Local History
visited the Division at their front line positions close to the German border he travelled in the front passenger seat of the jeep relegating Gerhardt to the back with his dog. On this memorable occasion Eisenhower, in a rehearsal for his later political career, delivered the same rousing speech to nineteen different groups of soldiers in a day.
“ The 29ers led the assult on Omaha Beach in June 1944”
At the end of the war Gerhardt insisted the jeep was shipped back to America where it remained in service until 1950. It was restored and briefly returned to France in 1994 for the 50th commemoration of D-Day, and is today housed with pride-of-place in the Maryland Museum of Military History at the Fifth Regimental Armoury in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.. This jeep has been replicated in honour of US veterans by a local jeep enthusiast. ‘Vixen Tor II’ was on show outside the Tavistock Museum when it re-opened on Easter Saturday, and the jeep has attended remembrance events all over the region. There are plans for it to go the 70th anniversary commemoration event at Omaha Beach next year. Like the original it has a front screen on which is
Eisenhower in the front seat of Vixen Tor
shown all the locations where the Division fought, and there is a German helmet attached to the bonnet.
Animal lovers will no doubt be pleased to know that the spaniel ‘D-Day’ went back to America with Gerhardt, and when the dog died in the 1950s, he buried it with ceremony in the back yard of his Florida property. After the war Charles Gerhard was demoted to a peace-time rank of Lieutenant Colonel, re-attained the rank of
Brigadier General, and retired in 1952 with his highest serving rank of Major General. He died aged 81 in 1976, and was buried near many of his wartime military contemporaries in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, USA. The Tavistock Museum has an exhibition of photographs and military memorabilia relating to the 29th Infantry Division of the US Army. The museum is open daily from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. until the 31st October 2013.
Vixen Tor II outside Court Gate, Tavistock 27
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