Today the beaches of Normandy are quiet, the only waves coming ashore are those of the Channel waters. Seventy one years ago, waves of men stormed the sands to claw out a foot hold on European Continent.
D-Day
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. Pictures of Family members in service I sent my Grandson for a school project. My Son lower left jumped with the old timers in Normandy in 1994, soldier at parade rest wounded stayed 2 days and nights in foxhole with a dead German water to his waist, pinned down by sniper, Pattons tanks rescued him.
I get together for a smoke once in awhile with an old man that was 16 years old when he landed at Normandy. He had lied about his age to go fight Nazis.
I asked him once what in hell a 16 year kid does in the middle of a fight like that. He thought about it a second, let out a little laugh and said "mostly run like hell".
They don't make nothing like they used to.
I asked him once what in hell a 16 year kid does in the middle of a fight like that. He thought about it a second, let out a little laugh and said "mostly run like hell".
They don't make nothing like they used to.
Every time the 6th of June comes around I can't but help think of my father, God bless his soul. He landed on Normandy beach shortly after the invasion in the "Battle of the Hedgerows" to take St. Lo when he was hit by mortar shell fragments which removed most of his face and both of his eyes. He was left for dead for an entire day before another American soldier tried to remove his wristwatch and then was shocked to see that he was still alive when he moved. After numerous surgeries to his face and ending up with being totally blind with two glass eyes he came home to eventually marry my beloved mother. He was one tough S.O.B. with the heart of a lamb and was never without out pain until he succumbed to bone cancer in 01/03/78 which I feel was a result of the numerous x-rays that were given to him after his injuries. God Bless him, and to all who served...the greatest generation that God placed on this earth.
If you want a grinding but amazing account of what it took to plan the D-Day invasions, the best historical account may be Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Crusade In Europe." It's written in a modest, low key tone, but the man's ability to handle massive detail, from infinite logistics, to the variables of seas and tides, to scores of ego crazy personalities from Mongomery, to Churchill, Stalin, Patton, Marshall and so on. Ike was a glutton for work. That was probably the most vast coastal invasion in the history of the world.
While not taking away anything from the brave soldiers on D-Day, the Pacific campaigns had even larger invasion forces, especially towards the final campaigns.
Still, up until that point no larger invasion had taken place. Thanks for the words on Crusade In Europe, I am going to have to get a copy of that book.
I was talking to one of my staff today and I told her it was D-Day. Her response was "what's D-Day"? :roll:
Still, up until that point no larger invasion had taken place. Thanks for the words on Crusade In Europe, I am going to have to get a copy of that book.
I was talking to one of my staff today and I told her it was D-Day. Her response was "what's D-Day"? :roll:
MrEnglish: I heard that today from a 34 year old. He got a helluva ear full from me after that. I think he'll remember from now on.
Earlier, I mentioned that Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully paid tribute to the men who fought on D-Day. He did that in every inning of tonight's ball game: telling stories about the planning and the number of planes and warships and what countries had how many there, about individuals such as the man believed to be the first casualty of the day, about what happened to J.D. Salinger and the crew he was in, about other brave men. It was an education for the listeners. He said three times during the game that he hoped parents listening would tell their children about the importance of the day. He closed with that statement.
Earlier, I mentioned that Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully paid tribute to the men who fought on D-Day. He did that in every inning of tonight's ball game: telling stories about the planning and the number of planes and warships and what countries had how many there, about individuals such as the man believed to be the first casualty of the day, about what happened to J.D. Salinger and the crew he was in, about other brave men. It was an education for the listeners. He said three times during the game that he hoped parents listening would tell their children about the importance of the day. He closed with that statement.
