On this day 77 years ago many thousands of young Americans hit the beaches of Normandy, France. Many didn't return home and many served through the duration. I'd like to thank my uncle Jack who landed on Omaha Beach and at 99 years still survives. He lives at a military veteran's home in Biloxi, Ms. We owe these milItary heroes our freedom and deep gratitude. Never forget.
D-DAY JUNE 6, 1944
- Thread starter Dosh
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Amen to this @Dosh
Just watched a two-hour episode on History channel this AM on D-Day landings & it was sobering & sad. So much death. So much courage & bravery. God bless our Fathers & Grandfathers for their sacrifice & the women back home in the factories, making it all possible. It's good to pause & remember. Freedom never comes free. Someone has to pay the price. We are blessed.
Just watched a two-hour episode on History channel this AM on D-Day landings & it was sobering & sad. So much death. So much courage & bravery. God bless our Fathers & Grandfathers for their sacrifice & the women back home in the factories, making it all possible. It's good to pause & remember. Freedom never comes free. Someone has to pay the price. We are blessed.
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
I was lucky to be at Normandy for the 50th anniversary on business and came home with a First Edition book commemorating the battle along with a unique map of the invasion itself. I walked the beaches at Omaha looking up at the concrete fortifications and could not even believe how difficult it must of been to run into a withering firestorm that was leashed upon them. The caissons are still in the water, lots of wrecks are still there, the fortifications are still there. I stood inside a couple and just could not believe the line of fire they had on our troops. I sat in the cemetery on the bench that was in the movie Private Ryan and yes, cried like a baby looking over all the white crosses lined up one after another.
EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO SIT ON THIS BENCH TO UNDERSTAND FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!
Two of my Uncles were in the European theater and both were wounded, one had to had both hips replaced due to long lasting shrapnel. Both have passed but I remember them hobbling from their injuries.
My Dad was a Dauntless Diver Bomber rear gunner and mechanic for both the Dauntless and the F4U Corsair and was in the Marshall Islands, Midway, Wake Island combat theaters. He was in the Ace of Spades squadron which did not have a big survivor rate.
An interesting thing happened in 2006 when my Dad came up from FL to visit for my son's wedding. I took him to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo and there was a Dauntless there restored from Lake Michigan. The curator noticed my Dad pointing out all the features and downfalls of it and came over to talk to him about it. The curator then asked my Dad to sign the mechanics hatch access to the wing which he did. So now my Dad is forever in a museum on a Dauntless! But the string of events didn't end there. I decided to send my Dad a Franklin mint copy of the Dauntless which is a true to scale copy in metal. I had it sent directly to him in FL for his birthday. My Dad calls me up so excited telling me all about it, how it looks etc. and then he said " I don't know how you did it but thank you so much for getting my Ace of Spade Squadron Emblem on the plane! It looks perfect where it belongs!"
That's when I started to hear the Twilight Zone theme in my head.....It wasn't listed as an option nor shown on the plane in the catalogue.
EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO SIT ON THIS BENCH TO UNDERSTAND FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!
Two of my Uncles were in the European theater and both were wounded, one had to had both hips replaced due to long lasting shrapnel. Both have passed but I remember them hobbling from their injuries.
My Dad was a Dauntless Diver Bomber rear gunner and mechanic for both the Dauntless and the F4U Corsair and was in the Marshall Islands, Midway, Wake Island combat theaters. He was in the Ace of Spades squadron which did not have a big survivor rate.
An interesting thing happened in 2006 when my Dad came up from FL to visit for my son's wedding. I took him to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo and there was a Dauntless there restored from Lake Michigan. The curator noticed my Dad pointing out all the features and downfalls of it and came over to talk to him about it. The curator then asked my Dad to sign the mechanics hatch access to the wing which he did. So now my Dad is forever in a museum on a Dauntless! But the string of events didn't end there. I decided to send my Dad a Franklin mint copy of the Dauntless which is a true to scale copy in metal. I had it sent directly to him in FL for his birthday. My Dad calls me up so excited telling me all about it, how it looks etc. and then he said " I don't know how you did it but thank you so much for getting my Ace of Spade Squadron Emblem on the plane! It looks perfect where it belongs!"
