D-day Normandy

[StockDoc]

Was straightening out the safe and looked at one of my Garands and started thinking about the D-day landing on where the US troops would have been right about now on Omaha and Utah Beaches?

Where were the Canadians on Gold, Juno and Sword?

18 yr old kids in a battle for their lives, older young adults that were taken away from families and jobs by the draft. Just the thought of all of it gets to a person.

[fogerty]

Friend of mine is 91 years old. 82nd Airborne, jumped into Normandy. Can't get him to talk about it. All he can say is "you don't know what it's like to kill someone." He also had other jumps, but won't talk about any of them. I gave up and just try to think about what he's been through. I can't imagine.

[StockDoc]

I knew quite a few through my parents who were in combat in that war, some talked about it, other avoided talking. One man was a Ranger who was placed in a "hospital" after the war because he loved the killing. The stories he told us of knifing someone went into extreme detail. Perhaps it was because he had the ear of the young, that he told it as a Horror story.

Another gentleman who graduated College and went over to England as a 2nd Lt. He job was to provide in Theater training to new soldiers. His thoughts were, "how the hell could I do that, never being in combat in my life", but he did his job up to D-day. After that it his job was recovering bodies and body parts from the landings. He said that the sea had a red tint to it for weeks after the landing, and that the stench was horrible.

not even my worse nightmare can imagine what they went through, and I don't think I want to.

[Sunray]

Canadian Third Div. was on Juno. Plus the airborne pathfinders were Canadians. Only unit(The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada) who took their D-Day objectives and had gone farther inland than anybody else. Hadn't landed by 0830. 48 Commando had on Juno.
Brits were on Gold and Sword.

[Chaz]

December 7, 2013

How can such a sad place be so beautiful?

[Marty T.]

Because those people in that area really appreciate what was done for them and the price that was paid for it.

[bruce]

From 1996-2004 I served a appointment of four rural churches. In those churches were men who had seen active duty during WWII, Korea and Vietnam. One of those men was a resident in a local nursing home, a terrible stroke had just about completely disabled him. I visited him every Thursday afternoon. He never spoke except one time. On a Thursday before the anniversary of D-Day I was visiting with him. He was attentive. He blinked once for yes and twice for no. I'd been told he was in the second wave at Omaha. He blinked appropriately to confirm he'd been in Europe... in the invasion. Then, he spoke. He said, "They shot my lieutenant and I shot them." His wife told me he was badly wounded that morning and later evacuated. After he recovered, he was returned to the fighting. She said he was greatly changed when he came home, that he was angry all the time. Apparently he was a very difficult man to work with. He died in 2004. I had nothing but profound respect for him and what he went through. Sincerely. bruce.

[Dean-DGR]

I got to watch the movie "The Longest Day" when it first came out, with a man that had jumped into Sainte Mere Eglise. He described many details the movie did not show.

Dean-DGR

[StockDoc]

Dean, I heard that most of the Paratroopers at St Mere Eglise jumped with Garlands, and because the rifle bags were too short the rifle was in 3 parts. Most were killed trying to assemble the rifle. They had to put that they were killed trying to fight it out, the American people would not stand to see them just cut down the way they were.

Yes it is very sad, I wish our old politicians put more value to our young soldiers lives