65 Years Ago Today: The Day of Days

[ScottM]

For many of us D-Day means the invasion of France by allied forces on the morning of the 6th of June. The H-hour was at 6:30am double summer time in the UK or 11:30pm on the 5th of June CDT. Prior to the landing paratroopers started their invasion by jumping behind enemy lines shortly after midnight or at about 5pm CDT on the 5th.

It was 65 years ago today that the brave young men of America, Canada, Britain and Free France took the steps to destroy the evil that was Hitler's Nazi Fascist Empire. Without the men who did this feat there is no telling what our world would be like to day.


My father was a WW2 vet who served in Europe and the Pacific. He was not part of D-day as he was already in Europe. My recently deceased step-father would be a D-Day + 4 arrival. Not many of the actual D-Day soldiers actually survived the invasion. I was lucky enough to have a 7th grade social studies teacher who was one of the paratroopers that day. These were regular guys, who lead regular lives and yet did extraordinary things for our way of life.

I am thinking of you all today.

I Salute You!!

Lets all take a moment to reflect on their actions.

Tomorrow, our very own Elizabeth aka Woodstock is to be in Normandy and will attend the ceremony commemorating this event. I am looking forward to hearing her first hand account.

 

[SkyHog]

I knew I had your old "fake tank" avatar pegged for this!

Go me.

And go America!

 

[wabower]

The Silent Wings WW-II glider museum was in Terrell for many years before relocating to Lubbock. Due to a friend's involvement I was there often, and visited the rebuilt troop glider numerous times. To think about sitting in one of those things with only a piece of canvas between your young fanny and a hail of ground fire is a puckering experience. And that's before they had to land in largely inhospitable environments.

 

[Anthony]

Yes, not many of those vets left anymore either. Here's to them!

Maybe I'll watch Saving Ryan's Privates tonight in their honor.

 

[EppyGA]

No doubt the Greatest Generation

 

[JeffDG]

My hats off to all the people who jumped behind the lines, and those who came ashore at Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah.

Thanks to all of them.

 

[Bob Bement]

One of my old friends, and coffee drinking buddies, Edward Shaver, was in the glider part of that invasion. He said they dropped him off about 12 miles to soon. They had to walk that 12 miles. He walked by the church in Ste-Mere-Eglise, where a parachute caught on the steeple, and a dead solider was hanging there. I have a strong feeling for all of these WWII Vets. Bob

 

[gkainz]

my hat's off to those guys. Edit: and gals!

 

[Ghery]

My mother-in-law (RIP) came ashore at Omaha Beach on D+1. Army nurse. Go to the cemetary there to see the real cost of freedom. Thank you all for serving and protecting my freedom.

 

[nddons]

Thank you, Dad. And all your brothers in arms in the Invasion.

The American Battle Monuments Commission website is wonderful and thought provoking. http://www.abmc.gov/home.php Check out "The Normandy Campaign - The Advance Inland" on the front page for an awesome interactive map of the advancing allied forces, by day and by location.

 

[gprellwitz]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We salute you.

And thank you Scott for helping us remember!

 

[RJM62]

Three of my uncles, all immigrants from Italy, served in WWII. Two of them actually were at Normandy. The third served in the Pacific Fleet. All three made it back and died in old age, but not before instilling the responsibility to defend freedom in all of us younger family members.

Uncle Tony, in particular, carried around a prominent dent in his forehead, courtesy of an enemy shell fragment. He used that dent as the opening curtain of a carefully polished, gripping, sometimes harrowing narrative (the "harrowing" part varying depending upon how much wine he'd had and how old his audience members were), intended to teach us about the cost of freedom. But he always ended that narrative by pointing out that the dent he carried was only a small sacrifice -- mereley a souvenir -- compared to the sacrifices made by those who gave all.

I salute the the memories of all who served.

-Rich

 

[Jay Honeck]

What's remarkable to all of us kids (of that generation) who grew up in the '50s, '60s, and '70s is that many of us had no clue as to what those folks lived through. My Dad was in the Army (Signal Corps) from '42 to '46, with several more years in the reserves. He was one of 12 million brothers who banded together after Pearl Harbor to crush Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. He started as a looey and ended a captain, serving in England, France, and Germany.

Those four years were, I'm sure, the defining period of his life. How could they NOT be? Yet my sisters and I know almost nothing about those years. He just didn't talk about it, and certainly not with his children. He just got on with life, lived it exactly the way he wanted to, and died (too young, at age 74) in 1993.

Oh, sure, we know the basic outline. The stateside bases where my mom, a young war-bride, followed him. The "90-day-wonder" OTS program that tried to cram four years of college into three months. The troop ship ride to England, and the time in Germany after VE day.

But that's it. The time from departure to victory is essentially blank, for whatever reason. Whether that time was too boring -- or too eventful -- to share, we will probably never know.

So, today we tip our hats to those brave boys, now old men or gone. So much suffering, pain, and sorrow, all endured so that you and I could be sitting here today, safe and sound.

"Thank you" seems so inadequate. "Never again" might make that generation happier, but I know that they were too hard-nosed and pragmatic to believe that we will never have to fight for our freedom again -- so "thanks" will just have to do.

 

[Anthony]

Well said Jay.

 

[Bob Bement]

I have always said, I didn't have to serve, and yet I have all the same freedoms to enjoy that these men and women have. It is like they picked up the tab for all of the rest of us that didn't have to be in harms way.
Bob

 

[SCCutler]

I have always said, I didn't have to serve, and yet I have all the same freedoms to enjoy that these men and women have. It is like they picked up the tab for all of the rest of us that didn't have to be in harms way.
Bob

Bob, you sum it up flawlessly.

 

[Keith Lane]

I have always said, I didn't have to serve, and yet I have all the same freedoms to enjoy that these men and women have. It is like they picked up the tab for all of the rest of us that didn't have to be in harms way.
Bob

Bob, you have put into words what I cannot. Thank You. You are, in all ways, a class act.

 

[woodstock]

Such good sentiments to read here. It is astounding to think of what the soldiers, and the civilians caught in the midst, lived through (or, did not live through...). I would urge anyone reading this to go go go to a D-Day anniversary, the sooner the better.

Dad and I had a great week. Our time in Normandy (3 nights...) saw us up and down the coast, visiting different towns and beaches and memorials and cemeteries and meeting some vets too.

I'll post more later but I will say now (much to Scott's disappointment, and ours too) that we decided to forego the ceremony itself with Obama and Sarcozy. I got the passes just before we left, however, we found out shortly thereafter that the 1.5 hour ceremony (of which Obama would be about 15 mins) would entail a 12 hour time commitment due to security. No on (no one) could go to the American Cemetery on June 6 unless you had passes and met the shuttle at a specific location early in the AM. They took you there and once on the grounds no food or water was allowed on site. The N13 (main road) was completely shut down and many other side roads (not all, but enough..). The ceremony itself started at 3PM. Others staying at our B&B also had passes and it was a 12 hour day for them (remember, 1.5 hour ceremony). They were spending 2 weeks in Normandy so the time commitment wasn't as much for them... I really wanted Dad to see as much as we could and taking a full day out of this would have been frustratng. In lieu of going to the ceremony there, we saw the Bayeux Tapestry, the Cathedral, and later in the day visited a Canadian cemetery which was not only beautiful, our timing was fortuitous because shortly after we arrived a ontingent of bagpipers showed up and played for about 30-45 minutes. Amazing Grace was the first song...

I will later post photos... below is one (which I will rightsize tomorrow when I get home).. if anyone plans to make this trip sometime please contact me and I will tell you what I know. It helps to have some prior knowledge going into this..