D Day anniversary

[red states rule]

Today, the US lead the invasion of Europe that would finally defeat Hitler ten moths later

God bless them. What the troops went though on those beaches is truely amazing


Pentagon Chief Honors D-Day Troops

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer



COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (AP) -- Above a cliff of silent reminders, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday evoked the image of fallen warriors to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings that turned the tide of World War II.

The bloody beach assault on June 6, 1944 "unfolded as if it were a lifetime" for the young men who braved German guns, Gates said, looking out upon a vast field of white grave markers on a rainy, chilly day.

Gates attended the anniversary ceremony and dedication Wednesday of a visitor's center at the Normandy American Cemetery, the burial ground for 9,387 war dead, most of whom lost their lives in the amphibious assault and subsequent operations.

In remarks at the midday ceremony, Gates said U.S. and allied soldiers landed at Normandy to destroy entrenched forces of oppression "so that this nation, this continent and this world could one day know the tidings of peace."

He tied the memory of Normandy to the challenge of today's war on terrorism.

"We once again face enemies seeking to destroy our way of life, and we are once again engaged in an ideological struggle that may not find resolution for many years or even decades," he said.

Speaking before Gates was Walter Ehlers, a Medal of Honor recipient who landed at Omaha Beach as a young Army staff sergeant - an experience he recalled in vivid detail.


http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/G/GATES_D_DAY_REMEMBRANCE?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME

 

[90K]

I spoke to my great uncle about D-day and we sat and talked about details of those days for like 4 hours one day and then the next day we talked about the days after D-day and it was quite a history lesson. I really think because I had many years in the service I could clearly understand where he was coming from. My great uncle went to France several years ago to receive the metal of Honor for his efforts from that campaign.

 

[red states rule]

I spoke to my great uncle about D-day and we sat and talked about details of those days for like 4 hours one day and then the next day we talked about the days after D-day and it was quite a history lesson. I really think because I had many years in the service I could clearly understand where he was coming from. My great uncle went to France several years ago to receive the metal of Honor for his efforts from that campaign.

My dad was part of the first wave on D Day - he did not want to talka about it

Like most of those heros, he kept alot of his memories inside.

Looking at those open beachs, the high cliffs, the wall, and all the machine guns - what those men did on that day is incredible

 

[90K]

The only reason Uncle Joe talked about it was it was at the viewing of his oldest sister who was 98 and the year before he lost is other older sister 97. He told me he never had really talked about the details because of the events that happened. He was 29 years old when he landed on Normandy. He was looked up to by many of the higher ranking troops who were so much younger. He said he'd pick up another gun when he'd walk by a dead soldier. Kind of saving his round until he needed them. It was a very sobering story when he detailed it and honestly knowing a survivor was even more incredible.

 

[red states rule]

The only reason Uncle Joe talked about it was it was at the viewing of his oldest sister who was 98 and the year before he lost is other older sister 97. He told me he never had really talked about the details because of the events that happened. He was 29 years old when he landed on Normandy. He was looked up to by many of the higher ranking troops who were so much younger. He said he'd pick up another gun when he'd walk by a dead soldier. Kind of saving his round until he needed them. It was a very sobering story when he detailed it and honestly knowing a survivor was even more incredible.

The men who lived through it lost alot of friends that day. My dad was a Sgt and he did say he lost alot of his men and he carried those memories with him until the day he passed away

 

[90K]

I guess the wildest part of the stories was when Joe said if you didn't go up that hill the Sgt in the rear would get ya and if you went up the hill the Germans go ya. Ouch that is a real deal that very few of us will ever experience again in any type of war. I know I won't my days of being a devil dog are over I'm in the rear with the gear.

 

[red states rule]

I guess the wildest part of the stories was when Joe said if you didn't go up that hill the Sgt in the rear would get ya and if you went up the hill the Germans go ya. Ouch that is a real deal that very few of us will ever experience again in any type of war. I know I won't my days of being a devil dog are over I'm in the rear with the gear.

