Exhibition of WW2 memorabilia at The Ring O’ Bells pub

There was an interesting exhibition of WW2 memorabilia at The Ring O’ Bells pub today, Set up for the 80th anniversary of DD Day. Tim Konswki, a local resident from Portishead , set up the display that included a genuine WW2 Jeep. Tim’s Polish father escaped Poland when the Nazis invaded and gave him a choice of ether becoming a Nazi or to leave. He chose to leave and then spent two and a half years traveling across Europe and arrived in the UK at Peebles Scotland.  He then quickly made his way to Blackpool. He eventually ended up in RAF Locking where he met Tim’s mum. And the rest is history.

Tim has had a fascination with WW2 Jeeps since childhood. When he first saw one he thought “I wouldn’t mind one of those”. So when he got his chance to buy one 15 years later he did. This was the start of his hobby collecting the WW2 memorabilia.
Tim says “Jeeps were taken to battles by aircraft and tended not to be brought back after missions as it was hard to return them. As they were left behind after any activity they are quite rare. I’ve kept this Jeep in its original condition as this is how I think I would like to see it. It’s authentic American green colour was designed for the desert so wouldn’t actually have been that camouflaged.” He continued “Children like the Jeep as it has a happy face so they are drawn to looking at it.”

Also, at the exhibition were;

• A WW2 mobile phone! This was powered by batteries that lasted 20 hours;

• Jerry cans that are actually post war. The Jerry can was based on a German design after the war as the American and British cans for transporting petrol were prone to leaks. The British can was called a flimsy which perhaps explains the issue!;

• A cooker powered by petrol. Apparently rumour has it one of the first casualties of D Day was a sergeant who was killed when his petrol powered cooker exploded!;

• An RAC light for working on the aircraft at night;

• A bedding roll which belonged to a Sergeant Eley, whose son now lives in Easton in Gordano.
• radios;

• eating utensils, and

• lots of other items.