Monday, May 11, 2015

Holy Roller

Victoria Park in London, Ontario has a tank.

Holy Roller is an M4A4 Sherman tank. Not just any M4 Sherman tank mind you, it is one of but a handful that survived and fought from D-Day through the Northwest campaign until the end of the World War 2 in Europe. After World War 2, Canada left all its Sherman tanks in Europe to be given to the Dutch and Belgian armies except for 4 notable tanks, and Holy Roller was one of them.

Bullet and non-penetrating artillery strikes to the tank are still visible today:

A view of the other side:

The rear of the tank:

Plaques are affixed to the tank to both tell the passer-by of its significance and to commemorate the heroism of those who served in World War 2.

Holy Roller is in good shape. Her hatches are all sealed up, the machine guns removed and the cannon plugged, but there's easy access to both look closely and to climb up on the tank.

Hodie Non Cras - Today Not Tomorrow.

May their valor never be forgotten.

3 comments:

Murphy's Law said...

"Tanks" for da pics!

Unknown said...

http://geekxgirls.com/article.php?ID=2876

Well, I just had a writing disagreement on how a memorial should be treated on Facebook, about somebody who did a Cosplay shooting on the Holy Roller monument in London Ontario. I did try to explain in polite ways that is a memorial and doing a photo-shoot on the tank is not respectable to the monument. It's not because the tank is on display that it's ok to walk it and need to be respected as so. From the Facebook administrator message respond (It is actually accepted for it to be climbed on. Or they would put barriers around it like we have in other war museums here. émoticône wink;) It allows adults and kids to experience history hands on, touch a piece of history that they may never be able to be that close to again. Feel its heaviness and its power under them. It is cool ) I did send link to the tank picture with gate around it but that person didn't care for my info and still denied the fact that it is not a playground, I serve 29 years in the military with the Royal 22E regiment. And try to explain that in not ok to disrespect a memorial this way. I feel like my generation did not showed the value of history. it not only of Nov 11 but all years long. Went I tell the person that at have some time making in the military, all my message was erase to keep the control of the flow on the facebook page. it still a memorial and it need to be respect at it is. is it ok to do so because I feel like we fail to educated the value of the past.

Unknown said...

Well, I just had a writing disagreement on how a memorial should be treated on Facebook, about somebody who did a Cosplay shooting on the Holy Roller monument in London Ontario. I did try to explain in polite ways that is a memorial and doing a photo-shoot on the tank is not respectable to the monument. It's not because the tank is on display that it's ok to walk it and need to be respected as so. From the Facebook administrator message respond (It is actually accepted for it to be climbed on. Or they would put barriers around it like we have in other war museums here. émoticône wink;) It allows adults and kids to experience history hands on, touch a piece of history that they may never be able to be that close to again. Feel its heaviness and its power under them. It is cool ) I did send link to the tank picture with gate around it but that person didn't care for my info and still denied the fact that it is not a playground, I serve 29 years in the military with the Royal 22E regiment. And try to explain that in not ok to disrespect a memorial this way. I feel like my generation did not showed the value of history. it not only of Nov 11 but all years long. Went I tell the person that at have some time making in the military, all my message was erase to keep the control of the flow on the facebook page. it still a memorial and it need to be respect at it is. is it ok to do so because I feel like we fail to the value of the past. fallow the link please

http://geekxgirls.com/article.php?ID=2876