Liberation of Noyon 2019

This year again, UNIVEM participated in the 2019 commemorations of the liberation of the city of Noyon taking place on the second weekend of september. The Half-Track M16 went by truck, while some members of the association came with their own Jeep by road from Satory on Friday afternoon. Several tents were installed to welcome a dozen participating members of the association.

On Saturday afternoon, two convoys were organised in the nearby villages. One of the stops was in Manicamp where stands a former part of the Mulberry artificial harbour built by Allied forces in Arromanches in June 1944. Indeed after the war, several parts of these artificial harbours were re-used as bridges to replace the damaged ones during the war.

Back to the camp, M5 light tank and M36 tank destroyer were doing a demo. About a hundred vehicles were on the camp, from the motorbike to the tank. The French association RADAR came with a lot of vehicles: DUKW, M8, GMC CCKW, Ward-La-France, Weasel, Half-Track and of course their famous Moghrane Sherman. Worth to mention, the presence this year of the association “France 40” with nice French vehicles from the begining of the war: Renault R35 tank, chenillette UE, Citroën Kégresse P17 or Latil M7. Also to mention, a very rare Half-Track M4A1 mortar carrier.

Some nice reenactement displays were to mention such as this field hospital.

Other activities on the camp: parachuting and concerts.

On Sunday morning, a ceremony was held at 10:00. After that, a big parade took place in the streets of the city.

Members of UNIVEM then left in the middle of the afternoon and came back to Satory without any issue after a wonderful weekend.