D-Day plus 69 years

[gm272gs]

In a couple of days, I will put out the flag. That is what I do on June 6th, even though it's not on the "official" list of flag days.

I really think that it should be, along with December 7th and a few others.

Here is the list of "standard" days/holidays proclaimed to be days on which to display the flag;

New Year's Day
Inauguration Day
Martin Luther King's Birthday
Lincoln's Birthday
Washington's Birthday
Easter Sunday
Patriots Day, April 19
National Day of Prayer, the 1st Thursday of May
Mother's Day
Armed Forces Day
Memorial Day (half-staff until noon)
Flag Day
Independence Day, July 4th
Labor Day
Constitution Day
Columbus Day, October 12th
Navy Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
Election Days
State and Local Holidays
Your State Birthday (date of admission to the Union)

"...and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States..."


and of course, November 10th !

 

[PALADIN85020]

I think that's a great practice to commemorate an epic WWII event in which so many of our men lost their lives or were wounded. We should not forget. It would be a good day to pull out the DVD of "Saving Private Ryan" and play the first 15 minutes or so, if nothing else.

My wife had a friend who actually knew nothing of D-Day. I invited her to watch what I just referenced above. I think she now has a better understanding of this epic event in history, and the sacrifices of the D-Day men. It was very sobering for her.

It would also be a good day to re-watch "The Longest Day," A pretty good (if Hollywoodized) recap of the D-Day saga. I wonder if the the History Channel and the Military Channel will have specials on it.

I wrote my Sr. ROTC final report on the strategy of D-Day; such a report was required before commissioning, and I got to choose the subject. I've never forgotten the things I learned during research and then put on paper. It sure made me appreciate The Greatest Generation.

John

 

[mg357]

I had an uncle who was in the combat engineers during world war 2 he was in the 3rd wave into bloody Omaha beach. His best friend who was next to my uncle was killed by a German mortar round. my uncle got sprayed with his friends blood and brains. May god bless all of the D-DAY veterans. May he also watch of the family members of the men who gave their lives on that very important day.

 

[bobcat]

I'm reading the "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson, the last volume in the so called Liberation Trilogy. Just finished reading the 1st portion which was about D Day, amazing the courage that was common that day. We should never forget them or their sacrifice, and displaying the flag is a fine tribute!

 

[PA Reb]

Its funny this post would pop up here today. Yesterday at work, I was treating an elderly woman that was a patient in the hospital and her husband was sitting in a chair beside her bed. He had his army veteran's ballcap sitting on the stand next to him with his unit information written on it along with WW II. I struck up a conversation with him and it wasn't long before he was telling me about his experiences on D-Day. He told me he was a part of the first wave onto Omaha Beach and he was positioned in the landing craft right up front next to the door. He said that at the very instant the door dropped open, the man standing right beside him took a machine gun bullet right through his head and "dropped stone dead on the spot." I can't type his following exact words here but it had to do with an instant feeling of what he almost did in the seat of his pants. He then told me he ran / swam as fast as he could towards the shoreline with all kinds of incoming hitting all around him. When he was finished, he told me he is haunted to this day by the look the not so lucky soldier had on his face the moment he was struck. I know I'll never gorget his story nor all those that went through that to keep us free. God Bless them all - my head is bowed to every last one of them!

 

[shouldazagged]

I've posted this on the forum before, but my pride in my old man tells me I need to do so again.

My dad was a short-sighted, thirty-three-year-old father of two and war correspondent who hit Omaha Beach unarmed with one of the first units in the first wave on D-Day, an engineer outfit. He had an amphibious vehicle shot out from under him on the way in to the beach.

He would never talk about it except one brief reference to being pinned down by pre-sighted machine gun fire. It was a horrible experience he privately treasured for the rest of his long life. He died at ninety, twelve years ago. And although he had been a journalist for forty-four years, covered both of the first two Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests in 1946, toured the Displaced Person camps all over Europe in 1947 and '48, hosted a local TV show for years, then retired from journalism and served as a minister till he was eighty, in his last years if he was asked what his occupation had been he would proudly say, "War correspondent."

I think about him more this time of year. He's buried across from a section of the cemetery set aside for Civil War dead. He liked the site.

 

[vigil617]

I'm proud to be a D-Day baby, circa 1956.

When I stop to consider Operation Overlord happened only 12 years before I came into the world, time squeezes down a whole lot. Not long at all really -- 12 years ago from now, still, is 21st Century....

 

[gm272gs]

My dad was in the Army Air Corps. He was a drunk and a real jerk, thus I learned from him how to be a good father.

I remember asking him why he lied about his age to get into the Army. I grew up with Vietnam, the draft, anti-war demonstrations, and riots, so I couldn't quite grasp it.

He told me simply; "Because we didn't want the Germans to take over the world".

