June 6th - a time to remember

[Bayless]

Thanks for posting Boss. One of my great regrets is that my father did not live long enough for one of the trips.

 

[aeronca65t]

Spent the day with a WW II vet (Linda's dad.....we were doing yardwork!).

He got to Normandy about two weeks after today's date.

Some amazing photos HERE .

 

[NutmegCT]

One of my favorite pictures relating to the Invasion:

What an awesome responsibility Ike carried.

 

[AN5Sprite]

Here's a few of my grandfather's, Louis Hines GM2 (maternal) pics from D-Day, LST 3 was his ship. In addition to his rating as a Gunner's Mate he was also a diver/UDT. Somewhere along the way he picked up a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. Reading some of the posts between here and the Memorial Day thread has had me choked up. The last time I saw him alive I was 9. My brother and I were bugging him for information about the war. Then my grandmother started badgering him, telling him to answer us and tell us all about the war....I'll never forget the look on his face and the tone in his voice that ended that exchange. That was it. No more questions, no more war. I've got photocopies of some of his military records. Not only did he serve in the Navy but he served in the Army all through the 1930's. His father died when he was 10 and it looks like he was in the Army by the time he was 16/17 (he told a little fib about his age). Discharged as a Sergent in '38. He enlisted in the Navy in '43 because (so he said) he didn't want to risk getting drafted back into the Army. I think about him all the time. Always have. I can easily hear his voice and picture the faded tattoos that covered his forearms. Proud to be an offshoot.

Convoy pic is labeled June 5, '44 on the way to Normandy
Aft gun LST 3 in action
My grandfather is in the middle in the final pic, 5'4" 155lb bad dude.

 

[DrEntropy]

Hawaii. One uncle was Army, he spent some time there in '43.