The 60-man cavalry had gathered at Southwick Park since 7:30am this morning, leaving at 10am. It ascended the Meon Valley and then to Basingstoke, following the route taken by General Dwight Eisenhower on D-Day before D-Day.
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John Leete, one of the organisers, said: ‘It’s to say thank you to our veterans and also to remember those who paid the ultimate price for their country. .’
Joining the convoy were representatives of the Royal Navy Association and the South Atlantic Order of the Order.
Jack Thomas, 33, and his father Simon Thomas descended from High Wycombe in a Dodge command vehicle.
Simon said: ‘We were asked if we wanted to participate and we were happy to say yes. The car has just been restored for 12 months. It has been in a French museum for 40 years. ‘
The vehicle’s history is unknown, but if it was brought to France, it was most likely used during the war.
Rex Ward, near Reading, was vice president of the Military Vehicle Trust and was also in a 1942 Dodge Command Car.
He explained: ‘These were used by senior officers in combat conditions – they weren’t very common during combat as the Germans would keep firing at them! This vehicle never left the UK, and it is believed to have been used by the US embassy. ‘
Rex, who was a reserve at the Falklands but was not called up, said that the car, before he owned it, had appeared in a number of movies, including being driven by Robert Ryan in Dirty Dozen.
Richard Graham, of Guildford, joined Colin Shackel’s 1943 Jeep Willys in Drayton. The jeep is configured to the Royal British Artillery Signal setup in the air, and everything in it is original except for the wooden battery box. This jeep was left behind in the Netherlands after the war and after being released by the Dutch government spent 20 years carrying veterans around drop zones in and around Arnhem
