit temperamental at times. We are carrying a lot of spare parts, and we keep our fingers crossed. We’ve had a couple of problems, but we have managed to resolve them so far.”
A “couple of problems” meant the flat deck trailer being hauled by a support truck has already been used twice to bring vehicles to a spot where they could be repaired, and the trek is just into its third day.
But the vehicles are drawing attention and creating the intended awareness as folks young and old examine the equipment that was used in , primarily, World War II.
The star of the event which saw half a dozen vehicles stop at the Prince George Legion today, was the 1942 Harley Davidson WLA. Rider David King says he purchased the military motorcycle about 10 years ago and restored it. .jpg)
Complete with military police “siren” the motorcycle rode circles around the other vehicles as they entered the Legion parking lot. (bottom right, David King rides motorcycle – photo opinion250)
This trip is called “Freedom route 5”. As Hawthorne says the group tries to do a different route each year, the first 4 were all within B.C., but this trip is the most ambitious, covering a full 6,000 kms.
If folks were unable to catch a glimpse of the vehicles today, there will be a second chance as the convoy will stop in Prince George on the return trip on Friday August 17th and overnight in Quesnel that night before heading south on the 18th to Williams Lake.
Comments
Only time ever on a motorcycle was in ’55 in the cache, father took me for a ride on his, same bike as shown, good memory. As far as the jeep goes, I want one!
Wish them well with a safe trip.
It’s no mean feat, driving old machinery long distance. These people are obviously committed to their passion for old iron.
Good on them.
metalman.
Like I said before elsewhere, they couldn’t possibly build the Alaska Highway today. Why? Times have changed. Look at the song and dance this new pipeline has to go through. With the “proposed” Alaska Highway it would have to be studied to death for at least ten years by both countries, spending five years agreeing on who will fund it and last but not least consult almost every one in the phone book for their “input”. Back in 1942 there were no FNs, Greenpeace, Sierra Club etc. No lefties to oppose it. If ya did, you wouldn’t be labelled patriotic. It just got built and now we’re celebrating. Such a time, alas.
You forgot the part about a world war.
Not only that, but a highway, especially the basic kind like the Alaska highway, doesn’t present the enormous environmental risks that a bitumen pipeline does, not to mention the environmental risks of running tankers through Douglass Channel. There’s really no comparison.
Bang on, Harb.
In those days, people did not know where Alaska was …… ;-)
And for those who did, they really did not give a damn ……
And, as middle finger pointed out, there was a war …… remember, in a war you are allowed to kill people, no matter whether they wear a uniform or not … oops, collateral damage .. sorry …. allowed to set a country’s oil fields on fire and not care about the way the wind blew and where the carcinogens were carried off to …… and in cases where you want to shorten the time your troops are in jeopardy … you can drop atomic weapons …… no one is needed to do anything to make sure it is legal or environmentally sound or the indigenous people will get upset …. ya just go ahead and do it ….
And when someone flies a couple of planes into your high rise financial symbols, you are allowed to put in full body scanners, close borders that used to be open, demand valid passports where a driver’s license used to do … oh wait, no, where the answer to the question where were you born was good enough ……
Things change …… nostalgia about how things used to be is for old people ……. ;-)
So why do these things have BC license plates? and why is the vehicle in the top picture equipped with a feed or water bag bag for horses or whatever that is used for?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/westerncommand
Some pictures from “Western Command”
Notice the “jeep” in one of the images on the flickr page has a Canadian Forces license plate.
Hey, middle finger. That was the last war were every one was patriotic, composed and sang songs about it. But Japan lost the war, but now they own Columbia Pictures and the Rockefeller Centre in New York. Those are the only two that come to mind right now. The Germans lost the war and now they own part of Rolls Royce and the Mini. Go figure.
I thought the officers car was very cool looking when I seen them today. Not much of a convoy though lol.
So, Harbinger, would the moral of the story to the USA be to lose a war or two ….
right now the Chinese might be in a good position to deliver an economic recovery plan so that the USA could become a productive part of the world economy again …. ;-)
Colbert made a joke last night about the American olympians handing over their gold medals to the Chinese, payment on the American national debt.
And that also brings us to another song.
“I bailed you out when you were down on your knees, will you catch me now I’m falling, This is Captain America calling”.
The Kinks
Gus interesting ramble, care to clarify.
Hey gus. I remembered that movie from 1959 called “The Mouse That Roared”. Still topical.
Gus that’s a canvas water bag, and I didn’t see any BC plates when I was down there, seems like they all had Aussie plates. Just checked my pics, there was one BC Plate and a collector plate. Don’t have any pics of rear plates.
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