That's when I started to hear the Twilight Zone theme in my head.....It wasn't listed as an option nor shown on the plane in the catalogue.
ShtrRdy
Well-Known Member
Amen brother. My mother had a cousin who didn't come home after arriving at Normandy.
Pmacc60
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A huge debt we owe to our veterans , my uncle Frank Chambers landed on Omaha beach and the stories he told me about that day and the days that followed I still remember like it was yesterday . Later on Saving Private Ryan brought many of his stories back to me. So accurate down to my uncles description of sailors dead in the wash . I still have a Browning 380 that he liberated that day and gave to me before his death. Those men were our greatest generation .
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
I just recalled an incident while I was there that is still happening today in Europe and UK. A French farmer hit a live bomb plowing, no, that did not go well. Kind of terrifying you have to warn your children not to play with military ordnance they might find because it still might be live! The tonnage that was dropped is enormous and probably never will know the true tally. Cities that are doing expansions or updates run into this all the time. DANG!
Okie Whitetail Hunter
Well-Known Member
We laid my Uncle Horace Dean Raines (USMC) to rest yesterday. He was a Vietnam Vet and had a Purple Heart from his time there. With all that going on I missed putting the two dates together. He passed on Memorial Day and then buried on D-Day. Wow. Just realized all this while typing it up. I was fine until they played Taps and did the flag presentation. At this point it really hit me, being a USAF Veteran I snapped to attention and paid my respects to my Uncle. Thanks goes out to all Veterans. Especially those that had family involved in D-Day.
Hard to sit here and imagine the folks that put THEIR LIVES DOWN for us to stand here and enjoy OUR FREEDOM at THEIR sacrifice and not get a lump in your throat,,,,let only other's spit on their freedom that they NEVER EARNED......Thank you all that served,,,AMEN
6/6/44 was my grandpas 26th b-day. he spent it aboard a ship in the channel (thankfully otherwise i may not be here). he was drafted in 42 for the specific purpose of invading the mainland, though they didnt know it at the time. he went ashore on 6/8/44 and fought in the hedgerows. in mid july he got hit in the left forearm and while retreating behind a sherman, the tank was hit and he took shrapnel in his neck. a captured german doctor in england was able to save his arm. the US docs wanted to amputate it. he only had about 80% use the rest of his life, but he was able to keep it. after recovering, he was sent to CA to start getting ready to invade japan. thankfully, they surrendered before that happened. i never talked to him much about it and all he offered was talking about how brutal his training was. sadly he passed in 2007.
BillLarson
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My dad went in at Normandy that day....lived thru "The Bulge"...fought across most of Belgium and France...was haunted by it all ....for the rest of his life.....alcohol and nitemares....so sad....
he is still my hero....
he is still my hero....
Pmacc60
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My condolences for the loss of your grandfather, I had a cousin Jim Chambers who fought in Vietnam as a marine also he passed away a couple years ago. I feel for the Vietnam vet especially because those kids returning from service not only got no respect but were treated horribly by the protesters at the time. God bless those guys!
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
My deepest condolences to all that have felt the loss of someone who fought for our freedom, our Constitution, and our right to be free. We can never truly thank someone who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. What we can do, IS NEVER FORGET NOR ALLOW THEIR MEMORY BE SOILED BY POLITICS!
What has happened to our society that doesn't respect the military sacrifices our parents and family made in these military conflicts?
It makes no sense to me. I must just be old.
What has happened to our society that doesn't respect the military sacrifices our parents and family made in these military conflicts?
It makes no sense to me. I must just be old.
same here, my job has me around vietnam vets all the time. if we talk about it, i always tell them that the way they were treated during/after the war was disgusting and shameful. not one of them has been bitter about it though. they're still proud to have served and they ought to be.
