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This might take a while, but here are some of the pics that I took from the SPWAW 'invasion' of the Ordinance Musuem.

Thanks to all whom atteneded! It was great to meet Wild Bill, Jess (left his tank at home;)), Bernie, Robot and wife, and for the life of me, I forgot Jess' 'ride-along'...

(BTW, left-to-right - Bernie, Robot, WB, and Jess - Jeep is a raffle the museum doing - street legal too!)

Mods,

Is there a way to transfer pics I took, since most of them are too big to do a file transfer?

Thx

Bernie, Robot and wife at the rear of a Jagdtiger

Jess comes FTF with his 'fears'...

Pity I missed Wild Bill but I did rather enjoy meeting the crew.

regards,
sven

Originally posted by Jeff Norton
Mods,

Is there a way to transfer pics I took, since most of them are too big to do a file transfer?

Thx

Jeff, you can either reduce them, or send them to a different site and link to them from there. If you do the latter I suggest www.iupload.net as it's a) Free, b) has a 2mb single file size limit, and c) gives you an addy you can then link to from here

As some of you may know, Jess owed me a lunch from a PBEM game we had a month ago. In that game Jess found out two important things, 1) parking a company of tanks on a bridge is a bad idea, and 2) Shermans float like a lead hippo when said bridge is forcibly removed.

Since Jess bought me lunch today, paying off our little wager, I figure the least I can do is make sure he never forgets these valuable lessons. So, I took an old tune by Jethro Tull and changed the lyrics just a tad, the better to help my dear pal. :)

(sung to the tune of "Aqualung")

AquaJess

Sitting on a railroad bridge
eyeing German troops
with bad intent.
Sweat is running down his nose
Horror as the bridge just blows!.
Drying in the cold sun
Watching all those panzers come!
Feeling like a dead duck
shrapnel making deadly clunks!

Sun streaking cold
an old man wandering lonely.
Taking fire
every way he goes.
Head hurting bad,
as he sends for reinforcements and
calls down a fast retreat.

Feeling alone
the army's up the road
salvation all too slow and
no M4 victory.

AquaJess my friend
you really made this easy
you poor old sod
you really can't beat me.

Do you still remember
Bernie's victory
and the tanks that
went kersplash from
screaming artillery?
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
with deep-sea diver sounds,
and the M4's splash like
boulders in a spring.

Hey! Hey! AquaJess!

There ya go Jess old pal! Now, anytime you hear that tune you'll remember to never park tanks on bridges again.

PS: Lunch was del(burp)icious!

LOL!

(holding Bic lighter aloft)

While we're on the subject of photos (mine will be posted in a day or two when I get them processed) and the great time we had at APG, I just wanted to thank all those who came to our little get-together:

Wild Bill, it was good to finally meet one of the true SP:WAW legends (and your brother). Thanks for leaving all the mines at home this trip.

robot and Sue, thanks for driving all that way from Kentucky to be there (and thanks for the lift home for me). It was a treat meeting both of you, and I look forward to getting robot into some PBEM battles soon.

Jeff Norton, you were probably my biggest surprise. For a guy as big as you are (think all-pro linbacker crossed with an IS-3 tank folks) you move like a cat. I swear, I never even realized you took the pictures you took (and I'll take a dozen 8x10's @ $19.95 ea., as we agreed, of the ones you promised you wouldn't post, right?) Again, another forum member it was a real pleasure to meet.

Don S, it was a relief to know that Jess had an actual, real friend who didn't share his delusions about the M4. After Hawk defected some of the folks here were getting worried that "M4 Disease" might be contagious!

Sven, better late than never! I'm glad we hung around late enough to meet you and your family but I'm sorry you missed Wild Bill (who vanished into the Wild Blue suddenly). I'm looking forward to meeting you again, maybe at the next "SP:WAW-CON", and having more time to chat with you.

M4Jess, I'm sorry the folks at Aberdeen heard you were coming (maybe it was the e-mail I sent?) and hid away all the M4's so you wouldn't drool on them, but really, dried drool is heck on the paint jobs! I promise not to warn the folks at the Patton Museum if we head there next ( I think all the disappointed sobbing and frantic clutching at the empty concrete slab got to me), they'll just have to deal with it. Still, it was a pleasure to meet you finally! (BTW, did you peel off that "My Other Tank Is A Kat" bumper sticker I stuck on your truck yet?)

And to those of you who didn't attend SP:WAW-CON 2003 you'll just have to 1) wonder about all the fun stuff that happened which we all took a blood oath never to reveal, and 2) join us at the next SP:WAW-CON!

Sounds like I missed a good time ...I really thought about coming down....but with the wife going away and all...just too long a day for me and the kids...
Glad you all had fun...and I enjoyed the pics....
Take care...
Huffy

Cool photos! To phrase Orzel, I was there in spirit. Actually, I was thinking last evening that "hehe now Jess is running around in Aberdeen dodging Katz looking for a Sherman"

Give us a little head notice for the next Con, and I'd be surprised if not even more of us shows up. With air tickets at around $250 for a return trip to NYC/DC (with Air France... Freedom, I mean), it's even manageable for us at this side of the puddle.

