D Day Remembrance

I just want to bring people's attention to the fact that today, June 6, 2014, is the 70th anniversary of D Day.   This deay understandably might not mean a whole lot to people who are many generations removed from the actual event on June 6, 1944, when allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy to start the uphill (in every sense of the word) battle that arguably turned the tide (no pun intended) of World War II.  But I happen to believe that a visit to the American Cemetery in Colleville Sur Mére—not far from Paris—is an excellent way to ratify one's U.S. citizenship.  The sacrifices made on those beaches—especially Omaha Beach—were a major element in Tom Brokaw's annointing the adults of those times as "America's Greatest Generation."  Including the 89-year-old veteran who returned to the former battle scene by parachute, just a few minutes ago, to commemorate the battle and honor the roughly 10,000 heroes who did not survive.

I remember, as a seven-year-old boy, being spellbound as my parents excitedly explained the significance of the rumors—then the confirmation— of the onset of the Invasion.  (I'm sure Swish recalls it even more vividly.)  I recall visiting homes of friends who had relatives on the front lines and sharing time with them as they held their collective breaths and waited for news of their loved ones.  Unfortunately, the silent, hopeful anticipations of all too many were for naught.

This day does not diminish the bravery of those who have fought on other battlefields and in other times.  But, at least for me, this day does reinforce my gratitude for being an American.

To all those who served, survivors or not, and to those who supported them from afar, I send my undying thanks.

Sam

Sam,
Well said. Thank you.

AK

Sam

Well stated tribute to the Greatest Generation. I might add that if you served in the military during the war you also had the misfortune to grow up during the great depression. What away to spend your youthful years.

 I sure do remember June 6th 1944. A blaring radio at about 6:00 am summoned me to the kitchen table to join my parents to listen to the updates on this historic occasion. I could talk for days about those War years as life for me seemed to revolve around the war. For those of you too young to remember the war first hand, the best way to get a sense of the scope of the conflict is to watch film clips of the celebrations that took place throughout the world on V-J Day. Perhaps the most memorable day of my life.

swish

Sam Swish & Sinus

Obviously I was born a little to late to have lived during this time.

In our little church in town there is a small plaque. It is in honor of one of the 1,000's of men whom took there final steps of life on one of those beaches a half a world away. His name was Arthur Moreton 19 years old. Story is he fell only a few steps out of the landing craft. Some of his family still reside in our small town.

Had their mission failed General Eisenhower was prepared to address this.......

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/480368/D-Day-70th-anniversary-General-Eisenhower-In-Case-of-Failure-note?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-news-showbiz+%28Daily+Express+%3A%3A+News+%2F+Showbiz+Feed%29&utm_content=Yahoo+Search+Results


"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Haver area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops.

"My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available.

"The troops, the air, and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone."

The message is dated July 5 1944, but it is thought General Eisenhower wrote the wrong month in error due to exhaustion.

Swish,

Life absolutely revolved around the War. Walking to school, we couldn't help but notice all the stars in the windows, representing loved ones in the military overseas. There was no such thing as a spur-of-the-moment ride downtown for groceries. Use of the car (one auto per family was the norm, at least in my neighborhood) was very carefully monitored due to gas rationing, and many of the groceries themselves. And the carefully parceled out downtown trips included the entire family (to limit the trips of individuals) and usually involved a stop at a huge bin at the town hall where we dumped our flattened-out cans and other metal refuse.

The very first item to be rationed involved rubber products such as tires, which was the number one need of the military. In fact, the main reason for rationing gas was to conserve on the use of tires, not because of a gas shortage.

Sugar came next on the rationed list, and then coffee. Coffee was severely rationed to the point that my family could make only one up per day, and my parents alternated "coffee days."

Vacation travel was at a low ebb. Aside from not being in a holiday mood, people couldn't afford to travel by car. And train travel was limited by the extensive use of trains for military personnel.

