D-Day plus 63 years

Hahahaha

You know, you got a point there.

But I think they would have at least started the next day with that position, right? Lee should have called off Pickett at least.

 

There's a lot to be thankful for and it's just not our guys who contributed to this massive push to end the war. From the soldiers of Orange in the Netherlands to the French Resistance to Churchill to the Russians in the east and beyond this front against the evil which was fascism came from all ends of the Earth.

As we reflect on this day, we should be proud of our relatives who contributed to the fight, but we should always keep in mind that millions had no way of fighting on their way to horrible deaths in camps across Europe.

 

Our dad's could have crossed paths, SoCal.

My dad landed on Utah Beach on June 7, (D-plus 1), as the company clerk to a medical unit. He too was in Patton's Third Army, particpating in the Normandy breakout (he's 92 and had a minor stroke five years ago, but can still vividly remember the hedgerows), the liberation of Paris, the Bulge, the Rhine campaign, the liberation of Dachau and other garden spots.

During the height of the Bulge, every man in my dad's unit -- regardless of job -- was given a gun and sent to the front. Every man, except my dad, who was left behind -- unarmed -- to care for the wounded who couldn't be moved.

For four days, he stayed in a hovel caring for soldiers and praying he didn't get overrun. Because he's Jewish, he took care to bury his dog-tags, lest he be captured and shot.

The stories are incredible and he's carefree on telling all of them. All except the liberation of Dachau. He won't talk about that and I wouldn't think of pressing him.

I can't wait to get to Normandy and the other spots he found himself at during that time.

Great, great thread. Props to NW for starting it.

 

As I have said before, the only thing I'd like from my dad's estate when he passes is his CIB.

144th regiment, 44th Division, Fifth Army Group, Dec. 1944-March, 1946. Drafted as an 18-year-old college freshman, he was a Battle of the Bulge replacement troop and was later on 90-day leave in the U.S before his division was to reassemble and prepare for the invasion of Japan and near-certain death or wounding, when we dropped the bombs. Thank you, HST.

It's impossible to measure how much I've come tlo appreciate the sacrifices of my parent's generation in the past 20 years, especially when compared to my life.

 

Well, fuck.

My Dad didn't do shit at Normandy on D-Day.

He was in the United States Marine Corps, busting his ass in the Pacific against the Japanese.8) He never would talk about it.

Post #10-30: Does not conform to rules and regulations

 

Most important day of the 20th century. Bar none.

 

I've been to Normandy. I don't think I've ever spent so much time all choked up as I did that day wandering around the American cemetery.

Thanks to all the folks who won World War II for us, with special thanks to my late FIL, who was on a destroyer in the battle of Leyte Gulf.

 

They ran up that hill five times and got their ass kicked back down it five times, the last one improbable but still decisive. They had nothing left for a defense. They would have been flanked and crushed hours later, if not the next day. I love the marker, it's a hajj within a hajj, was just there a month ago, but it's been way, way overstated.

I remember coming out of the theatre in 1998 after seeing SPR. I saw two vets on opposite sides of the lobby sitting down, visibly moved and shaken. One guy looked at the other and said nothing. They understood.

 

Amen, brother.

To those who haven't made it to France, get there if you can.

If you are lucky, you will be able to sit cliffside over the water as a chilly, reminding wind buffets you.

The echoes of this indescribable heroism live on there, just as surely as I am typing this post.

 

Two places I must visit before I die are Normandy & Pearl Harbor.

Great stories on this thread...

 

Pube, wonderfully put. Who in the fuck says you're a troll?

The grounds are gold for any magazine writer with the freedom to get metaphysical and let it all hang out. It's not a false sentimentality, it's a very real one there. The ocean alone, without knowing anything about what went down, is breathtaking.

 

I had a great uncle who survived D-Day. He always said, "You see in movies where people in war are thinking about being back home, eating apple pie, spending time with their girl. That's bullshit. You're just doing whatever you can to survive, not thinking about anything other than survival."