70 years ago today

[Little-Acorn]

On June 6, 1944, 156,000 American, British, and Canadian troops sailed across the English Channel from Britain and landed on the beaches of Nazi-occupied France, in the largest seaborne invasion in the history of mankind.

10,000 of them were killed or injured on that first day.

Less than a year later, the government of Nazi Germany collapsed, ending their 5-year war on Europe and western Asia.

 

[g5000]

A great day in human history.

I was in Normandy for the 50th anniversary. Quite a sight.

 

[Bush92]

Yes and I had an uncle at Omaha Beach. 4 uncle in Europe and 2 in Pacific. 4 of them wounded in action. Growing-up, with that kind of service being typical of families in my neighborhood, YOU KNEW as a boy in high-school that after graduation you were OBLIGATED to serve the nation that has given you so much. I later went on to serve in combat as a Marine infantryman. Why? Obligation to my nation and the generation that marched off to war before me.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - you go Barney!...

War veteran makes great escape from care home to mark D-day anniversary
6 Jun 2014: Bernard Jordan, reported missing after leaving nursing home wearing his medals, found in France at commemorations

An 89-year-old second world war veteran reported missing from a nursing home has been found in France, marking the anniversary of the D-day landings. Bernard Jordan, who left The Pines care home in Furze Hill, Hove, wearing his war medals, contacted the home and said his friends were going to make sure he got back safely when the commemorations end.

Second world war veteran Bernard Jordan, 89, was reported missing from The Pines care home in Furze Hill, Hove.

Sussex Police were called on Thursday evening by nursing home staff who said Jordan had gone out at 10.30am and had not been seen since. He had gone out wearing a grey mac and a jacket underneath with his war medals on, police said.

Officers began searching the area, including checking hospitals, and spoke to bus and taxi companies, but none of them knew where he was. The nursing home received a phone call from a younger veteran from Brighton at 10.30pm who said he had met Jordan on a coach on the way to France and that they were safe and well in a hotel in Ouistreham.

War veteran makes great escape from care home to mark D-day anniversary | World news | theguardian.com

See also:

5 facts you may not know about the Normandy invasion
May 28, 2014 Five facts you may not know about the Normandy invasion:

Bloody A Company

For most the men of A Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry, Normandy was their first taste of combat. For many of them, it would be their last. Four companies of the regiment, from the Virginia National Guard, were tapped for the first wave at Omaha Beach. A Company was tasked with seizing the road leading from the beach to the French town of Vierville a few miles inland. Even before the first landing craft hit the beach, things began going wrong. Strong current left many soldiers seasick and disoriented. U.S. bombers that were supposed to soften up coastal defenses had missed their targets because of thick clouds, leaving German gunners unscathed and ready to spray the beach with intense machine gun, mortar and artillery fire. A Company hit the beach in Dog Green Sector about 6:35 a.m., met by withering German fire. Within 15 minutes all the company’s officers and most of the NCOs were dead. More than 60 percent of A Company were killed or wounded.

Veteran joins the fight

Many of the soldiers who landed at Normandy were new to combat when they hit the beaches. But one combatant had already been in the war since Day One. The USS Nevada was docked at Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. The USS Nevada was struck by one torpedo and six aerial bombs, suffering 60 dead and 109 wounded. Nevertheless, her crew ran the ship aground to prevent the Japanese from sinking her. The vessel was refloated, refitted at Puget Sound and sent to the European Theater. On D-Day, the USS Nevada fired on German positions in support of the Normandy landings and later returned to the Pacific in time for the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Following the war, the USS Nevada was decommissioned after 30 years in the fleet and was scuttled in the Pacific in 1948.

Old Man and the Beach

The oldest American soldier who came ashore at D-Day didn’t have to be there. He was 56 years old, suffered from arthritis and heart trouble and had been relieved once in a dispute with Gen. George Patton. He was also the son of a president of the United States. However, Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., then on the staff of the 4th Infantry Division, begged the division commander for permission to join the assault on Utah Beach, even appealing to his distant cousin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who approved the request. Brig. Gen. Roosevelt landed at Utah with the first wave, personally changing the plan of attack under fire after German resistance proved stronger than expected. Nearly a month later, Roosevelt was awarded the Medal of Honor and recommended for promotion to major general. When Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower phoned to give him he news, he was told that Roosevelt had died of a heart attack the night before on July 12, 1944. He was buried with his comrades at the U.S. cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy.

The first to die?

