D-Day

On a day to remember, a good fight and a horrible cost - allied and axis alike lost sons and daughters on this day, and families were made forever bereft of good and loving children.

Honor and peace to all families of all vets and civilians lost in this battle, and may our damn species find a way to end such battles forever.

 

The other day i was at the beach where they practised the d-day landings, i'll post some pictures later

 

Thanks. Someday soon, I'd like to go. I once worked for a vet who made it through - lost his arm. Old guy, still wept at what he went through, 60 years later.

 

is D-Day, Donate A Day ?

 

Wow really?

 

I dont know.

 

Lol good stuff.

But anyways yup. I hope we are all able to live in peace one these days.....

 

But Donate A Day was on April 14. I thought it is something like that.
Painting benches, gardening, trash cleanup, farm games, and arts and crafts projects are just some of the activities volunteers participated in during Donate A Day 2008 in New York City on April 14

Yes, we all need a peace

 

When people talk of D-Day, they're commonly talking about June 6, 1944, the day on which the Allied Expeditionary Force landed on the beaches of Normandy in a surprise, and successful, combined air, sea and land invasion of Europe in a bid to overcome Hitler and the Western Axis. It was a surprise, due in no small part to a series of false intelligence ruses leading Hitler and German High Command to believe the inevitable assault would be further North, in Calais, or Norway (see Operation Fortitude).

Though the invasion - the largest armada in history - was a success, it was incredibly bloody. A lot of people died, on both sides of the line of battle, and I think it is important to reflect on things like this, and hope we can find a way to eventually make war itself a part of ancient history. I've always said it: we're smart enough to fashion the sword; just not smart enough to lay it down. I hope this changes.

 

An uncle of mine jumped in on June 5th. He got hip with shrapnel in the knee on the jump. But he got a luger

 

82nd, 101st?

I hope your Uncle is still with us, Bogart, and if he is, please tell him thanks from another vet. If he isn't, I hope this day is a day that brings you and yours peace and good memories.

 

WW2 was before my time so I missed most of the war stories. My Uncle moved to Tampa so I'm short on his career. But there were a lot of independent regiments so he may not have been in either.

I had a 2nd cousin that was in Italy and he brought back a wife from Naples. That was better than the luger.

We really have to be thankful to all the Vets for the service that they performed for our great nation.

 

Yep, and I am saddened that we are losing more and more of them everyday.

Naples - Luger....

 

This is one of the highest points on the south coast of England, where the british forces practised the D day landings on the beaches below and around the corner. About 2-3 miles to the right is the ministry of defence training zone but the rest of the place is golden sands and in some places you can see boxes on top of the edge of the cliff where they used artillery to defend the coasts. The tinypic.com pics are ones i took myself and the others are ones are where i went but didn't take pics

http://i30.tinypic.com/2nlcrbd.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/4jc4y.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/10qflo2.jpg

http://www.battlefield-site.co.uk/old_harry.JPG

http://www.battlefield-site.co.uk/globe.JPG

http://www.battlefield-site.co.uk/east_cliff01.JPG

You can see more pics here http://www.battlefield-site.co.uk/purbeck.htm

Edit: I found a pic of the artillery thing on the cliff that i was talking about, it's not that good since you can't see the front but, it has like 10 layers, layered on top of each other, leaving only enough space for a gun to fit through at the front so if it was hit by an incoming boat it would absorb the energy and the soldiers inside wouldn't be hurt, or only have a few scratches at worst.

 

Hey North. I was watching the Pianist today. I know we hate war, but we must always remember that being afraid to fight doesn't stop us from having to. What a world!

We should also remember those brave souls who went to fight and returned. Amen.

WWII was probably the clearest cut thing I've ever seen in terms of having to fight.

I wish I understood one iota of what we're fighting about now.

Peace B

 

Hey Dead, been a long time. Yep, agreed - WWII was a fight that had to be fought. I just wish, for our species, we give it up. Hopelessly dream-filled, I know, but god - the march of folly indeed.

 

My uncle was right in the middle of that at normandy. He was one of those guys on the jeeps that shot down the airplanes. He got hit with shrapnel from a grenade i believe. He also got 3 purple hearts. Only thing he regretted was that " those darn russians got to hitler first"
Only guy i ever knew who had a 31 year old girlfriend in his 70's lol.
Always had a smile on his face, maybe thats why.

P.S. HE arrived in time to see the horrors of the concentration camp. You could see the look of anger in his eyes when he talked about it.

 

I was fascinated by D-Day, growing up. It is astonishing that the allies/Americans were able to make progress at Omaha Beach. It seems inpenetrable. After being stopped in their tracks, the allies brought large ships perilously close to the shore to improve accuracy in long range artillary on German gun placements on the cliffs. It was only after these more accurate artillary that allied (Americans) were able to make progress. The other beaches were far easier to assault and make progress.

Meanwhile a couple of years ago I recall reading a story about a long term German farmer, I believe, who revealed he was a guy in a gun emplacement that literally tore up the Americans. He received some special name for being so deadly. He spoke how he prayed to god while fighting and shooting.

How ironic. He was praying to the same god that the soldiers attacking him were praying to. As the allied ship bombardment became more deadly and accurate he finally left his post and began to retreat. I don't recall if he was later caught by advancing Americans or not. In any case he was never identified during the war and shortly afterwards as this most deadly of soldiers, seemingly singlehandedly holding off a large component of an attacking force.

Had he been an allied soldier and a representative of the winning side he would have been glorified for his actions. Instead he hid his actions from public view for decades even as the allies made mention of his singular role and effectiveness in holding up the invasion.

His story describes both the horrors and irony of war.

 

Not all people necessarily wanted to even be in the war.
Soldier X is also a very good book I might add though.