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June 6, 1944

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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The evening of June 5, 1944, Eisenhower talked with troops about to leave England for the Great Crusade's invasion of the Continent.

In case of disaster, he privately wrote a press release, but stuffed it in his pocket.

"Our landings ... have failed ... and I have withdrawn the troops.... My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

An honorable man - with an incredible weight on his shoulders - at a turning point in our history.

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General Dwight D. Eisenhower talks to paratroopers of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division before their departure for Normandy, June 5, 1944.
 
Ike, Patton, Montgomery, MacArthur, Bradley, de Gaulle. Men of which we may never see the likes of again. All human, all flawed like any man, but all with a driving force to keep their country free.
 
Every American needs to visit Normandy & then trace the movement of troops from there to Bastogne & the Ardennes....

I was lucky enough to be on Omaha June 6, 1973, Bastogne later that summer & then later in Bastogne & the Ardennes in January 1984 right after the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Bastogne. Makes you think....
 
I was fortunate to tour Normandy with my family 2 years ago. Tried to trace through some of my dad's route - had a picture of a bombed out church he gave me and was able to match it up with the same restored church at least via pictures, but could not find the village unfortunately.

My dad was with the army engineers, putting up bridges etc and came across at D-day + 2 I think. My brother-in-law's uncle, departed this earth on D-day and we were able to pay our respects:
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The American Cemetery was absolutely amazing, it was a privilege to visit:
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Randy
 
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."

All of them, British, Americans and Canadians.
 
My son just returned from there with many photos after performing in memorial ceremonies at Belleau Woods. It was truly heartening to experience the awe and respect of what happened on the beaches of Normandy from the perspective of a 25 year old!!

PS Nutmeg, my father-in-law was in that outfit pictured above with Ike!! I still treasure some of his memorabelia!
 
If ever an invasion was justified, D-Day was it. Another month or two or three, Hitler may have developed the Bomb. If so, we'd all be speaking German right now.

Timely, justified, bold, brilliant. Eisenhower held it all together, with mostly untested troops.

Amazing. :yesnod:
 
vagt6, ive had the honor of visiting all the forign cemeteries of american troops there are in the world, and pearl harber 3 times, each time i return home i kiss the ground, im three days behind on a job im doing because the client was 3 years spectacular duty on p.t. boats, too may pictures, too many stories, too much coffee, im totally captivated i know but its great.
 
I was particularly heartened by the way Google - the search giant - marked the 65th Anniversary of D-day when so many young allied soldiers gave all to change the course of history forever. Instead of displaying a Google graphic that marked the 65th anniversary of D-Day, they choose to mark the 25th anniversary of the development of the game Tetris. Both important events to be sure, but is one event possibly more significant than the other?
 

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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Both important events to be sure, but is one event possibly more significant than the other?[/QUOTE]

Not if you are totally clueless about history and completely self absorbed in a life style that was given to you by so many generations before you. Given the high school standards today, I'd bet 90% of the kids graduating have no idea what D day could be, other than a bad report card day. If they even use those anymore, since no one is allowed to fail or feel bad today.
 
Paul's comment was what made my visit to Normandy so memorable. Normally my two sons barely humor my words of wisdom, but on this trip, walking past all the crosses I could see that they understood.
 
TR4nut said:
Paul's comment was what made my visit to Normandy so memorable. Normally my two sons barely humor my words of wisdom, but on this trip, walking past all the crosses I could see that they understood.
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When I was a boy, I lived in Germany (Dad was Army who had served in WWII under Patton and re-joined after a 16 year break in service). My Dad took me to see several of the US cemeteries in France and Belgium. He also took me to see the concentration camp at Dachau and then to Amsterdam where I visited Ann Frank's home (and hiding place). Those experiences left an indelible impression on me and probably has more to do with how I view the world today than anything else in my life.

The anniversary of D-Day has prompted me to pull out a book titled the <span style="text-decoration: underline">History of the Second World War,</span> by B.H. Liddell Hart and re-read it for the second time.
 
I've been to Anne Frank's home in Amsterdam. Even in the winter, the lines are very long to see the inside and that is a good thing. Probably the ONLY time that I've ever not minded waiting an hour out in the rain to see something.

All I needed to do was to look at the scars on two of my uncles from their being shot during the Battle of the Bulge and I understood very well, especially after their stories about the camps. They were patched up and sent back to the front and stayed until the war was over. Those experiences have profoundly affected my views of the world.
 
Brosky said:
I've been to Anne Frank's home in Amsterdam. Even in the winter, the lines are very long to see the inside and that is a good thing. Probably the ONLY time that I've ever not minded waiting an hour out in the rain to see something.
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On the 60th anniversary of D-Day, at Omaha Beach, President George W. Bush quoted from the diary of a Dutch girl who would turn 15 only six days later. She greeted news of the invasion with these words: “It still seems too wonderful, like a fairy tale . . . . I may yet be able to go back to school in September or October.” She never made it back to school. Anne Frank died at Bergen Belsen on a date uncertain in early March 1945, barely two months before the Germans surrendered.
 
Regarding D-day, one of the most profound consequences of that invasion was the liberation of the Nazi death camps. There were literally thousands of them.

Recent research by the Holocost Memorial has found that approximately 20,000+ Nazi interment camps existed in German-occupied territory during the war.

I beleive it. Last year I went to Dachau (Munich) and spent a few hours. An exhibit there in the form of a map of europe noted all the camps as points on the maps. Another exhibit listed the number of dead from each country. Sobering.

Literally, there was a camp of some kind near <span style="font-style: italic">every single population center </span>in occupied europe. If there was a town or city, it had some kind of camp nearby. Too many to count. Of course the larger the population center, the larger the interment/death camp.

At Dachau there's a plaque commemorating the "Rainbow Division" of the 7th Army who liberated Dachau in May of '45. I'll post a photo later if anyone's interested.

Hard to comprehend. Thanks, WWII vets!
 
Please do post it.

There are those (as Eisenhower predicted in 1945) who are trying to rewrite history and say that it never happened. Try convincing someone with a camp ID number tattooed on their arm that it never happened.
 
We met an elderly lady a few years ago while visiting the Holocust Museum in Washington. This lady pointed out to my kids a camp uniform that was hanging on the wall of the museum. She told us that her late husband who weighed only 90 lbs when he was liberated buried the uniform and other artifacts so that one day he could retreive it as proof of the concentration camps.
She told us that after he got out of the hospital and regained his strenth back, he returned to the place he buried the uniform with shovel in hand to dig it up. The German farmer thought he was returning to take revenge, but all he wanted was to get the items he had hidden in the ground. Today it hangs on the wall of the museum in Washington and this lady was very proud of her late husbands foresight.
 
basil, the plane we flew was stationed in amsterdam so i lived there for a while, cant remember how many times i visited the ann frank house, the hotel we stayed in was right down the street, and of course the torture museum, id always promised myself id visit dachau and auschwitz and i did, no one was ever going to tell me this never happened, this should be a mandatory tour for all school students, and no while living in amsterdam i never participated in any of the after hour activities available on the other side of that river.
 
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