I came across this piece on the Web just now, and think it is a suitable tribute to our troops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz8TIjyfhMc

Also heard these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNJVgmlkuWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv4L--rgAzk
(the songs of the other services are not in the same reverent mood--sorry)

flashguy

If you can watch this without getting tears in your eyes, there's something wrong with you.

Talk about guts and the will to win. Bravest of the brave.
[ [FLASH_VIDEO] /FLASH_VIDEO]

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.”

That Peanuts cartoon gets me every time I see it.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
If you can watch this without getting tears in your eyes, there's something wrong with you.

[FLASH_VIDEO]

I began tearing up as soon as the scene began to play :-\

The morphing of Damon’s Private Ryan into Harrison Young as The elderly Ryan was a nice piece of work.

Returning to D-Day and the last year of the War…God Bless them all

Another remembrance; saw this once on YouTube, from the old TV series "Combat!" This was supposed to be the first episode, with the squad's experiences prior to and on that day.

https://youtu.be/cgIseNoxNSQ

God bless and hold them all, but especially for my Dad who was a Combat Engineer on Omaha Beach. He came home and seldom spoke of the horrors he saw and experienced. His brothers in arms at the American Legion post in my hometown were the only ones that he spoke about it to and the conversations always ended quickly if someone who wasn't there approached. He was not a big man in stature but a huge man in spirit and strength.

A great reminder of what Americans were going through every day for about four years, all around the world.
That movie and the two other WW2 series (BoB and The Pacific) should be required in school so later generations don't forget.

Also remember our allies who fought side-by-side with us on D-Day... The British, French, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Czechs, Polish, Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians, Greeks, and South Africans.

Soldiers, sailors, and airmen from all of those nations participated that day.

My father drove an ambulance in the war, landing at Omaha Beach, D-day + 4.

We went to see Saving Private Ryan when it first came out, and I did not know about the opening scene and how intense it was... I looked at my dad and he was transfixed to the screen.

After the movie, he said it was the most realistic movie he had ever seen about Normandy.

But his words that stay with me most: "The only thing missing in that movie, was the smell. There were piles of bodies everywhere..."

And remember the Normandy invasion wasn’t the only or the first “D-Day.”*
According to one book I’m reading now, it took on an almost mythic status even at the time, but the war was a vast undertaking that encompassed literally much of the world. For anyone who is truly interested and hasn’t already made the effort to learn more, one source I can recommend (among countless others) is the “Liberation Trilogy” by Rick Atkinson.

* My combat engineer father participated in two invasions, the ones in North Africa and in southern France.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
And remember the Normandy invasion wasn’t the only or the first “D-Day.”*

Right. "D-Day" was just a generic term used to denote the start date of an operation. Any operation.

D-Day and H-Hour were placeholders used during the weeks/months of pre-planning of an operation, when they didn't yet know the exact start date or time, or didn't want to refer to an exact date or time. It allowed any date and time to be inserted and the plan to run as intended.

They'd work up plans for an operation to commence on D-Day (the start date of the operation) at H-Hour (the start time of the operation), then plan for the next steps to happen on D at H+1 (the hour after the start of the operation), or H+2, etc. Then other things to happen on D+1 (the day after the start of the operation), or D+2, etc. And so on.

The "D-Day" term then just became attached in common parlance to the start of this specific Operation Overlord in particular.

I like this version of Hymn to The Fallen, showing many of the American cemetaries around the world along with the number of American soldiers buried in each one.

Link

Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.
The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

General Eisenhower

quote:

Originally posted by ranger312:
I like this version of Hymn to The Fallen, showing many of the American cemetaries around the world along with the number of American soldiers buried in each one.

Link

I have been to several of those cemeteries. It is good that they are kept in pristine condition--immaculate and serene.

flashguy

We visited the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, in April of this year while visiting our daughter in Roanoke. The rural town of Bedford lost 20 young men that day, the highest number per capita of anyplace in the nation. The Memorial is out of the way but is extremely well done and very much worth the visit (we did it as a day trip with along with a visit to the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park a short distance away).

https://www.dday.org/

For the broader perspective of D-Days in both theaters, the National World War II Museum in New Orleans has a lot of info. We were there a number of years ago and got to talk to a couple of WWII vets and to listen to two paratroopers who'd dropped into Normandy give a very short perspective on their experience. They felt fortunate to not have been assigned to the deathtraps, ah, gliders. Unfortunately, the days of talking to the vets who were there is probably past; there aren't very many of them left now.