67 years ago

[aerog]

Today is the 67th anniversary of D-Day. That's significant.

 

[Sherlock]

From an event I was at yesterday...

 

[vagt6]

I'm with you, Scott: it's extremely significant and I hope everyone takes time to remember.

Great article in today's local newspaper about Mr. Bob Sales of Lynchburg, VA, a D-Day survivor. His Company of nearly 200 men were in six boats, approaching the beach, when the German machine guns began to unload "like bees" as they landed. He was the only one of the thirty men in his boat to survive the landing.

"The Germans held all the aces," he said of the invasion. "We had no idea it would be a disaster like this."

He fought all the way into Germany, earning three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for gallantry.

What great stories, what a terrible day to have lived, or died.

Wow.

 

[DrEntropy]

I think of my dad. And of all those poor brave bastages who nevr made it back home.

How does one impart the significance of events like this to some snot-nosed kid texting his pals about the latte he's drinking at FiveBucks...

I salute the lads who swallowed their gorge and ran toward the fire. We owe them more than can ever be counted.

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

I think of my dad. And of all those poor brave bastages who nevr made it back home.

How does one impart the significance of events like this to some snot-nosed kid texting his pals about the latte he's drinking at FiveBucks...

I salute the lads who swallowed their gorge and ran toward the fire. We owe them more than can ever be counted.

Hear,hear! Doc.

Stuart.

 

[GaryBeu]

Doc...you said it well. Thank you.

 

[Andrew Mace]

How does one impart the significance of events like this to some snot-nosed kid texting his pals about the latte he's drinking at FiveBucks...

Please don't take this the wrong way, but that's just one of so many reasons why such an event is significant. Freedom, be it the "right" to puruse a dream, devote a life to helping others...or just text about lattes!

I salute the lads who swallowed their gorge and ran toward the fire. We owe them more than can ever be counted.

Amen! They and all the other combat forces, AND all the support behind the lines and even back here at home. I sometimes kid about my late dad's service in the Army, keeping Fort Niagara safe during WWII. Truth is, I never found out exactly what he did there as a Master Sergeant, nor do I know very much about my mom's service -- some of it in and near Pearl Harbor -- as a 2nd Lieutenant in the WAVES. Combat or otherwise, still the "greatest generation" IMO.

This date now has additional significance for me, as my daughter leaves today for Army National Guard active duty and basic training, followed by combat medic training....

 

[Basil]

I think of my dad. And of all those poor brave bastages who nevr made it back home.

How does one impart the significance of events like this to some snot-nosed kid texting his pals about the latte he's drinking at FiveBucks...

I salute the lads who swallowed their gorge and ran toward the fire. We owe them more than can ever be counted.

Me too. My Dad served under Patton and I doubt I'll ever fully appreciate what he went through. I shudder to think of where we would be had they not been willing to give their last full measure to win that war.

 

[Gliderman8]

I think of my dad. And of all those poor brave bastages who nevr made it back home.

How does one impart the significance of events like this to some snot-nosed kid texting his pals about the latte he's drinking at FiveBucks...

I salute the lads who swallowed their gorge and ran toward the fire. We owe them more than can ever be counted.

My dad was there as well. He even took me back to southern France where he came ashore to show me... alas I was too young to appreciate it... I do now!

 

[AngliaGT]

Amen to the above comments.I just wish more of them were still around
so that I could hear their stories,& maybe tell their stories to some of the
young people today.

- Doug

 

[JPSmit]

My dad was there - D Day +3, interestingly as a translator for a Canadian regiment - both parents were in Holland for the war though my father later escaped to Spain and the to Britain.

 

[DrEntropy]

We live and thrive because of those folks. Be aware of their sacrifice, vigilant in passing the tales of their deeds. There is no rest, we are all responsible to carry FORWARD the burden of what they had to endure to GIVE us our lives.

It may be daunting. But we stood as one.

...and read Kipling's poem "If" to your children and theirs... With the love and counsel to explain what it conveys.

 

[elrey]

My dad was there, Signal Corps. Rarely talked about it, suffered nightmares for the rest of his life. He also photographed the camps, the stacks of half burned bodies, the horrors. Was at the liberation of Ordruff, the first camp of the Buchenwald complex of camps to be liberated. It also shook him. It shook the rest of them, When Patton got there dad said the general broke down and cried, the scenes were so grim. My dad rarely talked about it. My mother made sure we knew. My uncles died, most of the men in my mother's family died. Many died. I thank these people. God only knows what would have become of us all had they stayed home instead. My dad rarely talked about it, and he was a talkative man.

 

[Sherlock]

On a different note, my dad grew up in the Soviet Union and was in the Soviet army in WW2... He was captured by the Germans within a few months of being in combat... Long story short, he was fortunate to survive being a POW and ended up in Austria after the war at which point he came to Canada in 1947 or 1948... I believe he came to Canada with very low immigration status (likely as a <span style="font-style: italic">refugee</span>), then spending life as a bachelor with no real home for many years until he got married in 1961 and started a family... He died in 2004, he never talked much about his experiences in WW2 or even his life in Canada prior to 1961, by the time I thought about it dementia was taking over and it was too late... A remarkable man, my life has been so easy in comparison, but then I suspect there were many stories just like his coming out of WW2...

 

[Roger]

Don't give up on today's younger folk.
Though I get the same frustrations too, thinking they probably don't appreciate our fathers' generation, my father assured me it was the same with his generation, in Britain, anyway. Their fathers, many of whom had fought through the horrors of the trenches in WW1, derided their successors for allowing disarmament, the resurgence of Germany, and social perils, some of which we admire today. Not latte, but Big Band jazz like Goodman and Miller, Be-Bop, and similar evils of the Thirties!
Despite which, the young of WW2 still did their stuff when called.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Despite which, the young of WW2 still did their stuff when called.

As are the kids today. Right now.

 

[Basil]

Despite which, the young of WW2 still did their stuff when called.

As are the kids today. Right now.

My son is in the middle east on extended deployment right now.

 

[Don_R]

And I am training this summer for my 3rd deployment to the sandbox.....

 

[DrEntropy]

I've not "given up" on 'em. The young men and women ~volunteering~ to do the hard duty today have my utmost respect and admiration. They're th' cream, IMO.

I had eggs and tomatoes tossed at me on my return from SEA to CONUS in the San Francisco airport. And the "war" had ENDED by that time (May,'74). The latest crop are MUCH better received on arrival, as it SHOULD be. I serve on local counsils and organizations to make <span style="font-style: italic">sure</span> they know they're appreciated.

 

[Guest]

And I am training this summer for my 3rd deployment to the sandbox.....

Screamed at the TV tonight when they were talking about airlines making returning solders pay for baggage.

Boils my freakin' blood!!!!

Almost threw my bowl of Chinese food at it.