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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
This is the first major anniversary that I've noticed how few are still around. The youngest are now in their mid-90's. Other than a re-release of Band of Brothers, I haven't heard of any major events of remembrance. I'm sure it will be different on Sigforum but what about the youth of today. How many even know what it was or it's importance? ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | ||
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Ammoholic |
I wish it was on a weekend. I went a few years back for D-Day to the National D-Day Memorial. It was awesome, if it wasn't weird I would have gone up to every single one of them and thank them one by one. I bet this year there will be a lot less there. If not for their efforts (and many others) half the world may have been saluting swastikas today. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| The Constable |
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
Very nice. Good to see a few are still around and that some are getting the appreciation they deserve. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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| Member |
Sam Elliott gave an outstanding presentaion, very impressive. Bob | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
They do these larger celebrations every five years. I heard there were going to be 35 survivors present this year but unlikely that any would be at the next one. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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Member |
Buddy of mine and I were talking last night about putting a D-Day tour on our travel bucket list. I commented that you could ask 100 people "off the street" the significance of 6 JUN 1944 and you'd probably get 95% blank stares. Really, REALLY sad.....  God bless ALL those brave men of 75 years ago!!! "If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24 | |||
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| Help! Help! I'm being repressed!  |
Was there for the 67th, 70th, and 73rd anniversaries. Saw President Obama give a speech at Colleville-sur-Mer for the 70th anniversary. I had a great-great-uncle that landed with the 29th that day. He was with a Field Artillery unit. Only one of their guns made it ashore. The French in that area haven't forgotten the sacrifice of those men and women who fought to liberate them. Some of the locals have adopted a grave and bring flowers periodically. There are always school groups from France there. I have no doubt that President Trump will be at the ceremony this year. Those planning a Normandy trip; I highly recommend that you plan one during an anniversary. Europe is full of re-enactors and they all converge on Normandy every year. The US military as well as other militaries do jumps for the public. There are all kinds of ceremonies, dances, events to attend. Here are some photos of our Normandy trip during the 67th anniversary. They start about a quarter way down the page. 67th Anniversary The picture of the house on the beach with the red and white trim was the AirBnB we stayed in. It's located on Sword Beach and was there during the landing. | |||
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| Member |
Thank You for sharing your pictures. | |||
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Member |
We will be going to the National D Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia (home of the Bedford Boys who lost more than any other town on a per capita basis. Mike Pence will be the keynote speaker. https://www.dday.org/ ------------------ Eddie Our Founding Fathers were men who understood that the right thing is not necessarily the written thing. -kkina | |||
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| Help! Help! I'm being repressed! |
Interview with 4 veterans about thier experiences on D-Day. | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
Hopefully anyone with a living relative that was there can video a little storytelling while it's still possible. Soon there won't be anyone left to tell the story and so many events will be lost to time unless they are recorded somehow. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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| It's pronounced just the way it's spelled |
I was at Normandy last year for the D-Day anniversary. The US cemetery and museum are both inspiring and somber at the same time. There were a surprising number of surviving British paratroopers at the "Pegasus" bridge location. The weather was much the same the day I was there as the day of the landings. Once you see the beaches and the hills and cliffs overlooking them, consider the hundreds of yards the troops had to cover, and the fact the naval and aerial bombardment missed the German gun emplacements, it is a wonder any of the troops made it ashore at Omaha beach. | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
I had a elderly neighbor that was in the combat engineers on D-Day. He and many of his comrades went to the 2004 edition, paid for them by the French government. They were sitting in view near the President as he made his speech. He and his fellow engineers paddled in on rubber rafts and small boats while it was dark and the naval bombardment was going on, to destroy as many obstacles as they could. He said they had it easy as the Germans mostly didn't notice and were inside bunkers for protection. Easy, compared to the troops that followed in landings, as they were headed back out to the ships and had a good view of the carnage behind them. An article about one of them. https://warfarehistorynetwork....day-combat-engineer/ ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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| Too old to run, too mean to quit! |
Must be a virus in that, or something. My screen got all misty watching it! So many heroes that will never be recognized by any but God Almighty! My stepdad among them. Elk There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour) "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. " -Thomas Jefferson "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis de Tocqueville FBHO!!! The Idaho Elk Hunter | |||
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| half-genius, half-wit |
