Can't forget that today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France.
It would be interesting to ask the Queen what she thought of so many people that were her same age (almost) that were storming the beaches and falling from the sky 75 years ago.
And if you've not had a chance to visit- do if you do get the chance. It's worth it.
Grandpa told this story about some boat of marines that got in front of his boat by accident. His boat was supposed to be first on this area of beach. The marines landing craft hit a mine and was sunk... He said they were quite angry at this other group for stealing their glory, until they hit that mine. Then they were thankful.
Greatest generation indeed.
BBC World Service radio is on the net and has a lot of good programs about WW2 and D-Day
You can listen to them live or they are archived.
I get weepy every time I watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSKerypwUDM
Mainly because I miss my Grandfathers, but also because it's heartbreaking to know they had to go through such terrible things. How they survived, raised families, and could become the loving, patient men I once knew is beyond my understanding. Men of greater degree, every one of them.
Incidentally, they are being shot at with MG42s, which have a rate of fire of 1200+ rounds per minute. That's 20 rounds a second. What a feeling of hopelessness they must have had when that transport door dropped open.
I put the flag up a few times a year.
This is an important day for me, maybe because I'm a boomer.
I will find it later but there was a video of a 97 year old member of the 101st Airborne who jumped out of a plane and recreated his D-Day jump.
dxman92 said:I will find it later but there was a video of a 97 year old member of the 101st Airborne who jumped out of a plane and recreated his D-Day jump.
dxman92 said:I will find it later but there was a video of a 97 year old member of the 101st Airborne who jumped out of a plane and recreated his D-Day jump.
Bet the competition among the younger guys for who got to jump with the old guy was pretty intense. We had a couple of diesel boat WW2 vets show up for a tour of the boat I was stationed on and it almost came to blows for who got to give the tour.
They did the unthinkable, survived the unimaginable, so that we are here today and have freedoms we do. If I had heroes, I can think of no one greater.
Fueled by Caffeine said:Grandpa told this story about some boat of marines that got in front of his boat by accident. His boat was supposed to be first on this area of beach. The marines landing craft hit a mine and was sunk... He said they were quite angry at this other group for stealing their glory, until they hit that mine. Then they were thankful.
Greatest generation indeed.
My Grandfather told a similar story. They were supposed to be one of the first boats on Omaha. A morter landed in the water next to their boat and the coxswain spun the boat in a 180 to keep the next one from hitting. Because of this, the boat that was behind them landed first. When the ramp was dropped, all the men aboard were killed by machine gun fire. The boat my Grandfather was on landed sideways to give the men some protection.
He made it all the way to Paris without a scratch before he was pulled out and sent home due to the death of my Great-Grandfather
In reply to Apis Mellifera :
Yes, I get teary too. I think it's unbelievable for us, in 2019, to even conceive of the bravery and ultimate sacrifice these heros endured, and were willing to do. My uncle survived D-Day. His beach-foxhole buddy didn't. But the shrapnel he took in his legs (that killed his buddy) led to his ultimate death thirty years later. Well, the alcohol probably contributed somewhat too.
We made the trip to Normandy a few years ago on a Viking trip and it was very moving. Annie and I placed flowers on a grave of an RI soldier who died in France. The experience was very moving. Today was very moving.
In reply to mad_machine :
MM, those are the boats described in that zerohedge article, first in at Ohama. Like one of them could have been the one your grandpa was on.
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