Really looked like fun guys.......Now i'm really sorry i couldn't make it.....

About Jeff i came around that first honey on the road as we came in. Needless to say i jumped i thought another tank was comin round the corner at me. Big man with heck of a nice disposition. I just hope what i said in McDonalds trying to be a smart *** didnt upset him with me. Badd badd thing to get him upset i think.

Originally posted by Jeff Norton
Bernie, Robot and wife at the rear of a Jagdtiger

Oh yeah! This is the one where I was trying to get you to help me push it out the gate...

Ah, Jeff, my larger than life friend!

(Jeff is as tall as a tree!)

It was good to see you and the entire crew. I deeply regret having to depart suddenly. My brother was feeling bad and I looked for a few minutes for the Mattix/SPWAW Warlords but could not find you. Thus, I was forced to depart. Sorry that I missed meeting Sven. My apologies!

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Meeting you and the Warlords was a treat...a great treat.

You are all noble fellows and Sue being with us added some beauty to some grizzly characters.

It was a pleasure to by Jess his M-4.

I returned very late last night to Atlanta. Good to be home, though the flight was quite delayed due to bad weather here.

God willing, we'll be at that next one and be able to stay longer.

Thank you all for your kindness!

Wild Bill

Originally posted by Bernie
Oh yeah! This is the one where I was trying to get you to help me push it out the gate...

My knee will never be the same....

Originally posted by robot
About Jeff i came around that first honey on the road as we came in. Needless to say i jumped i thought another tank was comin round the corner at me. Big man with heck of a nice disposition. I just hope what i said in McDonalds trying to be a smart *** didnt upset him with me. Badd badd thing to get him upset i think.

Na. We 'tanks' have thick skins. My family is German, so that makes me at least a MkIV, right?...

Sorry, Jess...

(Robot, there was no offense. Believe me, I've been jibed more by the guys I work with, plus, 12 years of Army life. If you can let that roll off your back, what the world throws at you is lame in comparison. Some Army Razzing is downright vicious.... It was an honor to meet you and your wife.)

Well, I got my pics back from the photo "lab" at CVS and I'm not a happy camper

Seems someone at CVS has a passion of pastel colors, notably blue & pink. Every picture was washed out, pale, and either very blue or with pink overtones. I'll go back tomorrow and demand a reprint, but for now I've scanned and color corrected about a dozen for you all. Since they're large, and slow to load, I'm only including links to them. And since the forum only allows one attachment per post I uploaded them at www.iupload.net and will include all the links in this one post.

In the first one we have a shot taken just inside the gate, as Jess and his buddy Don discuss Jess's idea for a new lawn ornament...a very nice Stuart.
http://www.iupload.net/042003/SPAPG-12.jpg

In our next shot Jess decides he needs one for the back lawn too.. (I'll leave the tank ID to those of you who are good at that stuff, but I think it's an early model Stuart)

http://www.iupload.net/042003/SPAPG-17.jpg

A little while later, Jess insisted he saw this one "move" and had to go visit the latrine...

http://www.iupload.net/042003/SPAPG-16.jpg

We really wanted to get a full group shot of everyone in front of Anzio Annie, but Bill and his brother had to leave suddenly before we could do it. Here's the rest of us though.

http://www.iupload.net/042003/SPAPG-01.jpg

This one was a mystery to all of us, particually with the arabic script on the left side. I think it's a mid-80's BTR, but I could be mistaken. Anyone ID it for us?

http://www.iupload.net/042003/SPAPG-13.jpg

This was another oddity we found, identified on a plaque as a PzJg 33 (IIRC), but it's unlike any I've ever seen, and very small (Jeff was bigger!)

http://www.iupload.net/042003/SPAPG-03.jpg

I have a few others to post, mostly of various Kats (including a pair of Panther G's I'd love for my driveway markers) but I'll do that another day.

Originally posted by Wild Bill
Ah, Jeff, my larger than life friend!

(Jeff is as tall as a tree!)

It was good to see you and the entire crew. I deeply regret having to depart suddenly. My brother was feeling bad and I looked for a few minutes for the Mattix/SPWAW Warlords but could not find you. Thus, I was forced to depart. Sorry that I missed meeting Sven. My apologies!

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Meeting you and the Warlords was a treat...a great treat.

You are all noble fellows and Sue being with us added some beauty to some grizzly characters.

It was a pleasure to by Jess his M-4.

I returned very late last night to Atlanta. Good to be home, though the flight was quite delayed due to bad weather here.

God willing, we'll be at that next one and be able to stay longer.

Thank you all for your kindness!

Wild Bill

Bill, the treat was ours! I do trust your brother is feeling better now? (Of course he is, or you'd still be in Baltimore with him)

See you in Kentucky next year!

Thanks, Bernie! I'll be calling him tonight. Mike did start feeling better that evening and was able to get me to the airport.

That strange early Stuart is the M2A4, yes the earliest version of the M3 Stuart. It saw action against Japanese tanks in the Philippines during the Japanese invasion, with the 192nd and 194th US Tank battalions.

Love the pictures. Those were some great moments with all of you!

WB