Among the first American officers killed in the D-Day landings was mortally wounded even before he could join the fight. At 2 a.m. June 6, 1st Lt. Robert Mathias was standing in the door of a C-47 preparing to jump with his platoon from the 82nd Airborne Division’s E Company, 508th Parachute Regiment. Suddenly German ground fire ripped through the aircraft, striking Mathias and knocking him to the floor. As the door light turned green, signaling time to jump, survivors said Mathias picked his bloodied body off the floor, shouted “Let’s Go,” and sprang from the aircraft. His lifeless body was found on the ground, still hooked to his chute.

Not all the problems were from the Germans

As if the Germans weren’t enough of a threat, American paratroopers at D-Day had to contend with their own equipment. American parachutes were equipped with buckles to release the gear once paratroopers hit the ground. It took so long to unhook the buckle, especially in the dark, in swampy ground and underfire, that a significant number of paratroopers were killed by Germans as they tried to wrestle out of their chutes. After the landings, the U.S. switched to quick-release buckles used by British airborne forces and which are in use today. After-action reports complained that the 75 pounds of gear carried by assault troops — including ammunition, rations, heating units and even French language phrase books — proved too bulky and reduced mobility, especially for soldiers trying to wade ashore under fire.

5 facts you may not know about the Normandy invasion - News - Stripes

 

[LordBrownTrout]

I dont even have words for what they did for this country and the world.

 

[blackhawk]

The sad thing is a great many today have no idea what D-Day is and what was accomplished on that day.

 

[JakeStarkey]

they are not forgotten

 

[Redfish]

they are not forgotten

to your sig---------------yes it is and the GOP will control congress and obama will be a lame duck with no feathers.

 

[Redfish]

The sad thing is a great many today have no idea what D-Day is and what was accomplished on that day.

Yes, it is truly sad that our educational system has failed the country. The greatness of the USA used to be taught, now teachers are more interested in gay acceptance and transgender restrooms than in history, math, and science.

Sad, truly sad.

 

[JakeStarkey]

they are not forgotten

We in the GOP will win some victories this fall, not many, fail to reach out to women and minorities again, and in 2016 winter will come for us with a massive Democratic victory

Mainstream America despises the far right, Redfish, tis what tis

 

[Listening]

We only honor them when we keep with the ideal this country was founded upon.

Otherwise, we are liars.

 

[blackhawk]

Messages From General Eisenhower on Normandy D-Day

 

[Rambunctious]

 

[Peach]

Yes and I had an uncle at Omaha Beach. 4 uncle in Europe and 2 in Pacific. 4 of them wounded in action. Growing-up, with that kind of service being typical of families in my neighborhood, YOU KNEW as a boy in high-school that after graduation you were OBLIGATED to serve the nation that has given you so much. I later went on to serve in combat as a Marine infantryman. Why? Obligation to my nation and the generation that marched off to war before me.

Thank you for this; we may disagree on issues, but not our gratitude to those who served.

 

[LoneLaugher]

The sad thing is a great many today have no idea what D-Day is and what was accomplished on that day.

Yes, it is truly sad that our educational system has failed the country. The greatness of the USA used to be taught, now teachers are more interested in gay acceptance and transgender restrooms than in history, math, and science.

Sad, truly sad.

Something died and is burrowed in your soul. You've got no ability to control your urges.

 

[Moonglow]

Growing up within 20 years of D-Day I always wanted to be a military man and serve with honor like my Granddads did....My family has served in the military since the Revolutionary War. I also directed my children into military service, it is our responsibility as citizens to be ready to sacrifice and provide the last measure of our devotion to the ideals of our nation and the people that make the US a great nation...

 

[HelenaHandbag]

The sad thing is a great many today have no idea what D-Day is and what was accomplished on that day.

Even sadder is that so many are indifferent.

Though I do not necessarily agree with the geopolitics involved, what those young men did, very much of of it on the fly with fractured command, is astonishing.

I believe valor to be an understatement.

 

[guno]

Yes and I had an uncle at Omaha Beach. 4 uncle in Europe and 2 in Pacific. 4 of them wounded in action. Growing-up, with that kind of service being typical of families in my neighborhood, YOU KNEW as a boy in high-school that after graduation you were OBLIGATED to serve the nation that has given you so much. I later went on to serve in combat as a Marine infantryman. Why? Obligation to my nation and the generation that marched off to war before me.

Thank you for this; we may disagree on issues, but not our gratitude to those who served.

And to a great Presidnt FRD and great Allies

 

[whitehall]

It's not politics, it's history.

 

[KNB]

D-Day wouldn't have happened if Marihuana was illegal.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngc0_mQ5tjE]Hemp For Victory (1942) U.S. Department of Agriculture - YouTube[/ame]