Thetford Forest - Desert Rats Memorial

[keithnewsome]

I have driven past this memorial thousands of times, and almost every time I say to myself, must get a photo of that at sometime !
Today was that day, untill today I had no idea what the memorial related too ?? All is revealed below ....

Keith.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/keithnewsome/aix%20pix/DSC_0090.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/keithnewsome/aix%20pix/DSC_0094.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/keithnewsome/aix%20pix/DSC_0095.jpg

[DG1]

Nice one Keith, been meaning to have a look at it myself one day when I'm that way. not sure of the location though. Is it on the left as you head from Mundford to Swaffham halfway, up the long straight before you top the hill where Bodney is on the right?

[keithnewsome]

DG1. Spot on there mate ! thats the one ! I think the problem with it is being sited on a long straight stretch of road we are all going too fast by the time we reach it ! especially in summer after overtaking a million caravans you don't want to stop and loose your place in the Brandon to Swaffham Grand Prix ???? :lol: :lol:

Keith.

[PNK]

I'm another one who has driven past it. Though my excuse is that the wife was driving.

[Brothmark]

Nice memorial I used to live just a few miles from it.

[REF]

Its a lovely memorial, I stopped there a couple of years ago. It amazes me how well kept it is.

[buccaneer66]

The commando memorial in Scotland is another nice one I'v got some pictures somewhere.

[John Cooper]

Ah yes for those caravanners/campers that clog the roads of Norfolk and elsewhere be very careful when turning into the Covert entrance that you do not hit the barrel of the gun of the tank, you might cause more disruption, the following is a quote from the Caravan Club site and so cheap to stay there too, after Easter £6.60 a night to stay there, toot toot!!:D


The Covert Caravan Club Site is set in luscious Forestry Commission woodland. Quiet and secluded, the caravan park offers pitching areas in little open glades and tempting trails for exploring the natural charms of the surrounding area. Within the forest there is a memorial area to the Desert Rats, giving the visitors a flavour of life during the Second World War.

[Richard Drew]

I am just reading a book about tanks in WW1 and Thetford was taken over as the first tank training area and then moved to Bovington in Dorset. So it has a much older history.

[REF]

Some of my notes on the Memorial;

Dedicated on 23 October 1998 by Field Marshal Lord Carver, the memorial is in the form of a Cromwell Mk.IV tank mounted on a brick plinth. An additional plaque was dedicated on 27 June 2004.

The 7th Armoured Division trained on the Thetford Forest and saw active service throughout World War Two.

The memorial is situated two miles north of Mundford, Norfolk on the A1065.