Much of the available coffee was extended by chicory, and even acorns were sometimes used to stretch the supply of coffee beans. Like gasoline, coffee was not rationed due to lack of coffee beans, which were being produced in record numbers by Brazil. The rationing of coffee to the public came about largely because of the huge military demand for coffee.

Ersatz butter was made in the home by impregnating white bars of oleo with little orange powder packets to approximate the color (but never the taste) of butter.

But the number one impression made upon me involved what might be called "retrospective learning" on my part. During the war, I took for granted the gentle way with which people treated one another. One never knew what kinds of torment another person might be dealing with internally, and so one of the most popular social requirements involved giving one another plenty of slack. Caring about others was exhibited on so many levels. People chipped in to support those in distress. Baby sitting networks were common both in daytime and evenings to support mothers who went off to factories or other essential jobs while their husbands were at war. It was safe for kids to be alone; I recall traveling (with two transportation transfers) alone to Boston and Revere Beach at age 11. All of these things were such regular occurrences that I never fully realized how extraordinary the human relationships during World War II had been until I experienced the 1960s.

I just watched a 94-year-old WWII veteran being interviewed on television. He had received the French Legion of Honor medal for meritorious services in World War II. When asked what it meant to him to receive the honor, he said it was yet another opportunity for him to be able to thank people for remembering. When asked why, after so many veterans refused to talk about the war for many year and had begun opening up more recently, he replied that, if they didn't talk about those times, memories of World War II would die. Considering the plethora of documentation and coverage of the War, the facts never can die. It's up to future generations as to whether the lessons of the war will be meaningful in years to come.

Sam

Beat,

During the War, the possibility of loss was something that bothered everyone but was acknowledged publicly by very few. This is the first time since V-J Day that I have considered the possibility that we could have lost the War. As far as I'm concerned, victory was ordained.

Sam

Back in the day before precision bombing, satellite-guided missile strikes and leap-frogging helicopter advances there was a different type of Shock and Awe, Operation Overlord.  About 140,000 troops, half of them Americans, jumping/running/floundering out of Higgins boats onto beaches that had been prepared as kill zones by the well-entrenched defenders.  Those who read my thread about New Orleans when I was there back last October, will remember that the National WWII Museum is located in New Orleans because, according to Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, ""Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different." Even Adolf Hitler recognized his heroic war efforts in ship production and bitterly dubbed him the "New Noah."  For those who have interest in WWII this museum provides just one more good reason to visit The Big Easy (as if one more was necessary).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCVP_(United_States)

http://nationalww2museum.org/


I thought Bill Clinton gave a magnificent speech on the 50th anniversary of D-Day (say and think what you will of him, the man knows how to give a damn speech like few others!).  Here's the link to the entire transcript, but here's the words that grabbed me then and still tear me up today even as I type all this, "Today many of them are here among us. Oh, they may walk with a little less spring in their step, and their ranks are growing thinner. But let us never forget, when they were young, these men saved the world. And so let us now ask them, all the veterans of the Normandy campaign, to stand if they can and be recognized".


http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=50300


It's hard to imagine now.  Roughly 150,000 Americans were involved in the recent invasion of Iraq, but they didn't wade in from the surf against concentrated machine gun fire.  I'm not diminishing that effort, combat is still combat, but it's not the same as the same number of troops being delivered to the point of attack in 36' flat-bottomed boats that crawled towards the beaches at a maximum speed of 12 knots (14mph).

German casualties on D-Day = approximately 1000 men.
Allied casualties on D-Day = at least 12,000 men with 4,414 confirmed dead.  There have been 4,804 coalition soldiers (U.S., British, etal) killed in Iraq from 2003-2012.  There were close to the same number confirmed killed in one day, June 6, 1944.

And this was considered a great victory because it paved the way for Final Victory and the end of the war.  But, oh, the price paid that day.















These are excerpts from the Spielberg/Hanks series "Band of Brothers".  For those of you don't own it (I do) nor have ever seen it, it is worth the effort and money to at least rent the whole 12 episodes.  Everybody remembers the troops storming ashore, but often overlooked were the troops who were dropped behind enemy lines without any means or plans to retrieve them, destined to become casualties or POWs should the invasion fail.













