Allied Expeditionary Forces landed in force on five beaches and three airheads on the coast of Normandy, France.

Thus began Eisenhower’s Great Crusade to free Western Europe of socialist tyranny.

Think of them today.

Think of this, when you complain you're having a bad day.

God bless those Allied Forces.

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home - fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas - whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too - strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

~~Franklin D Roosevelt~~

Sam Elliott’s moving presentation of the memoir of medic, Sgt. Ray Lambert at the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.

quote:

Thus began Eisenhower’s Great Crusade to free Western Europe of socialist tyranny.

Ironic, isn't it?
After a great military victory... the slow surrender of Western Europe to socialist tyranny began.

Some pictures from my trip to Normandy in 2017.

"I saw a sign that said 'St. Mere Eglise'"


Pegasus Bridge


American Cemetery


Utah Beach


St. Mere Eglise


Pointe du Hoc


Iron Mike Paratrooper Memorial, outside St. Mere Eglise

The Kentucky Air Guard has sent over one of its C-130s to participate in a parachute drop. It has been outfitted in the same paint scheme that Allied aircraft wore from D-Day to VE-Day. When the KYANG was formed in 1947, it was originally assigned WW2 P-51/F-51 aircraft, and the battle honors and history of the 368th Fighter Squadron, decal roundel shown below. That decal roundel is on the nose of the port (left) side of the C-130.

https://www.wdrb.com/news/kent...7d-5322b112bfbc.html

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Some pictures from my trip to Normandy in 2017.

Good photos. Thanks.
My family visited the area in the early 1960s, but I knew too little about the campaign at the time to fully appreciate much.

For anyone interested in the other—and earlier—D-Days during the war, Rick Atkinson’s “Liberation Trilogy” is a good, readable series.

Don Day is an independent meteorologist (doesn’t work for NOAA), who started forecasting on his own when there were no openings at NOAA upon finishing college. He’s quickly built a following and has many loyal listeners, not just in Wyoming, but all over the region.

Today he spent most of his podcast talking about the role of meteorology, a weather station in NW Ireland, and Eisenhower’s staff meteorologist in the D-Day invasion. I found it fascinating, maybe you will too.

May God eternally bless these men of all the countries that landed at Normandy. The greatest generation.

My wife’s grandfather was on a ship in the pacific, was career navy. My maternal grandfather was a stateside medical unit pharmacist, having already been a pharmacist before the war started and old almost 30. My paternal grandfather had been in the Navy since 1930 and was a hard hat rescue diver.

Sadly there are fewer and fewer ww2 vets every day. I feel like these kids my own son is 16 and except for taking him to the national cemetery where his namesake great grandfather is buried and seeing WW2 planes and dioramas at the Pensacola aviation museum he has no connection to the war. When I grew up almost every man in his 50-70s. Was a ww2 vet and all the guys my dads and friends fathers were more likely than not Vietnam era vets.

Both mg step grandfather who was also on a shipmint he pacific and only a few times after a full bottle of booze would tell my dad some really bad stories. His ship got torpedo’d and he lost a lot of buddies. And wife’s grandfather who according to grandma “changed” after he got back. Alcoholic and abusive to all the kids including her dad. I’m grateful there are mental health services available not to vets and it makes me sick this .gov doesn’t spend a LOT more on VA services. Even some of mg own friends neighbors and peers who are GWOT vets are not getting the help they need and deserve.

Jocko Willink did a solemn read of a 16 minute section from a well researched DDay book today on his channel. And then spoke about the frogmen at D-Day, the forefathers of SEALs. Dude should be an audio book narrator.

This story is obviously false, but it makes me laugh anyway........

Lost another one.

102-year-old WWII vet from New York dies traveling to France for D-Day commemoration

By Emily Crane
Published June 6, 2024 | Updated June 6, 2024, 9:47 a.m. ET

A 102-year-old American World War II veteran who witnessed the raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima died while he was en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Robert Persichitti, of Fairport, NY, suffered a medical emergency and died in a hospital in Germany last Friday, a veterans organization said.

The Navy vet, who had flown overseas with a group tied to the National World War II Museum, was on a ship sailing down the coast to Normandy ahead of Thursday’s D-Day events when he suddenly fell ill and had to be airlifted to the hospital.



He was among the dwindling number of surviving US veterans who were planning to make the pilgrimage to the Normandy beaches this week to mark the anniversary of the June 6, 1944, invasion that helped bring about the end of World War II.

“I’m really excited to be going,” Persichitti, who had a history of heart problems, had told WROC-TV a day before setting off.

In his final moments, Persichitti had listened to his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, his friend and travel companion Al DeCarlo told 13WHAM.

“The doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable,” DeCarlo said. “She put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us.”

Additionally, Canadian WWII veteran Bill Cameron, who was also excited to be heading to Normandy, tragically died before making it there.

The 100-year-old passed away the night before he’d been set to fly from Vancouver on June 1, CBC reported.

“We just couldn’t believe it,” his daughter, Donna Roy, said. “His bag was totally packed.”

Cameron had served as a gunner on board the Canadian warship HMCS Kitchener, which helped protect US troops landing at France’s Omaha Beach.

Persichitti, meanwhile, had served in Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Guam as a radioman second class on the command ship USS Eldorado during WWII.

He was among the US troops who witnessed the raising of the American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945 — a moment that would go on to become one of the most famous photos captured during the war.

“I was on the deck,” Persichitti told Stars and Stripes in a 2019 interview when he returned to the region. “When I got on the island today, I just broke down.”



In the interview, he recalled some of the horrors he witnessed from the Eldorado — including injured Marines being brought aboard the ship and countless burials at sea.

“When they made the landing, they started losing all these guys,” Persichitti said at the time. “It wasn’t a very good sight.”

Persichitti had previously revealed in interviews that he paid his respects to his fallen comrades every Friday — not just on commemorative days.

“I wear a red sleeveless T-shirt … Every Friday, I put that red on, to represent all the blood that was lost during World War II,” he said.

After the war, Persichitti became a public school teacher in Rochester. When he retired, he continued visiting school kids to speak with them about the war.

“It was a privilege to know him, and I will miss him. He had a real zest for living,” said Pastor William Leone, who was friends with Persichitti for four decades.

“He would go visit children in the grammar schools in the area, talk with them about his experiences growing up, his experiences during the Second World War.”

Persichitti was named to the New York state Senate’s Veterans Hall of Fame in 2020.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Lost another one.

He lived one town love from me. He was a teacher here for many years. A great man.