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Post Info TOPIC: Lusitania
Rectalgia


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Lusitania
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chrisweber wrote:

My original contact with this forum was an attempt to track down the photo of the Lusitania with the name cleary showing.

Guess what I found.....

http://www.allposters.co.uk/-sp/A-Tank-Called-the-Lusitania-in-France-on-the-British-Front-During-World-War-I-in-1917-Posters_i6844342_.htm

biggrin


Very nice - and a whole range of sizes, finishes and framing (or not) options as well. Now you just need a replica set of his medals.

Here is my interpretation of the basic ribbons from Lukasz's site but entitlements would need to be checked to see if there might have been additions, such as a MID or two, jubilee and coronation medals, French awards, etc.

CaptWeber.PNG

(Border colours are Tank Corps)
[Edit - added quoted text]

-- Edited by Rectalgia on Sunday 26th of June 2011 09:43:09 AM

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chrisweber


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As far as I remember he had the second world war medals as well, so I think it would be


British Army Decorations


uk1obem.gifuk1cmm1.gifuk1s14.gifuk1mw14.gif
uk1mvi.gifuk1mde.gifuk1mw45.gif

What a good site that is!



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chrisweber


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Another little memento. Sadly too fragile to clean. Even the experts said so.

 



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Rectalgia


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chrisweber wrote:

... Sadly too fragile to clean. Even the experts said so.

 

If there is no actual corrosion and pitting needing to be stopped from spreading (it always spreads) then some would say it is perfect just as it is - it has integrity and the natural "patination" has a certain beauty of its own, just keep it dry and away from PVC, certain types of papers, cloths and woods (the acidic ones) and away from other metals.

Always a vexed question, "naturally aged" versus "restored" but a professional conservator (museum standard) should have no trouble cleaning it up, if required (compared to silver coins 400 years in the sea, how hard can it be?). I think it is more about aesthetics than (the perfectly capable) conservation science - oh yes, and expense - and the judgement should be left wholly to the present owner/custodian.

FWIW, I think it looks great by the way.

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chrisweber


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I managed to get photos of the medals.



-- Edited by chrisweber on Saturday 2nd of June 2012 01:30:12 PM

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Rectalgia


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Thanks for returning with those Chris. A hard-won group and a privilege to see them. They are in great condition comparatively and the WW2 pair (Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-45) add to the story of gallant and prolonged service, "in defence of the crown" as we used to say.

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chrisweber


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All thanks to Facebook. I found my nephew on it and he took the photos for me ( hence the mis-pairing of first and second war medals. My photoshop skills aren't up to fixing it )



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chrisweber


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I finally made the trip to Bovington Tank Museum. I found the MK II, and took the attached photo of the information board in front of it.



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Rectalgia


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Well done Chris, your Grandfather was a man of responsibility and exceptional valour in a war of such intensity and scale that we find it just about impossible to comprehend and much has been forgotten. It is good that you keep his memory alive.

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chrisweber


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I was just so stunned that of all the heroic actions by all of the sections of the armed forces, they had chosen to use my Grandfather as an example for the Mk II tank. If only my late father could have seen it.


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chrisweber


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I know that no-one who was not there can ever truly understand. But I think that Erich Maria Remarque's "
All Quiet on the Western Front", both book and film, comes closest to doing so.

The novel has always intrigued me with the following question :- When and why did the British start referring to the "Western Front" ? From a British point of view it was an Eastern front. Not important, but curious. I have suspected that it was the novel that inspired the phrase. Any ideas ?



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Rectalgia


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This topic of 3 years ago in another forum offers some suggestions:

http://frontforum.westernfrontassociation.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=857

You will see that the term was in use in Britain long before the novel and that it was, in fact, used to inform the translated title ("Im Westen nichts Neues") adopted in English, rather than the other way around. "Western Front" has always made perfect sense to us Aussies of course which has probably blinded us for many years to the apparent illogicality you mention - thanks for the wake-up :).



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Peter Mc


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Ireland 1921
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Hello everyone. I came across this site quite by accident in researching what I thought was an unrelated incident, but involving a Tanks officer known only to me as 'C F Weber'.

What an interesting thread and what an exceptional man Charles Weber was. He saw service in Ireland in 1921 and I believe his MBE was awarded for an action in Dublin in which he apparently showed outstanding courage and initiative.

As this may not be of much interest for a Tanks forum I'd be happy to correspond offline but I hope that Chris Weber would be able to make contact and shed some further light, if possible, on this subject.

 

Cheers

 

Peter Mc

 

 



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Peter Mc

 
GreenTankie


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RE: Lusitania
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There is a very interesting section of C & A Williams-Ellis, 1919, The Tank Corps, New York page 99 to 103 describing the action carried out by Lt Webber and Sgt Latham of Lusitania at Arras in early April 1917.

The book can be accessed free online here: https://archive.org/stream/tankcorps00willgoog#page/n10/mode/2up

By the way, the Tank Corps didn't become 'Royal' until 18 October 1923.  Good job on restoring his sword to Horse Guards standard, although I suspect he'd be turning in his grave at the thought of that.  After all, he was a Tankie :)

18 October 1923



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chrisweber


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A minor point - normally.

It's Weber not Webber.

Weber is a German name. Not something to be recommended on the Western front in 1917 !

In fact at that time the pronunciation was changed from Vay-Burr ( the German ) to Wee-Burr ( The English - following the double consonant rule ) and as opposed to Webber which is pronounced Web-Burr.

cf. The Royal family who changed the pronunciation of Saxe-Coburg Gothe to Windsor at around the same time !

 



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chrisweber


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Excellent program on BBC tonight.
War of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme.

Of particular interest to me as it talked about Robert Graves. Whose name was originally Robert von Ranke Graves, which apparently led to him being accused of being a German spy. Of Course my name is Weber, also a German name, so some sympathy.

As a total coincidence Robert Graves' half brother John Graves was my prep school headmaster. Half a century on, I still vividly remember him teaching me that the correct way to spell the possessive of a name ending in s was s'. I still wouldn't dare do otherwise.



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Francisco


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The scale model I built of the Lusitania is now for auction on ebay, as I'm trying to finance future projects.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Built-1-72-WWI-model-replica-British-Tank-Mark-Mk-I-Female-Lusitania-1917-/321885361824

I have sold other built models to the UK (and ret of the world) without any problem, you can bid with confidence. Feel free to forward the link if you happen to know someone who might be interested.

 

Regards,

Francisco



-- Edited by Francisco on Monday 5th of October 2015 10:55:54 PM

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