Remembering D-Day On Its 80th Anniversary

[Doc]

My Dad was a POW in Okinawa, also torpedo’d on the Lexington .

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[OrangeStreak]

A tribute to the brave patriots who stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6th, 1944 and to the courageous air & sea artillery support personnel. The back of the cruel Nazi regime was broken. God bless America and her allies! ??

 

[LaBalbe]

Didn't the Canadians have a rough go of it on one the beaches, can't remember which one, Omaha got most of the attention.

Yes, the Canadians were responsible for Juno beach. This map shows the Canadian flag as it was back in '44; the Maple Leaf that's so familiar only came into being in '65.

If you ever get out there, there's a great little museum at Arromanches (in the middle of Gold beach) that details everything about that day.

 

[LaBalbe]

Didn't the Canadians have a rough go of it on one the beaches, can't remember which one, Omaha got most of the attention.

This is a picture of two pictures taken back in '94, so the quality isn't great, but the cross is the memorial erected at Juno beach, and the bottom one shows the caissons that the Allies sunk after taking the beaches, in order to create the makeshift port that they used until they could capture proper ports; it also kind of shows the distance out for low-tide, but IIRC I had much more sand behind me than in front of me when I took that picture:

This one is from the small fishing port of Honfleur, which is off to the east of the D-Day beaches, but you can see how drastic the change is from low-tide (it was already coming back in when I took the picture; IIRC they said that it dries out completely at full low-tide) vs. high-tide which you can tell from the water line on the wall:

 

[OrangeStreak]

Congratulations Duke for nine wonderful years with your lovely bride.?

One question though? How on earth did she manage to stay with you that long ??

This is Duke on his wedding day...

 

[AzScorpion]

This is Duke on his wedding day...

This was right after the ceremony.

 

[ppfd]

My granddad was in the Navy

My dad was from Yugoslavia. His dad was in WW 1 and WW 2. He and some of his guys escaped a concentration camp.
They ended up becoming partisan fighters. My dad fought in in his late teens to save his home land. His mother was killed fighting the Germans. Even the women back then fought.

My ex wife’s grandfather was an army medic and landed on the beach. He ended up earning a Silver Star for his actions.

 

[5thranger]

My dad drove a GMC truck on to Omaha beach on d day. He said if you were assigned a vehicle like that GMC it was your job to make it able to run under water. He said they packed sealants around spark plugs and extension on air intake. I am sure there was a lot more done than that. He said he put it in super low and floored it and made it on. I can not imagine how scared a 21 year old farm boy from Missouri was.

 

[rang19ca]

To realize what all of the service members did in support of this effort is unbelievable. They all had jobs to do and relied on each other to accomplish an amazing takedown of the axis forces. They truly were the Greatest generation.

 

[Dunedain Ranger]

My dad (he and my mother immigrated from Holland in 1956) spent 2 years in a German Concentration Camp as he was with the Dutch resistance helping Allied pilots escape back to England. He was captured in 1942 and escaped in early 1944, went into hiding with his mother in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, until the 82nd Airborne Division liberated that city and other Dutch cities during Operation Market Garden in September of 1944. (The movie "A Bridge Too Far" does a pretty good job with that particular part of the war). After Nijmegen was liberated, he joined up with the 82nd and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and stayed with them until the end of the war. Since he spoke 4 languages, he did some interpreting for General Gavin on occasion when needed.

 

[raytwntrvlr]

What a great thread. Honoring the Greatest Generation. Especially the warriors.
My dad and many uncles were WW2 vets. My mom's baby brother Floyd dropped out of Creston High School in GR to join up. He was killed in France only months later. Mom grieved his death for years. Grandma was a faithful Gold Mother organizer all her life.

An amazing thing I just learned last year at my oldest cousin's funeral... Her brother had come into possession of some family archives. One was a newspaper clipping from the 40's with a picture of my dad and two of my uncles who somehow were rounded up in the middle of the German invasion to be in attendance at Uncle Floyd's interment in a cemetery in France.

My brother and I were so shocked to learn this bit of family history. Dad and mom went to his unit's reunions for years but he never talked much about what happened over there. That was reserved for his brothers at the American Legion Hall, I guess.

 

[dtech]

Grandfather #1 was there. Submarine Service. His sub hit a mine. They were thought to be dead. A month later they limped into port on the east coast above water. He survived.

Grandfather #2 was there - Army Air force. He was a mechanic. During his tour, they had POW's on his base. One of them was an artist that drew a portrait of my grandfather. I have it hanging right above his uniform (with bronze star) on my wall.

What a great thread. Honoring the Greatest Generation. Especially the warriors.
My dad and many uncles were WW2 vets. My mom's baby brother Floyd dropped out of Creston High School in GR to join up. He was killed in France only months later. Mom grieved his death for years. Grandma was a faithful Gold Mother organizer all her life.

An amazing thing I just learned last year at my oldest cousin's funeral... Her brother had come into possession of some family archives. One was a newspaper clipping from the 40's with a picture of my dad and two of my uncles who somehow were rounded up in the middle of the German invasion to be in attendance at Uncle Floyd's interment in a cemetery in France.

My brother and I were so shocked to learn this bit of family history. Dad and mom went to his unit's reunions for years but he never talked much about what happened over there. That was reserved for his brothers at the American Legion Hall, I guess.

Yeah my father made nearly all of his annual bomber wing reunions until his passing was great to see the active military honor guard present a flag to my mother at his funeral. And watching the interviews of the still living vets several said they think of their buddies who were killed every day for the past 80 yrs. Now my father in law who was drafted and at one time was studying to be a priest landed in Normandy on June 7th and ended up fighting in the battle of the bulge where he was hit by a bullet and an exploding grenade , spending months recuperating and carried copious amounts of shrapnel till he passed, he would never talk about his time in the service though as he hated being put in a position to kill.

 

[dtech]

just to add, Marv Levy the former Bills head coach (and Jewish) enlisted in 1943 at 18 but didn't see any combat, IIRC he had a master's degree in history, he was noted for his liberal use of profanity but once gave a classic response to an oft asked question :

The Ultimate Must-Win Situation
The Bills coaching great never let the necessity of Allied success in World War II escape his mind. During his tenure in Buffalo, a reporter once asked him before a game whether or not it was a must-win. Levy proceeded to give one of the more poignant quotes you’ll hear out of an NFL head coach, one that showcased his continued appreciation of his fellow soldiers who got the job done.

“This is not a must-win,” Levy went on to say. “World War II was a must-win.”

 

[BladeRanger]

Let's take a moment to remember all those who served on this day 80 years ago. Many gave their lives so we could be free! ??

NEVER WILL EVER FORGET!!! I served in the US Marines and did the beach landing during desert storm in 91. We watch the D Day in Normady and WWII in the pacific and also Vietnam. We were fuckinh ready to storm the beaches of Kuwait. 1.5 hours before we hit the shore of Kuwait they change the plan on us. Instead we landed in the boarder of Kuwait and Saudi and proceed the ground assault. I was with advance party of a group of six humvees with Artillery unit, when we hit the beach and every inch of my body was ready. I could hear every sound and even my own breathing. I can imagine what those boys did in Normady and Pacific theater. IT WAS FUCKING PURE SACRIFICE, you will give everything you got for your brother's. Those men gave everything they had so we can live. I'm always greatful for those whose made the ultimate sacrifices, those are my heros.

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