The Longest Day.

[Speedbird-1]

June 6th 1944.
D-Day
Operation Overlord.



Lest We Forget.

[Wcdhtwn]

I'll be there in 2 weeks from today. Taking the family to Paris for a week and this is one of two day trips out of the city we're taking.

[RW16610]

Lest we forget.

[ERH]

very surreal visiting Normandy. I stood on the beach, looking at the cliffs. My son was 18 that year. Walking the cemetery. It's a pilgrimage worth making. One of several tombstones of unknown boys who gave it their all. Walk amongst their brothers lying there, count the 'unknown' boys whose mother's, father's, brother's, sister's never had the chance to attend their funerals. It's OK to cry and bend a knee and salute the boy lying there.

[uscmatt99]

My wife and I did a guided tour in Normandy a few years ago with an active French military serviceman as our guide. Even being familiar with the history of that day, it was eye opening to see the breadth and depth of that operation and acknowledge the great sacrifice so many made.

[Kreyzhorse]

Great post. I've not been, but I can't imagine the weight you would still feel walking those beaches and seeing those headstones.

God Bless each and everyone of them.

[AzPaul]

The first home I ever owned, I'd bought with a friend while we were going to college. It was a dump of epic proportion, but it was actually a lot cheaper than renting. My roommate's father was retired military and a very Handy Andy when it came to home repairs, so he'd help us out with things all the time and was over quite a bit. One time, we were all working on some project when the neighbor lady stopped by to say hello. She was older, and her and my roommate's dad got to talking. Turns out, she was in the service as well, and was either a WAC or a WAVES, I don't honestly remember which, but she mentioned she was at Normandy. "D-Day plus 10", she said proudly. That's when my roommate's father said, "I was there too, D-Day plus 0", he chuckled. The two of them continued to talk for a bit before she went back home. After she did, my roommate went up to his father and said, "Dad, you never told me you were at D-Day". "That's because I don't like to talk about it. Let's get back to work."

After his father passed, I asked my friend if he ever found out more from his dad about D-Day. He said he asked, and his father showed him some paperwork and such, but he simply didn't want to talk about the experience.
Who could blame him?

God bless those men.

[brandrea]

An almost unbelievable time in history.

Rest in peace and lest we forget.

[Kreyzhorse]

Just to add on the D-Day story from AzPaul.

I had two Uncles that were both in D-Day. When one Uncle passed several years ago, his daughter spoke at his funeral. She said that growing up, "Dad spoke about all the wonderful times he had while he was in the US Army and about how much he loved the men he served with."

She said that up until High School, she thought WWII sounded like her Dad had the time of his life.... Once she learned what WWII actually was, she realized that while her Dad would talk about it, he only talked about the good times that he had and the friends he met and lost.

My other Uncle is still alive and pushing 100. He wouldn't talk about it either up until 10 years or so ago and he told my Mom some stories. Soon after D-Day +1, he got lost behind German lines and slept in a ditch holding his M1. Made it back the following day.

Also - he and his brother were actually Saving Private Ryan. One of them got really ill and pulled off the line and wasn't expect to survive. They found and pulled the other off the line and when he survived, they both went back to duty.

I also have a picture of my deceased Uncle someplace in a bombed out Europe. He was holding a machine gun and had a hell of a smile on his face. No matter what we went through, he found some fun in an otherwise horrific ordeal.

Good men they are.

[Boopie]

We are also grateful for their sacrifice, and will never forget.

Winston Churchill’s quote, about the RAF, is apt: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

The National WWII museum, in New Orleans, started as the National D-Day museum; the Swift Boat landing craft were made in New Orleans. So, the museum’s section on the invasion is very impressive and thorough. For those unable to actually visit Normandie, a visit to the museum is definitely worthwhile.

[Mifune]

Godspeed to those good men...

[Kreyzhorse]

Originally Posted by Mifune

Godspeed to those good men...

Amen.

[Mifune]

I should have said... Boys and Men!

[BLACKHORSE 6]

Had the chance to visit Normandy in 2011. I remember standing next to one of the German pillboxes at Omaha beach, and seeing how well their fighting positions supported one another. They had a superb field of interlocking fire from an elevated position over the entire beach. What the boys of the 1st and 29th ID did was amazing.

[Dr. Robert]

Thank you D-Day heroes


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[ltmgeller]

Never forget

[Runner1975]

Very grateful to so many.
Never forget.

[Spectar]

We will never forget.