Museum in Warwick welcomes grandson of WW2 commander

Left to right: Lt Col John Rice, Chair of Trustees of the Museum: Henry, 3rd Viscount Montgomery: Major David Seeney, Chair of The Friends of the Museum. Photo supplied

The team at a museum in Warwick recently welcomed the grandson of a Second World War commander.

The Fusiliers Museum, which is based in St John's House, welcomed Henry, 3rd Viscount, the grandson of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein who was a successful commander, defeating the German Army in North Africa and then commanding the British component of the invasion of Europe in 1944.

Henry visited St John's to loan a number of items to the collection, to look around the museum and to receive an update on The Regiment.

One of the items on loan is the commemorative tank.

This was presented by The Borough of Leamington Spa on the occasion of the Grant of Freedom of The Borough to Field Marshal Montgomery.

The tank contained the Freedom Scroll and is mounted on a plate of metal salvaged from the battlefield of El Alamein and the wood base was donated by the City of Coventry from a timber of a building which was bombed in 1940.

Stephanie Bennett, Curator, said "It is fantastic to have these fabulous pieces on display in the museum and I do hope visitors will enjoy seeing them.

"They all have such a strong link to Montgomery, the Regiment, the local area and our community.

"The Grant tank is especially impressive, Monty used to have it on his dining room table.

"It was presented to Field Marshal Montgomery with a scroll giving him the Freedom of the town of Royal Leamington Spa.

"It is an enormously detailed copy of the tank he used at the battle of El Alamein.

"A lot of thought went into its’ making; the wooden base is from an oak timbered building destroyed in Coventry in 1940 by German bombing and the bronze metal was salvaged from the battlefield of El Alamein."

The silver is on display at the museum at St John’s House in Warwick and is kindly on loan from the Viscount Montgomery Will Trust.

The museum which re-opened on August 11 can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday and on Bank Holiday Mondays from 10am to 5pm.

For further information see www.warwickfusiliers.co.uk