JUNE 6, 1944 D-DAY
- Thread starter regdog
- Start date
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." - Winston Churchill
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2009
- Messages
- 24,466
- Reaction score
- 12,761
- Location
- Enchanted Forest and/or editing cave
- Website
- bettielee.wordpress.com
I had two uncles in WWII - thank Goodness they came back.
A lot didn't.
Thoughts with all our veterans....
A lot didn't.
Thoughts with all our veterans....
My grandfather was WWII vet (Korea too, but that's beside the point), so thank you, regdog, for posting this thread. We should always remember.
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 46,262
- Reaction score
- 9,912
- Location
- on the Seven Bridges Road
- Website
- thepondsofhappenstance.com
My grandfather, too. Fought in Europe and was one of the first of the American troops to walk into Dachau. He never talked about his experiences, only about the men he served with and their friendship.
Btw, RealClearPolitics has posted Reagan's speech from Normandy in 1984: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/06/06/the_boys_of_pointe_du_hoc_105873.html
A bit:
Btw, RealClearPolitics has posted Reagan's speech from Normandy in 1984: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/06/06/the_boys_of_pointe_du_hoc_105873.html
A bit:
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2005
- Messages
- 2,887
- Reaction score
- 954
- Location
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Website
- threedogpeople.blogspot.com
Thoughts on Veterans’ Day
[FONT="]I thought about their
sacrifice
ordinary people
paying the price
for our freedom
with their lives
leaving parents, children,
husbands and wives
left alone;
to weep and grieve,
forlorn.
Valiant soldiers
ordinary people
I’m forever grateful
for where you’ve been
stepping through
the gates of hell
so we can sleep
so soundly and so well.
I don’t possess
enough words
to convey
my thankfulness.
God bless you all,
for answering freedom's call.[/FONT]
[FONT="]I thought about their
sacrifice
ordinary people
paying the price
for our freedom
with their lives
leaving parents, children,
husbands and wives
left alone;
to weep and grieve,
forlorn.
Valiant soldiers
ordinary people
I’m forever grateful
for where you’ve been
stepping through
the gates of hell
so we can sleep
so soundly and so well.
I don’t possess
enough words
to convey
my thankfulness.
God bless you all,
for answering freedom's call.[/FONT]
Back in college, I did a paper on D-Day. A guy my mother worked with went in on the first wave on Omaha Beach, so I interviewed him. For several hours we sat and talked about what his experience was - he said he was far too seasick to be scared, and was grateful to get on the beach because of it. Then, he said he went autopilot and just moved on. Didn't think about anything other than getting through that very moment. Then the next. And so on.
He died last year. I still have the interview tapes (20 years later.) The stories he told then still have me in awe today.
The Greatest Generation, indeed.
He died last year. I still have the interview tapes (20 years later.) The stories he told then still have me in awe today.
The Greatest Generation, indeed.
Never forget. I'd never have that much courage; it's so amazing.
My Uncle Bill was a pacifist but in the war. He cleaned up those beaches after D-Day. It affected him forever.
My Uncle Bill was a pacifist but in the war. He cleaned up those beaches after D-Day. It affected him forever.
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2006
- Messages
- 663
- Reaction score
- 155
Wow, Jersey, what a book - or great newspaper feature article - you might have there.
I interviewed someone years ago who was on the Bataan Death March - back then I had no idea what that was. I wish I'd had more insight.
One of the best documentaries I've ever seen is call The World at War. It spans twenty-six episodes and covers the rise of Adolf Hitler all the way to the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
It's an intense and wide ranging series that I'd recommend to just about anyone. The Normandy invasion is well documented and shown from time to time on The Military Channel, as well as all of the other episodes.
Wiki has an entry about the series for anyone who is interested in reading further.
It's an intense and wide ranging series that I'd recommend to just about anyone. The Normandy invasion is well documented and shown from time to time on The Military Channel, as well as all of the other episodes.
Wiki has an entry about the series for anyone who is interested in reading further.
what an amazing set of images. Incredible. We remember veterans in April in Australia, but you can never remember them too often.
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2009
- Messages
- 9,251
- Reaction score
- 7,297
What a brilliant thread.
I'm sitting here in a house in the village that hosted the 101st Airborne Division prior to D-Day. The late Major Winters lodged with the family that ran the village shop, it's just around the corner from me. The Officer's Mess was in the Blue Boar and the Officers held briefings in the cellar of a house just down the road from the pub.
The men hiked all over the surrounding downs on exercises.
It's not hard to imagine this little village swarming with American soldiers all those years ago.
I'm sitting here in a house in the village that hosted the 101st Airborne Division prior to D-Day. The late Major Winters lodged with the family that ran the village shop, it's just around the corner from me. The Officer's Mess was in the Blue Boar and the Officers held briefings in the cellar of a house just down the road from the pub.
The men hiked all over the surrounding downs on exercises.
It's not hard to imagine this little village swarming with American soldiers all those years ago.
