Beltring 2009 show

Once more
Rolling Thunder left Beltring
with several awards:

* The Red Baron Best Heavy truck *
*The Red Baron Runner up Best in Show*
* 155mm Howitzer Best Artillery piece*

This year stars of the show was the Red Baron and its original creator, Vietnam Veteran Sgt Wayne Dobos.

The Red Baron, Wayne Dobos in centre and both co proprietor/restorer of the truck Fred Cornwell and Roger Jerram
Photo thanks to Stuart Gould a very talented photographer and prints are for sale from his website

Wayne and Lorraine (his wife) traveled over 4000mls to be with us for the duration of show
and it was an immense honor and pleasure to have them with us.

On the opening day, a stream of photographers, interviewers were lining up to have a piece of the action and for Rolling Thunder
reuniting a UK restored Vietnam Gun Truck with his American 1970-71 NCOIC, was a formidable achievement.

More of our gun trucks

Quad 50

Highland Raiders

Quad 50

Photos thanks to Belinda Cornwell and J-L Delauve

Our museum display tent was once more plunged you into typical Vietnam scenes

As you entered the tent you came in into a small Vietnamese village were an US MEDCAP was in progress.

The Medical Civic Action Program (MEDCAP) during the Vietnam War treated more than 40 million Vietnamese civilians.
Between 500 million and 750 million 1960s dollars were expended in the programs.
Medicine became part of the civic action program intended to win the hearts and minds of the populace.

Once out of the village you entered the jungle and came across a couple of "Grunts" (name given to Infantry soldiers in Vietnam)

Just around the corner you entered the Ho Chi Minh trail, the main artery supplying
the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong fighting in South Vietnam.

Out of the jungle back to US controlled ground, with Ha Thanh team House.

Ha Thanh was US Special Forces A-camp in the Northern region of South Vietnam position on one of the infiltration route
from the Ho Chi Minh trail to South Vietnam highlands and costal region.

The South East corner of the US Teamhouse as been reproduced very accurately thanks to information and photos from A-104, Ha Thanh Veterans. This is part of the display was presented by the gia-vuc/Ha Thanh website and was dedicated to
US Special Forces MSG T Sosniak & PFC R Traster both killed in Ha Thanh Teamhouse by a direct hit in August 1968.

Photos tanks to J-L Delauve

Our Marines once more put a strong display with a 155 Howitzer, a museum tent showing the evolution of Marines equipment with 3 mannequins, WW11, Vietnam and Iraq; "Gunny Turner", our recruiting Sgt was back putting through their paces very young recruits and signing them up.
We also had a couple of Marines MP and their dog on duty at main the gates.

Photos tanks to Belinda Cornwell, Dave West, Paul Turner and J-L Delauve

This year we had an excellent Australian check point controlling one of the entrance to our main display.

Two Australian Land Rovers and their crew from B Sqdrn, 3rd Cavalry RAAC
did give an helping hand to the ambushed US convoy in the arena.