What a terrific lot of blokes you are.
Thank you all ever so much for your positive comments on the completed diorama.
I was going to put the following in 'Chit Chat', but thought it would be better to keep it here as it tidies things up nicely. Folks don't have to read the following nonsense if they think it not model related. Just a bit of fun really.....
What happened to?
Lt. Bilko
He survived the war and became a career man in the U.S. Army. But after being caught using military vehicles for his own gain, he was busted down to Sergeant. It could have been worse, but he had 'something' on one of the prosecuting officers.
Being a first rate scrounger and mechanic, he was eventually put in charge of maintenance at the motor pool. Here he honed his talents! Back in the States, he realised Army life was not for him and left the military.
Out of work, he started to write about his army life. His writings were spotted by a publisher, who contacted the media. A T.V. company were so impressed with his work, they payed Ernie Bilko a huge sum of money for the film and T.V. rights. He played himself in the long running 'Sgt. Bilko. The Phil Silvers Show.', earning yet more money.
With his new found wealth he bought real estate in The Bahamas, plus an ice cream business. The latter was to prove his undoing......
An ice cream war erupted on the Island. One day an anonymous phone call led the local police to Bilko's mansion. There they found Bilko tied to his favourite chair with a 99 cornet with a chocolate flake plus a drizzle of strawberry syrup rammed into, and taped to his mouth. A wafer had been stuck to his forehead and on the wafer was scrawled " Hab dis Mr. Whippy on me, Beelko!". With his dying gasp he had been unable to lick off what he considered to be "Garbage, second rate ice cream." from his airways and he suffocated.
Thus ended the life and times of Ernie Bilko.....
Trooper Trump
He too survived the war. But left the army when hostilities ended.
Being still up tight about his ugliness he returned to the States and decided to help others with 'Ugly bits'. He studied at the 'Acne School for the Removal of Spots and Other Unsightly Blemishes.' He didn't last the five year course. "Man, you try working on the same plastic head for five years!"
Luckily his father was big in buying and selling Real Estate, so he gave his useless son a job in the family business. a decade later the son inherited the whole Trump Empire.
He still can't stand his looks to this day and even attends to his own hair. You might still spot him on T.V.... But not on a windy day!
Trooper Kolinski
He eventually found the lady's jewelry and vowed that should he survive the war he would return and marry "The French Broad."
Finding out the lady had been widowed since 1940, he did both and they were married in Foucarville Church. They settled down in the village.
To earn some money he opened up a gallery and took up water colour painting. Brushes were very scarce, so he made his own, using sable for the bristles, which proved to be excellent for his art work.
He acquired the sable hair from a friendly Russian who brought a breeding pair of sable to France from the Russian Steppes when he fled his country when it was invaded during the war.
Kolinski was his best customer!
Just for a laugh, Kolinski's wife suggested he put his name to his brushes and try and sell them.
The locals scoffed at the idea. "The American has shell shock, how can he make a living selling those silly little brushes with Kolinski written on them!"
The Academic, know it all farmer
"I knew it, I didn't like that son of a bitch when I first met him!"
Thus spoke Bilko on hearing that the farmer cum taxi driver had been exposed as a long term collaborator with the 'Boche'
He was found out when he tried to sell an Appaloosa mare and the buyer spotted incriminating evidence in the farmer's barn.
Claiming 'Mitigating Circumstances', the traitor was only given a five year jail sentence. On his release, the outcast returned to his isolated farm.
He died there on Christmas Day 1952, when a mysterious fire destroyed his property. The cause of the fire was never investigated.......
The young girl
She grew up to become a beautiful young woman. Brigitte Bardot's mum was very proud of her daughter's success in the film industry.
The Grebe
The bird not only survived the war, but at the end of hostilities was given the freedom of all French waterways and awarded the Legion D' Honour.
These were bestowed on it when it was discovered that during hostilities he would sneak into the billets of the occupying troops and steal all the left boots, drag them the four miles back to the mill stream and throw them into a deep pool!
In 1950 he named himself Bear Grebe and opened a very successful Survival School for weedy, mamby pamby, P.C. ridden water fowl, which he ran until his tragic death, when in 1955 and due to failing eyesight, he mistook the revolving water wheel for a large winged predator. His remains can still to be seen on the wheel paddles to this day.
There you go.
Cheers and thanks again.
Ron
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