D-Day Remembered

14 Replies to “D-Day Remembered”

1. Sacre bleu!

2. 69 years.

3. My Father landed in Normandy on July 15 but that didn’t prevent him from experiencing some of the worst fighting that took place on the Continent. He and his generation prevented mine and yours from experiencing the horrors of total war.
   My Grandfather had a heart attack when the news was broadcast that we were declaring war on Germany. He had been wounded in WWl and now realized it was all for nothing. He had not prevented his Sons from serving in the next War.
   Curses on the Moonbats who think we can Just weasel our way out confrontation. Each time we fail to name the enemy, each time we apologize, each time appease, we make the enemy stronger!

4. I was told, by my Mother,that my Dad landed on D-Day plus six.He described the barrage from the ships in away that led me to believe he was on deck when it started.
   I still miss listening to Dad,his friends,and my Uncles reminscing about the greatest adventure of their lives. Seems hard to believe it was 69 years ago.

5. May God bless our Veterans.

6. In my family’s diary from June 6th 1944 it is noted that Margaret Brighton from up the street received notice that her husband had been killed on active duty in Italy on the 5th of March 1944.
   My dad’s mom and his sister were working at Canada Car and Cable producing war supplies, while his classmates had joined the armed services almost en masse upon their graduation day.My dad was patrolling the Atlantic in Corvettes on anti-submarine patrols on the 6th of June, 1944.
   On the German side of my family, my mom and her younger bother were tending to cows on a farm outside of Stettin. A trained nurse with the German Red Cross, she was a Luftwaffe auxiliary who helped with the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers from the Eastern Front.The sixth of June marked the second anniversary of the death of her older brother, a panzer reconnaissance sgt. who died “for Fuhrer and Fatherland” nearly two years to the day somwhere in the East.

7. Yeah well, one of the things about having a commision is the reality that it is all about numbers…..replacements, logistics….
   The amazing thing about D-day is that it went as well as it did.
   One dirty little secret the US Forces avoid is that because the British/Canadian assault had penetrated as far inland as it had, that caused the Germans to withdraw(fear of being out flanked) and let the US forces off Omaha Beach.
   BTW the statistics were that US units that landed on D-day incured something like 135% casualties….statisticaly they did not have a chance. Yet many finished the war without a scratch….obviously the replacements caught hell…
   This is why later on, in another time and place, we were so hounded to get the IDs of replacements immediately….it’s not good to lose folk and not have a clue about their ID….Most replacements had to be around for a few weeks before anybody would talk to them….or stand near them….
   Tain’t right, tain’t wrong, just is…….

8. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Juno Beach, you owe it to yourself to do so. The Canadians didn’t capture a beach with bunkers on it. They captured a fortification that happened to be covered by a beach. It’s beyond appreciation until you actually see it. And hats off too to those Americans who hit Omaha. Again, until you actually see it, you can have no concept of the vastness of the obstacles they faced. God bless them all.

9. was there last year , on May 1.
   Omaha beach is very steep , Juno is really a beach , Norm Toseland lead the platoon that made it in the furthest that day up to Caen

10. I shudder to think of what would happen if Operation Overload was ever to become necessary today. The Obamites, Lieberals, and the Dippers would have us “reaching out”, “opening dialogues”, putting flowers in our hair and giving peace a chance. All while the MSM would happily broadcast any kind of secret plans they learned about it so as to get the big scoop, never mind how much blood would be spilled as a result.
    God bless our veterans. Thank the ones who are still with us. Those that aren’t may the rest in peace.

11. My cousin was killed in Holland in April 1945 at 21. He had received a field commission as one of the youngest Captains ever in Canadian Forces. A family member married a Dutch girl 5 years ago who grew up 8 km away from his grave.
    My father was RCAF in England until VE day and then they shipped back to Canada for redeployment to the Pacific. VJ day happened while he moved across Canada by train. We do not forget and will never take freedom for granted.

12. Robert, thanks for posting this thread. It is good to remember what our fathers, uncles, and grandfathers went through.
    My father was rejected for health reasons, and one uncle came back safely. My wife had two uncles, one a military policeman, the other, a dispatch rider for Gen. Simonds. Both came back safely, but have passed away a few years ago.
    gunney99 and noddyrules are right. Most of the leaders of the west today are doing the Neville Chamberlain thing, and like in the 1930s, when they could have stopped Hitler after the Rhineland occupation, they chose to negotiate and cave in on their way to a war that cost 50 million lives. How many lives will the current war cost?

13. I cannot conceive of the courage it took for the men in the assault wave to exit those landing craft. All the way in they could hear the roar of naval shells and aerial bombs exploding on the shore and see the flames and smoke. They knew there were Germans in weapons pits and bunkers manning machine guns and mortars who would do their best to cut them to pieces. Their chances of survival were poor. Yet when their landing craft bumped ashore, they charged out without hesitation. They still make us proud almost 70 years on.
    We are still a free people and we owe it to all those who served in all our wars to make sure we keep it that way.

14. Both sides of me family liberated by Canadian soldiers in Holland. When the Canadians were in town a Dutch guy couldn’t get a date.