How true. The men in charge would keep the troops moving no matter what was happeneing

 

[90K]

Joe was a radioman when he wasn’t fighting, so he rode with the 1st Lt. in the jeep. So when he's see a dead RM he'd grab his radio and cannibalize it and use the up radios for trading things from other units. Supplies were hard to come by but he made things happen. He said he like the Army and how it worked but once his time was up he knew he could make more money in the world. He told me the story of seeing General Patton directing traffic at the cross point. He said it was real muddy and trucks were stuck and things go messed up. He said Patton was a hardass but he was able to get things done and the troops respected him for that. Actually I haven't seen Joe in a while I wanted to hear some more stories before he moves on. I am so damn busy with work, school and volunteer work that I forget how fast times flies

 

[red states rule]

Joe was a radioman when he wasn’t fighting, so he rode with the 1st Lt. in the jeep. So when he's see a dead RM he'd grab his radio and cannibalize it and use the up radios for trading things from other units. Supplies were hard to come by but he made things happen. He said he like the Army and how it worked but once his time was up he knew he could make more money in the world. He told me the story of seeing General Patton directing traffic at the cross point. He said it was real muddy and trucks were stuck and things go messed up. He said Patton was a hardass but he was able to get things done and the troops respected him for that. Actually I haven't seen Joe in a while I wanted to hear some more stories before he moves on. I am so damn busy with work, school and volunteer work that I forget how fast times flies

Things like that were common among the troops

Much like what happened in the Pacific with the island hoping the Marines had to go through

 

[Ninja]

God bless those guys.

I'll be watching "The Longest Day" this evening and smoking a cigar if anyone wants to cruise over. Plenty of beer in the fridge and plenty of cigars in the humidor.

 

[hjmick]

God bless those guys.

I'll be watching "The Longest Day" this evening and smoking a cigar if anyone wants to cruise over. Plenty of beer in the fridge and plenty of cigars in the humidor.

Cruise over? Yeah, uh huh. The IV, right? LMAO

 

[red states rule]

If D Day was to happen today - how would the liberal media report it?

"Invasion Fails - Nazi's Still In Power"


"Thousands of Troops and Innocent Civilians Killed in Bloody Invasion"

 

[red states rule]

Cruise over? Yeah, uh huh. Isla Vista, right? LMAO

I wonder how the Dems and liberal media would react if a Republican President would say this

FDR was a great war time President

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/fdr-prayer.htm

 

[Ninja]

If D Day was to happen today - how would the medi report it?

"Invasion Fails - Nazi's Still In Power"


"Thousands of Troops and Innocent Civilians Killed in Bloody Invasion"

I can just see the NY Slimes headline:

"Christofascist American Imperialist Warmongers Launch Brutal Attack Against Peace-Loving Nazi Freedom-Fighters, Lose"

 

[red states rule]

I can just see the NY Slimes headline:

"Christofascist American Imperialist Warmongers Launch Brutal Attack Against Peace-Loving Nazi Freedom-Fighters, Lose"

The NY Slimes would have leaked the invasion in it June 5, 1944 edition

Headline:

"President Gambles On Invasion to Save Failed War Plan"

 

[Toro]

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those who died for us that day.

 

[Annie]

Joe was a radioman when he wasn’t fighting, so he rode with the 1st Lt. in the jeep. So when he's see a dead RM he'd grab his radio and cannibalize it and use the up radios for trading things from other units. Supplies were hard to come by but he made things happen. He said he like the Army and how it worked but once his time was up he knew he could make more money in the world. He told me the story of seeing General Patton directing traffic at the cross point. He said it was real muddy and trucks were stuck and things go messed up. He said Patton was a hardass but he was able to get things done and the troops respected him for that. Actually I haven't seen Joe in a while I wanted to hear some more stories before he moves on. I am so damn busy with work, school and volunteer work that I forget how fast times flies

My dad was in the third wave at Omaha Beach. He landed sometime around 7:30 am, by this time they had figured to bring the landing craft closer, even if they had to threaten the guy driving the thing. My dad and another guy had to bring some big gun on wheels (my dad knows the name of it, I always forget weapon names), up over a dune-which the marines had laid a tape 'trail' to follow-a basically 6 ft wide 'mine free' zone. While going uphill, they were being shot at, one of the wheels went just over the tape, hitting a mine. The other guy and like 15 behind him were killed. My dad was blown into the air and landed back on the beach.

When he came to, there was still fire all around and a medic was already with him saying, "Well you are out of here, but I have to remove your hand." My dad was like, "Why would you want to do that? No, you are not going to remove my hand." The medic tried a few more times, my dad just curled his body over his hand, all the while the shooting continued on the beach and the ships kept pounding away at the Germans. (A friend later told him about the above, his arguing with the medic.) Finally the medic said, "It's your life. I need a bucket of sulfa here!" The bucket arrived, the medic stuck my dad's arm in the bucket, covering all of it to the elbow, then wrapped it all in a huge gauze bandage.