The beach landing scene, from "Saving Private Ryan"





Band of Brothers is the story of Easy Company, 101nd Airborne but the 82nd also went in.  The 505th Regiment of the 82nd All-American Division took heavy, heavy casualties because they landed IN the German-occupied town of St. Mere Eglise.  One trooper, John Steele, hung from the church steeple by his parachute for 2 hours and watched his brothers be slaughtered as the burning buildings lit up the night sky and made it easy for the German defenders to target the falling paratroopers, many before they ever hit the ground.  Those that made it to the ground fought doggedly and to the end.  Inside the church, today, there are two stained glass windows, one shows the Virgin Mary surrounded by paratroopers, the other shows St. Michael (patron saint of the paratroopers) and was dedicated in 1972.  1972, 28 years after the fact. Don't tell me the French are ungrateful. Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia page for St. Mere Eglise  "The early landings, at about 0140 directly on the town, resulted in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. Some buildings in town were on fire that night, and they illuminated the sky, making easy targets of the descending men. Some were sucked into the fire. Many hanging from trees and utility poles were shot before they could cut loose. The German defenders were alerted".  There is, in fact, an Airborne Museum, still to this day, in St. Mere Eglise, France.  






From the movie, The Longest Day, Red Buttons playing the role of John Steele.





There were even amphibious invasions that were not taking place on the bloody sands of Omaha, Juno, Sword and Gold beaches.  US Army Rangers attacked the gun emplacements at Pointe-du-Hoc, scaling steep escarpments to reach the top.  If those massive concrete-encased anti-naval guns had been allowed to be brought to bear, the invasion would have failed.

















Here is a link to interviews with two US Army Rangers who survived the assault on Pointe-du-Hoc and tell the true story about what happened that day, now 70 years ago (which is, not surprisingly, NOT what was depicted in Hollywood's movie "The Longest Day", which describes the assault as a waste).


http://www.historynet.com/d-day-interview-with-two-us-2nd-ranger-battalion-members-who-describe-the-attack-at-pointe-du-hoc.htm



bob
God Bless Them, wherever they are.


.

The Celtics own Johnny Most was a WW II combat vet.   He flew over 25 missions in Italy as a gunner in a B-24 bomber.

My brother gave me a book with a CD containing not only Johnny's greatest calls but also a recording he made for his family on one of those scratchy 1940's instant vinyl machines before he shipped off overseas.

After Germany surrendered Johnny wrote the following to honor his comrades who did not make it:

   I stood among the graves today and swept the scene with sight.
   And the corps of men who lay beneath looked up to say good night.
   The thunder still, the battle done, the fray has passed them by;
   And as they rest forever more, they must be asking, ‘Why?’

The most evocative speech I ever heard was delivered by President Ronald Reagan at the 40th anniversary of D Day.  We were honored to be among the 2,000 guests (1,998 VIPs and the two of us after I performed manual labor to gain entry).  In the speech, he frequently refers to Private Peter Robert Zannata, whose daughter, Lisa Zannata Henn, represented him at the ceremony and had told his story in a letter ro Reagan.  Her dad had always wanted to return to "see the beaches, the barricades, and the graves," but he had died of cancer eight years earlier.

I'm planning to speak with Lisa Zannata Henn tomorrow by phone.  I wouldn't want to interrupt her on D Day.  However, I do want to join the many who must have contacted her over the years to let her know we're thinking of her and her dad.

Reagan's speech lasts only nine minutes, and it's very, very moving.  I'm posting a link to that speech as well as a second link that contains an excerpt of the speech that show shots of Lisa Zannata Henn and members of her family.

Clip of Ronald Reagan's complete speech:

http://thetension.blogspot.com/2009/06/flashback-video-president-reagans.html

Clip showing Lisa Zannata Penn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgDZdFQY3iM

Sam