Ken Small and the Tank Recovery
It was the mystery and magic of Slapton Sands that drew Ken Small to Devon, England. He was a happy man running a guesthouse, fishing, netting and potting until one fine day, without any reason, he had a nervous breakdown.
Ken started beachcombing as part of his recovery for his breakdown. He spent several years doing this and found old gold coins, diamond rings and even gold bracelets. To his amazement he also found a large amount of militaria like shrapnel and shell cases, live and used bullets of all calibers, military buttons, and pieces of military vehicles and equipment. He thought that something must have gone terribly wrong during the Second World War. He was quite right. What he found was evidence of the American practice landings for D-Day and the disaster during Exercise Tiger in April 1944.
Sometime later, he was told by a friend, a local fisherman, of an ‘object’ some three quarters of a mile out to sea embedded in 60 feet of water. He ventured out to sea in his boat with his friend and a few divers to find out more. When the divers surfaced having inspected the ‘object’ they said that there was an American Sherman tank intact on the seabed.
He wanted to know more of what had actually happened. Local people from neighboring villages reported of hearing heavy shelling and bombing during the war. There were also rumors that many American soldiers had died in this area. Ken decided to recover the Sherman tank and put it on display as a memorial for those who had died there.
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