I salute all the brave men and women who helped save the world from certain disaster. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be saying this today
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D day 65 years ago
- Thread starter slantman
- Start date
My dad used to say those guys were at a picnic. He acknowledged that the first waves had it pretty rough (they always do), but he swore that once the beachhead was secured, the day to day grind wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the Pacific, where he spent a good part of his formative years.
To all who served anywhere- thanks!
I can't imagine how anyone lived to tell.
To all who served anywhere- thanks!
I can't imagine how anyone lived to tell.
..................................
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My dad used to say those guys were at a picnic. He acknowledged that the first waves had it pretty rough (they always do), but he swore that once the beachhead was secured, the day to day grind wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the Pacific, where he spent a good part of his formative years.
To all who served anywhere- thanks!
I can't imagine how anyone lived to tell.
Not that much of a picnic........
At about 3:00 a.m. on D-Day, on the four-meter swells of the English Channel, Allied troops transferred to those landing craft, some twelve miles off the French coast. British troops headed left toward Caen, the Americans right toward Utah and Omaha beaches nearer Cherbourg, and the Canadians to Juno Beach.
For the Americans, Omaha was a near-suicide mission. First, a powerful undertow swept away lives and weapons; ten landing craft with twenty-six artillery guns and twenty-two of twenty-nine tanks were swamped. Then, they faced a maelstrom of bullets. Within ten minutes of landing every officer and sergeant of the 116th Regiment was dead or wounded. Yet, by 10:00 a.m., as Americans received the first news of D-Day, 300 men had struggled through mortar fire, across the body and equipment strewn beach, and up a bluff to attack the German defenses. By nightfall, the Allies had a toehold on the continent, yet, on "Bloody Omaha" alone, 3,000 Americans lay dead.
The Pacific theatre had it's own horrors. One of my best friends mother who just turned 90 still has vivid memories of the report that her brother, a Marine, was killed during the invasion of Okinawa.
During WWII, there were soldiers who fought in Northern Africa, slogged their way through Europe, and then deployed to the Pacific Theater after V-E Day.
Those brave ordinary men, performed extraordinarily yet found it difficult, if not impossible, to tell their personal stories.
Brokaw had it right......."The Greatest Generation."
Of course, he said that with the calm sarcasm only someone who had been there could muster.
In Europe, everything depended on the landings. If they failed, it would have taken a year to regroup, increasing the chance that the Germans would have had the bomb before the war's end. Does anyone think they would have agonized over using it on London? Had Rommel been able to bring his armored divisions into the fray, it would have been a nightmare, even though the allies maintained complete air supremacy at the time. Still, as soon as that foothold was secured, all you had to do was to see what the allies were bringing ashore to know that it was just a matter of time. The landings were the most critical military venture in history, and thankfully we didn't have to repeat them on mainland Japan.
Seeing it in color makes it all the more real.
The D-Day landings involved not just the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada but Free France, Poland, and Norway. In the end, over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy.
What a lot of people don't know is that Gen. Eisenhower also drafted a letter in the event that the landing was a failure.
"If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone." What leader today would make a statement like that?
Note how this is clearly signed "July 5". Such were the pressures of the operation.
Either way, thank you.
Thanks to all the veterans for their part in keeping us safe and free.
The chronology - from the invasion to Germany's surrender:
http://worldatwar.net/article/overlord/
In 1963, while serving with the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, we had a man that had made the jump with the 82nd into Sainte-Mère-Église on D-Day. By this time he was an alcoholic and had been reduced to E-3 and made a day room orderly. The Army, officially or otherwise, was allowing him to complete his 20 years to retirement. The one time that I actually saw him in dress uniform I was astounded by the amount of service ribbons that he wore, including paratrooper badge with two bronze stars, denoting two combat jumps and Combat Infantryman's badge with two stars denoting combat in two wars, WW2 and Korea. I only mention this as this day has brought to mind men like this, young guys that laid it on the line. I wonder what finally became of him.
http://worldatwar.net/article/overlord/
In 1963, while serving with the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, we had a man that had made the jump with the 82nd into Sainte-Mère-Église on D-Day. By this time he was an alcoholic and had been reduced to E-3 and made a day room orderly. The Army, officially or otherwise, was allowing him to complete his 20 years to retirement. The one time that I actually saw him in dress uniform I was astounded by the amount of service ribbons that he wore, including paratrooper badge with two bronze stars, denoting two combat jumps and Combat Infantryman's badge with two stars denoting combat in two wars, WW2 and Korea. I only mention this as this day has brought to mind men like this, young guys that laid it on the line. I wonder what finally became of him.
"Let the Prince who is desirous of peace make constant preparation for war"
Niccolo Machiavelli 1469 - 1527
Niccolo Machiavelli 1469 - 1527
The horrors of that scene make me cry with remakes of it in the movies even.
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