Thanks for posting! You are right -- Normandy is hallowed ground, and we should always remember why it is so. It's also worth noting that D-Day was only the first day of a battle that dragged on for weeks. The beachheads, in a sense, were the easy part. The survivors, continually reinforced by a flood of troops from England, had to slog their way forward against a perimeter of German steel. Battling the German Heer and SS through meadows, towns, and deadly hedgerows, the American, British, and Canadian troops were bled white at Caen, Cherborg, and St. Lo. The battle didn't end until August, by which time well over 120,000 Allied troops were dead, wounded, or missing; the Axis troops lost even more. But the battle decided the fate of Western Europe, rescuing it both from the Nazis as well as from the specter of Russian domination in the postwar world. Much fighting lay ahead. The German Westwall defenses would hold up our armies for months. The Ardennes Offensive in December (known as the Battle of the Bulge) would become an American legend, while equally desperate struggles would be all but forgotten by later generations (the Hurtgen Forest, for example). Nonetheless, it was on the beaches of Normandy that all the later victories were made possible. D-Day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy was where the future changed for the better. It was unique, for we can point to that day and say truthfully that history was split in two. The sacrifices made by the Allied armies saved the world from a totalitarian nightmare, an evil so great that we made common cause with even such a monster as Stalin and were right to do so. Our world would be a far, far darker place without their sacrifice, and we all owe them our respect, our gratitude, and our love. Well over 250,000 Americans died fighting the Germans; the British and Canadians lost, proportionately, even more. Let us never forget them.
And, as another member pointed out, let us not forget the titanic struggle on the other side of the globe. The Japanese were every bit as tenacious a foe as the Germans, and it took more than 100,000 American dead to defeat them. My family's war was in the Pacific; all of them joined either the Navy or Marines, and not all of them made it back. I would never know my grandfather, for instance, but that loss was small compared to that suffered by my mother. She would never even get to meet her father, a submariner named John Jarnagin who died only a month before the final bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even though many other members of my family physically survived, they still endured hells with names like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima.
I don't know if they were truly the greatest generation or not. Other American conflicts were similarly brutal and bloody. The Civil War, for instance, was far deadlier for the U.S., in a statistical sense, than World War Two. The Revolution and Mexican American wars were far more horrible than we often remember through our textbooks and collective memories. Yet in World War Two it can truly be said that America saved the world. (And I hope my fellow Americans don't mind if I explicitly include Canada when I refer to "America" here, as the Canadians fought in the war for longer than the U.S. and suffered proportionately even greater losses than we did.) Never forget.
And, as another member pointed out, let us not forget the titanic struggle on the other side of the globe. The Japanese were every bit as tenacious a foe as the Germans, and it took more than 100,000 American dead to defeat them. My family's war was in the Pacific; all of them joined either the Navy or Marines, and not all of them made it back. I would never know my grandfather, for instance, but that loss was small compared to that suffered by my mother. She would never even get to meet her father, a submariner named John Jarnagin who died only a month before the final bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even though many other members of my family physically survived, they still endured hells with names like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima.
I don't know if they were truly the greatest generation or not. Other American conflicts were similarly brutal and bloody. The Civil War, for instance, was far deadlier for the U.S., in a statistical sense, than World War Two. The Revolution and Mexican American wars were far more horrible than we often remember through our textbooks and collective memories. Yet in World War Two it can truly be said that America saved the world. (And I hope my fellow Americans don't mind if I explicitly include Canada when I refer to "America" here, as the Canadians fought in the war for longer than the U.S. and suffered proportionately even greater losses than we did.) Never forget.
My late FIL was 82nd Airborne 506th Bravo. They jumped on the 5th and got blown off the landing zones. He connected with elements of the 101st and help liberate St Mere Eglise. 33 days of straight combat without rest or resupply. He recounted a similar water filled fox hole story and had his feet frozen at the Bulge. When he got into his later years the house was always terribly hot in the winter. He told me that after that winter in the Ardennes he promised himself he'd never be cold again. An amazing generation.
The D-Day assault covered five beaches. The Americans landed on two, the British on two, and the Canadians on One. Numerous other nationalities also participated as members of these larger forces. The U.K. forces were expected to face the much harder landings than the Americans, but fate decreed otherwise.
The book generally considered the best account of D-Day is Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day" which was later made into a pretty good movie.
Below is Arn van Goor at Colleville sur Mer.
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The book generally considered the best account of D-Day is Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day" which was later made into a pretty good movie.
Below is Arn van Goor at Colleville sur Mer.
Yes, "the greatest generation" & doctorthoss thanks for mentioning the Canadians, they are too often overlooked and not mentioned.
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