D-Day Normandy

Herr Straße Laufer · 06-07-2006, 04:59 AM,

World War II saw many D-Days.
Sixty-two years ago on the beaches of western France Allied troops landed to open a "second" ground front in Europe.

Over 75,000 Brits & Canadians and 57,000 American troops landed by sea. 7,900 Brit & Canadian and 15,500 American troops by air the first day. Suffering almost 10,000 casualties [including POW's]. Two thousand five hundred KIA [of which one thousand were suffered on Omaha beach alone].

:soap:Over two thousand men lost their lives in the first day. I am not sure about your town. But, in mine it was not even recognized [at least with the respect it deserved]. Most of the time spent was reporting on the date 6-6-06.
It is so true when it is said we have no future if we do not recognize the past and the sacrifices made by those who came before us?

I know I have said silent prayers for those who fell and those that "fall" each day. We are losing these heroes at an ever increasing rate. We have to remember them. We need to let those who follow us know of the great men that came before us.

O.K., off my soap box.

Hawk Kriegsman · 06-07-2006, 05:01 AM,

Well said Ed, well said.

Afro Thunder · (This post was last modified: 06-07-2006, 06:28 AM by Afro Thunder.)

Agreed. As far as I'm concerned the date 06.06.2006 should be regarded most importantly as the 62nd anniversary of the Allied Normandy Invasion, and not that Number of the Beast hogwash.

I'm going to see if any channels are showing The Longest Day...

EDIT: Nope, they're not showing it on TV, guess I'll have to pop in the DVD.

Big Dawg · (This post was last modified: 06-07-2006, 09:12 AM by Big Dawg.)

Thanks Ed.

Glad others remembered this day too! cheers

Rebel__ · 06-07-2006, 12:37 PM,

ed the D-Day meseum in new orleans has been renamed to the national wwII meseum the only one of its kind in the united states it is a must attaction for all who are interested in that time period many things to see from both theaters of the war it took me 6 hrs to go through just the atlantic theater and i really didnt finish it check out the web site
http://www.ddaymuseum.org/

Dogovich · 06-07-2006, 01:19 PM,

There not even anything on the Historical Message Board about it. Not even the usual, cynical, conspiracy theory type hyperbole that one has come to expect from some of our more "intellectual" type armchair generals. How odd. Here in the middle of "God's Country" i.e. Central Oklahoma (where the wind comes blowing down the plain) we had a big three day D-Day commemorative miniature battle event during 2-4 June. Friday night saw the airdrops with tons of US and Brit airborne types dropping in the put some scare into the krauts and jerries. I was on the Jerry side that night and was proud to say I was one of the last two German players driven off the game table. Saturday, 3 June saw about 18 of us fighting each other on the beaches. My Brits were hitting Sword and running into stiff resistance from ol'Jerry while the Americans on Omaha were taking quite a pasting until they finally managed to get off the beach. Was a good time. I wasn't there for the Sunday battle, but it was intended that to represent the "push inland." Lots of bloody fighting and hundreds of little lead/pewter 15mm figures and vehicles were sacrificed on both sides. We even had t-shirts and plenty of historical, brainy discussion of the events surrending the historical landings. What a fight! So what did we do on the 62nd Anniversary of D-Day? We dug in behind the seawall and waited til the tanks and arty took out the bunkers and pillboxes that's what we did. Oh yeah, also ate Chinese food. Anything like that happening in your neighborhoods?

06-07-2006, 07:00 PM,

Some years ago, I used to visit Normandy and other areas of Europe, finally making Berlin, regularly, checking out the WW11 and WW1 sites.
A fascinating experience. I once popped into a cafe in Arnhem where the proprietor brought out shoeboxes full of photos his father had taken of the town, days after the Market Garden action.
Despite all the sites I visited, the most sobering were the rows of crosses in the cemetaries, that seemed to run forever, really makes you reflect on all those poor souls and their families, Amen to them all.
On a lighter note, since moving to Cornwall, I visited a War vehicle display and found that Bradley was here with all the US troops (forget the Army Group number, but they hit Omaha Beach from here). Gives me a new feel about my new surroundings.
Peter

Herr Straße Laufer · 06-07-2006, 07:15 PM,

We should truly be humbled by the reality of what those before us did. And, horrified that these later generations are willing to forget [or simply not learn] just what they did.

Thanks for responding guys. Nice site Reb.

06-07-2006, 10:40 PM,

I saw that u had a 79% chance to be the last thing u saw in your life ....hmmmm i would take that chance to see what those boys seen then and endured !!!

ALL respect for the boys from the 1'st and 4'th inf that fought there,for the 101'st and the 82'nd that supported them and for all the allies that landed there and fought for freedom !!

i'll always remeber them