He awoke in England. Everyone he had hit the beach with were either dead or had moved on over the dune. A neurosurgeon from Chicago spent his 'breaks' between operating pulling schrapnel out of his fingers, hand, back, butt, and thighs. A nurse told my dad he was so lucky that this doctor found that 'relaxing', as there was no way they could have saved the hand without getting most of it out. The fingers were basically shattered, skin was gone, bones, muscle, and nerves were missing.They wired each finger and had to do something that sounded like first successful attempts at skin grafts. He had lots of blood transfusions as the legs and back were also pretty serious, but not as bad as the hand.

My brother and I knew he'd been in the war and injured-he got $25 a month in 'disability payments' when he was working full-time. We always thought that was 'funny' since he wasn't 'disabled.' We also thought it was so weird that no matter what he did around the house, he always ended up cutting his hand and didn't know it until he noticed the blood dripping, often resulting in a trip to the emergency room for stitches. While the hand looked fairly normal, but ugly, it 'worked', except there wasn't a way to 'regenerate' the nerves that had been lost-no 'feeling', thus no way to recognize when he was cut.

I've only found most of this out in the past 15 years or so, much of it when I invited him and other vets to a Memorial Day presentation for our middle school students. While he didn't tell the kids any of the above, other than landing at the beach, being injured, and 'repaired' in England; we had talked while he was preparing for what he'd say. Once he did begin telling some of the details, he's been telling more ever since. He's now 86 and has cancer, lots of things my brother and I never knew are coming out now.

If you know a WWII vet, now is the time to get their stories, my dad was only 20 when he was drafted:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/13398079/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news

TheDenverChannel.com
Local Effort Tries To Document WWII Veterans' Stories
Denver Academy Of Court Reporting Records First-Hand War Accounts

POSTED: 4:03 pm MDT May 27, 2007
UPDATED: 4:32 pm MDT May 27, 2007
DENVER -- They defended freedom after an unprecedented attack on America's homeland.

They ended a reign of terror and murder that threatened the entire globe.

Now, the veterans of World War II are dying at a staggering rate. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1,000 veterans die every day.

There's a new effort locally to document their heroism before it's too late.

...

After posting this, I spoke more to my dad, as I said, he's much more communicative than in previous times. Now it's about getting it right. While he came in about 7:30am on 6/6/42, and while his most serious problems were met over the dune, on 6/7/42., on 6/6 his problem was staying alive and helping others do so as well. I guess that is why the medals, purple heart obviously, and others. His enlistment was as 22, not 20. So many details. It seems that his groups battled it out on the beach, then dug into or joined a trench. My dad and his fellow artillery guys, were blown/killed on the 7th, not the 6th, details regarding the gun going off the tapes laid stay the same.Funny thing is, my dad cannot really recount the 6th or most of the 7th. He thinks he was blown on the 7th, but can't even remember being scared on the 6th, though had flashbacks through the 60's. He does remember being the company clerk, issuing passes. Then the lieutenant went on furlough. Seems the sergeant
that was temporarily replacing him, had the same girlfriend as my dad. Seems also that during jiu jitsu training, my dad dislocated this sergeant's arm.

They were artillery, I think I said and thought infantry, but I was wrong. Anyhow they were practicing bazooka training outside 29 palms, one round did not explode. The sergeant told my dad to retrieve it. My dad replied, "Get it yourself, I am not going to go out there." Not today's army, that's for sure.

 

[red states rule]

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those who died for us that day.

They are in a better place now than they were on June 6, 1944. May God give them eternal peace.

 

[red states rule]

The best article I saw on D- Day


Remembering D-Day
By Kerry Byrne


snip.....


The true miracle of D-Day is that the entire effort was pulled off just two and a half years after the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, an event that sent the nation reeling militarily and psychologically. Americans quickly steadied themselves, banned together and launched the greatest and most important industrial and military crusade, perhaps in human history. A mere 30 months after the humiliating blow of Pearl Harbor American industrial and military might cracked the walls of Fortress Europe. It's amazing what can be done, and how quickly it can be done, when the nation's very survival is at stake, and when the nation is united.

There's never been anything like D-Day in human history ... and, hopefully, there will never be a need for anything like D-Day again.

Kerry J. Byrne is publisher of Cold, Hard Football Facts.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/the_trolls_remember_dday.html

 

[Mr. P]

If anyone is interested....Veterans accounts of D-Day. Audio/video.


http://www.witness-to-war.org/content/view.php?g=e&c=DD