How are you remembering D-Day?

I'm going to watch The Longest Day. A great flick with some memorable scenes.

It is truly hard to believe. 70 long years. All my much older brothers and brothers in law saw European and South Pacific combat. All 5 are gone now. But we will always remember.

Will be viewing my BluRay of The Longest Day later this afternoon and reflecting on what it was REALLY like for the men who REALLY took Normandy 70 years ago.

By reflecting on their service- I had the opportunity to jump into St. Mere Eglise on the
60th Anniversary. Which was absolutely a high point in my career. Being able to talk to the dwindling number of Paratroopers that dropped on that fateful night was an Honor!

Thank you to them for their service and Thank you for the service of those that are currently carrying the torch freedom!

^Wow! Welcome to THR!

By thinking about being violently sea-sick on the long ride from the LCT to shore, then hearing the machine gun bullets pinging away on the front ramp of the landing craft & knowing that any second now, that ramp is going to drop and I will be open and exposed with nowhere to go, but jumping out & moving forward anyway.

I think about "how could they possibly function?". "Could I have possibly done it without folding up into a trembling ball and crying for my mother"?

Mostly, I just remain amazed that so many "common" men exhibited such courage, perseverance and willingness for personal sacrifice.

Not like this guy.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/05/world/europe/d-day-paratrooper-jumps-again/

Rereading Pat B's

"Churchill, Hitler, and The Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World"

By remembering my Dad. He left Pearl Harbor on that day on his way to Saipan. After that, he had another landing on Leyte and another on Okinawa. The courage and sense of duty of that generation are almost incomprehensible to me.

By remembering my Dad. He left Pearl Harbor on that day on his way to Saipan. After that, he had another landing on Leyte and another on Okinawa. The courage and sense of duty of that generation are almost incomprehensible to me.

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You had a wonderful,Dad, Larry. That generation was truly amazing. All of my much older 5 brothers and brother in laws were WWII combat vets. All but one came back with a Purple Heart.

I remember them all and I grieve. But life goes on.

By doing a little research this morning. Always good to be reminded of things.

Lou

My dad was in Normandy right after D-day and return to the states seriously wounded. He had enlisted even though railroad employees were deferred. Deployed as a Captain. Never spoke about the war but one time (with my mother). He died in his sleep in 1970 after bumping his head getting out of the car; we subsequently learned from a service friend of his that he had shrapnel left in his head from his injuries. He was a great dad.

The sacrifice and heroism of that generation is simply hard to imagine. We owe them, literally, the world.

Many of our friends, relatives and neighbors in WV participated in the D-Day landings. A first cousin was killed at St. Mere Eglise on D-Day. His brother was killed at the Battle of the Bulge: Both were in the 101st Airborne Div.

This evening i will drink a glass of Carleton Tower in honor of those who participated in the D-Day invasion.

Spent the morning telling the kids the story of D-Day and watching Mrs. Miniver. Spent the afternoon with the wife and kids at the WW2 museum in New Orleans aboard a Higgins Boat, and thanking vets, including many WW2 vets, for their service. We all had a great time. To all the vets on this board, thank you for your service.

Louca said:

By doing a little research this morning. Always good to be reminded of things.

Lou

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Same here. I've become something of a WWII buff the past few years reading as many books as I can about the war (also before and after), all non-fiction. I'm nearly finished with "The Dead and those about To Die" by John C McManus all about the 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One) and their assault on Omaha Beach during the first wave. This is a gritty and detailed read leaving very little to the imagination.

My Dad did not serve since he was busy working double shifts at Lockheed building P-38 fighters.

Dan

Spending it reading Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day" which is outstanding and so typical of his good work.

By D-Day my father was out of the fight. Shot down 22 August 1943, we was successfully evading the Nazis until he finally got back to England in early February 1944.

I'm really sadden when I see how few young adults and children today learned anything about US or world history.

Dan
USAF Aviator--retired

I change my wallpaper on my computers to this:

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My Fathers , ( on the left in the picture at bottom right) medals and pins. His Remington Rand he was issued before they took Achen Germany.
He was wounded in North Africa, ( had his teeth knocked out with a rifle butt in Kaserene Pass) was in Sicily, Omaha beach, captured and escaped in the Normandy hedgerows ( had his feet beaten raw) was on mail duty while his feet healed from his capture, back on his feet for Achen, Battle of the Bulge ( wounded again, shrapnel left hip, and elbow), then concentration camp liberation.

He died from a heart attack in 1992. I still miss him.

D-day was 70 years ago. That would make an 18 year old participant 88 years old this year. Not so long ago really and a very important part of the history of the world and the USA.

The baby boomers tend to remember WWII because their parents were in it; but to their grand children, it is really ancient history. This is why history repeats itself as one generation does not learn from the mistakes of the a previous generation (a few back).

Flying the Flag, watching documentaries and looking at pictures of my Grandpa in WW2.

My mothers uncle and my namesake went in to Normandy on DDay+6, toured France, was wounded by artillery, recovered, was sent to the Bulge, Ardenne, and fought to liberate many small towns, home shortly after war's end.
He suffered from PTSD or "Battlefield Fatigue". For months after his return home, he set off charges of dynamite to feel the concussion. He would also lay in a plow furrow or ditch and have his father shoot a .30-30 over his back.

...God bless that generation,
grew up in a depression and fought a horrible war.

I went to the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum "A Gathering of Warbirds" air show (http://www.maam.org/maamwwii.html) Reading, PA on Friday (6 June). Lots of great displays, re-enactors, examples of planes, guns, and equipment. If you are in the area, I strongly suggest going - it runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. $25/Adult is a bit expensive, but I had a good time and ran thru 200+ pictures.

The amphibious invasion of France was an important D-Day... but it wasn't the ONLY D-Day, just the famous one. Amphibious troops took North Africa, and Italy, and every Pacific Theater target. Every one of them was D-Day, H-Hour, M-Minute when the troops landed.

Didn't know anyone personally that served in WW2. Have family in the service present day.
My flag flies everyday for all the men and women that serve.

I always recall my late father's story of seeing the invasion force come across. He was a 19 year old radioman aboard the light cruiser USS Marblehead and they were someplace in the English Channel shelling German artillery batteries, ( they knocked out a couple IIRC). From where they were they could see the landing ships and all sorts of big and small craft in such numbers that the sea was filled all the way to the horizon.