quote:

Originally posted by Kevbo:
Every American that visits Europe should go to Normandy

I cannot agree more. I have had the good fortune to visit on multiple occasions and it is extremely emotional each time. To get a glimpse into what these men, boys in many cases, faced and overcame is unbelievable.

Let us never forget.

My father was 17 when he went to serve in WW2.
He started in the Navy Seabees and then was reassigned to the Marines.
He was in the Siapan and Tinian invasions.He watched the A bomb be assembled and the bombers take off from Tinian and head to Japan.
While stationed on Tinian he was assigned to go into the mountains and burn the "Japs" out of the caves. He stood with his best friend while a Jap sniper blew his buddy's head off. After the War he was sent to Japan to be part of the occupation force.
He grew up in Chicago and never had really left the city until he was sent to the South Pacific.
He was NEVER comfortable buying ANYTHING from Japan.
He knew that when he came home he wanted to go to Collage and become a teacher, he did both and ended his career as the Superintendent of a school district.
I can't even imagine what those experiences must have been like.I always remember his life before I start to whine about things in my life.

May God bless them all.

Armored - After that kind of experience becoming a teacher and then administrator must have been pretty tame. I’ll bet he did a great job.

erg_pilot...AMEN to your post less we forget...we owe so much to those young men on that beach that day (many didn’t come home)...God bless them all.

^^^not just that day...but every day up to victory. Our guys were dying to stop evil. Every one of them should be acknowledged and thanked

Dad was at Saipan, Iwo Jima Gaudalcanal and Leyte to name a few....USN.....we went to see Saving Private Ryan and he bailed in tears during that first scene.....said it brought him right back to the invasions and was too much. RIP dad

quote:

Originally posted by BGULL:
From The Atlantic circa 1960, by historian S. L. A. Marshall:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ma...-omaha-beach/303365/

Absolutely horrible, just the very act of getting ashore was all but impossible, but those who did made the difference.

Thank you for posting this. I have not read that account of history before.

As the thread title states, I can't even begin to imagine what it was like.

My Dad and I went to see Saving Private Ryan together when it opened in the theater, but we left after about 15 minutes. Dad was in the infantry landing @ Omaha beach in the landing craft; he couldn't watch any more and wanted to leave. Miss you Dad, thank you and RIP.

your son, aileron

My grandfather served in the pacific theater as a marine and my uncle in Europe with the army. D day was a major turning point in the war. It wasn’t a sure thing until then that we were going to win.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
My grandfather served in the pacific theater as a marine and my uncle in Europe with the army. D day was a major turning point in the war. It wasn’t a sure thing until then that we were going to win.

I don't think it was a "sure thing" even after it that we were going to win, but it did make it more likely.

flashguy

One of best friend's Dad landed at Normandy as a 19 year old. He received a battlefield promotion to Sergeant on that day but the paperwork was lost/never filed. A couple of years ago with help from his congressman he received that promotion.

He and his wife are in their 90's and are still going strong.

I grew up listening to his WW2 experiences. The only one he refused to discuss were the concentration camps. He had a part in liberating one of them, I can't remember which one.

He is Jewish.

In the first months in 1942 after Pearl Harbor, there was a lot of doubt about the outcome of the war in the US and Britain because the Germans and Japanese were scoring one stunning success after another. By mid-1944 only the gloomiest pessimist among the Allies would have doubted the eventual defeat of the Germans. Some were still thinking that the prospect of invading the home islands of Japan could have resulted in a negotiated settlement with them, but not in Europe. Even if the invasion of Normandy hadn’t occurred the Germans would have inevitably been defeated. Lest we forget, Europe had already been invaded through Italy and southern France was invaded a couple of months later.

Plus, ultimately the Russians would have been unstoppable. That might have been in large part because of the British and American bombing campaigns and massive aid the US gave the Russians, but we did and they were.

No single operation or battle or weapon “won” World War II. The Normandy invasion no doubt shortened the war as it was intended (although not as much as it might have if some blunders by the Allies and other problems had not occurred), but the ultimate outcome in Europe was not in doubt by late 1944.

God bless those men


I caught most of this last night via Hulu, I was definitely glued to the tube

https://www.discovery.com/show...-into-d-day-pictures

This is from a USMA grad who, together with his wife, runs a travel agency in Europe. A very well written piece on the Rangers’ assault on defense of Pointe du Hoc. More more detail than I’ve ever read before. Some good pictures too.

Pointe du Hoc; Rangers Lead the Way

The humblest of these men is a better man than I’ll ever be. God bless them.

Think about that day when we think we’re having a bad day.