Over here in UK, it's a HUGE commemoration, and you'll be pleased to hear that your President did you all proud - heck, I was proud of him, on your behalf. Meanwhile, one of the stalwart members of our village older folks club, Cecil Deller, went ashore on D-Day as a 19- year-old private in the Suffolk Regiment. Their task, after clearing the beach, was to silence the inland heavy gun emplacements that were causing a bit of a PITA for the troops still on the beach and the shipping off-shore. This task they did. After suffering almost 50% casualties, that is, in his company alone. He is over there now, maybe for the last time, remembering his comrades who are already there, above and below ground. This was THE day for the Suffolks - a typical county regiment of the time... Troops had been preparing for about a year – the training in Scotland involving live ammunition and resulting in real casualties. The First Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment was charged with following two assault battalions whose job it was to establish an exit from the Normandy beaches. Its specific target was to capture two Nazi strongholds just inland. One was a gun emplacement codenamed Morris. The second was believed to be a battalion HQ defended by machine-gun posts and anti-tank guns. It was codenamed Hillman. Little trouble was expected. Both would be heavily bombed first; and, once the assaults were under way, troops could call on naval firepower if needed, along with back-up from the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It didn’t quite go to plan. What military intelligence didn’t know was that Hillman was a regimental HQ – a tougher nut to crack – and had machine-gun nests behind concrete and steel. Also, the fortress was largely below ground and was protected by barbed wire and minefields. The surface of the bunkers was concrete and steel 3.5 metres thick. The Suffolks landed at Sword Beach at 8.30am on June 6, an hour after troops of the East Yorkshire and South Lancashire regiments had fought their way off the beach. They made short work of the Morris battery, whose guns had suffered heavy bombing. There had also been air-raids a few days earlier and the German gun crews threw in the towel as the Suffolks readied their attack. Sixty-seven prisoners were marched to the village of Colleville Sur Orne, which had earlier been cleared by the battalion. And so to Hillman – and a big shock. It gave the Nazis a free view down to the sea… and sight of the Suffolks moving up. The British troops were being shelled too. One shell-burst nearly wiped out a platoon. Hillman had escaped the bombing designed to weaken it, and the naval firepower was a non-starter because the officer due to direct the guns had died on the beach. A five-minute bombardment by the Royal Artillery didn’t scratch the bunkers but did give a platoon then chance to crawl through corn and blow a hole in the perimeter fence. The Royal Engineers managed to damage a 22ft section, with a mine clearance team then creating a safe path to the fortress. There was a second barbed wire fence, however, about 50 yards from a steel machine-gun turret. A device called a Bangalore torpedo – the kind the Royal Engineers had used to make the first hole – failed to detonate. Shielded only by the effect of smoke grenades, Lt Mike Russell negotiated his way through the minefield to get and set off another torpedo. His bravery won him the Croix de Guerre. Of course, the German machine-gun crew opened fire on the first assault platoon to crawl through. The troops were pinned down, with even an anti-tank weapon powerless against the 18-inch-thick armour. A second platoon charged through, only to be met by bullets. Four men made it to safety [Ed. A platoon is 27 men led by a single officer]. A plan was hatched to create a huge path through the minefield so tanks could get close, and shield troops. Preceded by a five-minute barrage from the Royal Artillery, tanks and soldiers advanced on Hillman. A private, Tich Hunter, received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery. He advanced on the main machine-gun turret, firing his BREN gun from the hip. The Nazis manning it were either killed or fled; the German gun fell silent. Bombs were dropped down ventilation shafts to flush out the Nazis and 50 prisoners were taken. A pause came at about 8pm, with patrols set up around Hillman. At 6.45am the next day, June 7, the immaculately-dressed commander of Hillman, Oberst Krug, emerged from his underground lair and surrendered. With him were two Nazi officers and 70 men of other ranks. For the Suffolks, the first 24 hours of the liberation of Europe drew to a close. But there was little time to rest – the First Battalion set off to relieve the Royal Warwick Regiment and then take part in the bloody fighting for Chateau de la Londe. ROLL OF OFFICERS AND WARRANT OFFICERS SERVING WITH 1ST BN THE SUFFOLK REGIMENT ON D-DAY Bn HQ CO Lieut-Colonel R E Goodwin Wounded 2i/c Major J G M B Gough Wounded Adjt Capt H K Merriam - Wounded 10 Lieut P Keville Killed MO Capt P A Robinson RAMC Killed Padre Revd H G Woodall CF RSM RSM F Dent Wounded H Q COY 0 C Coy Capt W N Breach Wounded Sig Offr Lieut A C Sperling QM Capt P W Spurgin MTO Lieut G N Casson Wounded ROMS ROMS J Tolley Ship sunk CSM Sgt A Boast (acting) SP COY 0 C Coy Major W D Gordon Wounded Mortar PI Lieut S Hemingway Wounded Carrier PI Capt K G Mayhew Wounded Lieut R G Garnham Wounded A Tk PI Capt H C Elliot Wounded Lieut D S Stebbings Wounded Pnr PI Lieut M M Ramm Wounded CSM CSM F Gant Wounded A COY O C Coy Capt R G Ryley Killed 2 i/c Capt R A B Rogers wounded PI Comd Lieut K G Perry PI Comd Lieut T J F Tooley killed PI Comd Lieut J Powell Killed CSM CSM A Leatherland B COY OC Coy Major D W McCaffrey Wounded 2 i/c Capt W H Archdall Killed PI Comd Lieut D N Garle Sick PI Comd Lieut A C Sanders Wounded PI Comd Lieut F N Matthews , Wounded CSM CSM A Tyler Wounded C COY OC Coy Major C A Boycott Wounded 2 i/c Capt J S Coppock PI Comd Lieut E A Tribe Killed PI Comd Lieut A C Woodward Wounded PI Comd Lieut M L Wilson Killed CSM Overman Killed RFT COY OC Coy Major P W G Papillon Killed Capt A H Claxton Killed Lieut J A Vaughan Wounded Lieut F M B Russell Lieut G Wilde Wounded CSM J Franklin Capt E T Lummis Wounded Capt R Brown (Canloan) Lt N V Cant Killed Lt J Buchanan (Canloan) Wounded Lt J Midwinter (Canloan) Wounded 2 Lt F C Doree Killed Note - Canloan are officers temporarily attached from the Canadian Army. | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
One of the better war movies, D-day edition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=896OJiYmd1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB6QQ1rK94I&t=18s ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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