D Day

Thank you for your service ,Barnstuff.
My Dad was in the tail of a bomber out of Great Ashfield.
Your generation made us great.
 
number plate on my Mustang says it all....... I remember.

GB
 

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A guy I worked with was with the 82nd airborne, he survived but lost an eye.

His only comment was, it was a tough day.
 
my uncle George was at the invasion but never talked about it. Tank commander in the battle of bulge and into germany. the only thing he ever told us, was that he met General George Patton and when he introduced himself as Captain George Patten he was told by old blood and guts not to be a smart ***, he had to get out his dog tag to prove his name
 
woodiewagon46 said:
My father in law landed on Normandy and worked his way up to the Battle of the Bulge. Never wanted to talk about it. When he passed on we came across all sorts of paperwork showing where his unit was. By following the maps and the dates we realized he saw some nasty stuff. The GREATEST GENERATION!!!! I was hoping Turner Classic Movies would have something on to commemorate the day, but not one D Day related movie. Some Disney crap at 8:00 PM.
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Sadly most d day films led the viewers to believe it was American forces only...oh no,the Brits,Canadian,Australians,New Zealand etc were there losing their lives too...just saying.
 
A doctor I used to go to some years back was a medical officer on a British destroyer during the Normandy invasion, and my father in-law a b17 ball turret gunner. May they rest in peace. Its a shame that this new generation forgets these men and women that have made it possible for them to have a nice life
 
flathead48 said:
A guy I worked with was with the 82nd airborne, he survived but lost an eye.

His only comment was, it was a tough day.[/QUOTE

Heroes the lot of them . When I see some late teen, just 20 plus "clown" with his cap on backwards, the crotch of his trousers dragging on the ground and his toes hanging off the end of a skate board, its hard to believe his equivalent 70 odd years ago was flying aircraft or jumping from aircraft, taking the beaches, sailing the seas etc, all of them facing death in the eye each day. Glad your work friend survived, would have been hard to work with him otherwise.

GB
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37coop said:
Sadly most d day films led the viewers to believe it was American forces only...oh no,the Brits,Canadian,Australians,New Zealand etc were there losing their lives too...just saying.
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True however I think the casualties at the GOLD and SWORD and JUNO where most of the others landed were a lot less than the horrendous toll at OMAHA . I think UTAH was less of a blood bath. However the Commonwealth forces did get bogged down following D-Day and took some big losses.

We still owe them all a big debt . Have met and treated many Vets as an MD and very few talk about what they went through -Which probably is a testament to how bad it really was !
 
In the event you may not know it, barnstuf is Rich bell from Wellfleet MA. Rich was formerly an EV8 parts supplier, and is still a Model parts dealer. Rich, 18 years old at the time, landed in the 2nd wave at Omaha Beach, was twice seriously wounded and received several purple hearts. After he recovered from the second wound, they assigned him to Army Air Corp. base where he became the parts man. Rich has been active in the EV8 and Model A clubs here on the Cape for many years.
 
Those Vets came back and some became teachers... No one messed with our schools then. 6th grade was vet of China/ Burma, and Principal was a Ranger from the cliffs at Normandy. Miss them all. newc
 
37coop said:
Sadly most d day films led the viewers to believe it was American forces only...oh no,the Brits,Canadian,Australians,New Zealand etc were there losing their lives too...just saying.
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Good point. Hollywood has been a big influence on our concept of history. My dad just missed D Day . He left Tilbury Docks July 6 and landed at Bayeux, Normandy beginning probably the most memorable period of his life. He was lucky to survive and return to Canada at the end of the war and he never let us forget the stories of that time. In later years he wrote out a few of his memories and I've done my best to make sure they live on by publishing them in a blog.
http://mindlessramblings-rlg.blogspot.com/2008/11/memories-of-wwii.html
 
37coop said:
Sadly most d day films led the viewers to believe it was American forces only...oh no,the Brits,Canadian,Australians,New Zealand etc were there losing their lives too...just saying.
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As far as I know, no NZ and Australian ground units took part in the Landings but there were a number of NZ flyers that flew D Day missions. I read a book by celebrated NZ Hawker typhoon pilot the late Desmond Scott, DSO, DFC and bar, who carried out rocket attacks during the invasion.

GB
 
I don't know if any count of Commonwealth soldiers from the southern pacific and Asian regions was ever done but a lot of airmen from Australia were involved. I imagine Royal Navy as well. There were some that volunteered for service well before the Japanese pacific invasion started against the allies so it would be hard to count those volunteer types.

The war was going like a furnace in the south pacific so many were needed there. A lot of folks don't know that the US Army and Air Forces had a strong presence in the south pacific too. The US Marine Corp and Navy as well as all the multitude of allied forces were pretty busy in that neck of the woods and they needed all the help they could get.

It truly was a World War. Millions of forces were mobilized. D-Day was just a day but what a day! Most troops slogged along one day at a time. Some days were easy and some were hard. days of endless slogging along with hours or even moments of sheer terror. Most were just hoping to get home alive.

My Pop wanted to be a geologist before the war but he ended up going back to the farm a happy man. I think he just really wanted to go home and stay there.
 
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