It was that simple. A teachable moment, to be sure.

I haven't worn a uniform since the 1980's, but by God I salute the flag when I run it up the pole. I think about all those guys (and gals), when I do. I cannot ever seem to keep a dry eye, either.

Dang it, there I go again.

 

[the ringo kid]

I remember the 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the day-very well. Now almost the 70th.

 

[feralmerril]

Just last night I googeled my uncles outfit. He was in the 82nd AB with the gliders. 320th field artillery. I was able to pick him out on a couple photos here.
http://www.martinosworld.com/Genealogy/320th_Photos.pdf
He got a purple heart on this one. Only he and one other guy out of 14 on his glider lived. I belive I read of the incident on this site but not by name. Just a report of two guys that escaped. I have his outfits book with some of the same pictures.

 

[Cpo1944]

When we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion , my insufferable next door neighbor-who was a Pearl Harbor survivor- was outraged that we didn`t do the same for Pearl.
I told him no one wants to celebrate an Axx kicking!!!
Normandy was a Victory !!!
Poor old Pete may he rest in peace.

 

[Abbynormal]

When we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion , my insufferable next door neighbor-who was a Pearl Harbor survivor- was outraged that we didn`t do the same for Pearl.
I told him no one wants to celebrate an Axx kicking!!!
Normandy was a Victory !!!
Poor old Pete may he rest in peace.

While I am not the most tactful or considerate person, I find your above remark appalling! I was taught to respect Veterans. I certainly hope you were close to this person and said this in jest. If not, forget it, you're not worth it.

 

[Cpo1944]

You Sir, remind me of someone who is looking to be and eager to be offended .
If that is the case consider yourself seriously disrespected. You have no idea what you are blathering about, so PIxx Off!!!

While I am not the most tactful or considerate person, I find your above remark appalling! I was taught to respect Veterans. I certainly hope you were close to this person and said this in jest. If not, forget it, you're not worth it.

 

[Cpo1944]

Just to explain -not that I need to- The insufferable Pearl Harbor survivor I was referring to was a blustering blowhard non-combatant who`s sole claim to fame is he was there peeling potatoes when the attack occurred and he was far away from the action. His biggest war adventure was to wreck a Dodge weapons carrier on the way to a drunken picnic in the rear area .
I am a veteran who did my duty and have every right to be critical of one who was sandbagging as my old neighbor always did. I showed him the respect due an older person ,but secretly had no respect for him as a veteran.
You real vets know what I`m talking about.

 

[mike from st pete]

My SIL's Dad passed just last year, he was in Normandy a few hours ahead of the beach landing in a glider.
I can't imagine what he must have gone thru.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My wife's uncle Bob was in the 325 AIR (Airborne Infantry Reg.) a glider reg in the 82nd Airborne. He went in on D-Day but never spoke of it. My brother-in-law and oldest son went in the same regiment in '82 and '99, Bob couldn't any prouder of his nephews! Although he couldn't figure out why they chose to jump out of fully operating aircraft. Ivan

 

[feralmerril]

My uncle told me his story like this. His commander wanted him to load collapsible cross`s in his glider. Being supersticous he didnt want to but had to. The officer strapped himself in right next to uncle eldon. He got his head blowed off before they ever landed. Eldon said it was a night operation and the maps they had of the LZ were way out of date, had to land in a orchard. He said they were hauling a jeep. He said he woke up with his head in the radiator. His face was all busted up and had back fractors etc.
He was in several glider invasions but I belive this was the same one that just he and one other guy out of 14 survived. He said they had to hide out for a couple days before they hooked up with others. At one point he said he and the other guy watched from inside a haystack as the germans exicuted a farmer and his daughter that had helped them.
Then on a boat takeing them back across the channel they were hit again. He said they wired his jaw together and gave him a pliers to cut the wire in case he got sick. He never married and ended up commiting suicide in 1973. We were pretty close and hunted and fished together.
No one called it PSST (sp?) or whatever it is back then but I knew the war affected him.

 

[Cpo1944]

That Poor man.
No could experience any thing like that and not be severely effected and I don`t believe he would ever be able to recover from such a shock .
I am surprised he functioned as well as he apparently did for so long. He is a Hero God rest his soul.
You were lucky to know him.

 

[chief38]

My flag will fly on D-Day just as it does every day unless we have rain or severe weather.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I quite often talk to an 88 year old gentleman who was at Juno Beach. Yes, he's Canadian.

He's old and crotchety. But a nice guy.

When days like this come along throughout the year he shares some of his experiences about D Day, Korea , AND Vietnam.

He rambles for a while and then he yells "oh what the hell does it matter?" "I killed as many of those (expletive) as I could!"

Sorry, but that's exactly what he says each and every time.