June 6th 1944 was the date of the Invasion of Normandy and the beginning of the end of Hitler and the Third Reich.
Over 15,000 allied casualties, and over 4,000 of those dying.
I was a member of the 101st Airborne when I was in the army and we hold our Normandy Brothers with very high esteem. We held a special memorial at Fort Campbell every year on this date.
We had a plaque there that said: They Gave All Their Tomorrows So We Could Have Today.
Please Don't Forget Them.
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Spookymufu
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Re: Today is June 6th.
http://theyard.netii.net/
"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but if you pull their wings off they'll eat whatever you give them!"
"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but if you pull their wings off they'll eat whatever you give them!"
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NeverMore
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Re: Today is June 6th.
Sadly Spooky, we had to open a new National Cemetery here because the original one filled up. The price we pay for our way of life I guess.
Kolchak, here's a story to give you a chuckle on this solemn day.
A couple videos you may appreciate...
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zl3O_vEUSo (rare color!)
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Murfreesboro
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Re: Today is June 6th.
The sentiment on that plaque was beautiful, Kolchak.
Neither my father nor my FIL was in the initial invasion, but both were in France not long afterward. My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was at the Bridge at Remagen. He was a combat engineer attached to the infantry. I think they were called the Lightening Brigade. They had a motto, "The first in and the last out," because they went in ahead to defuse mines, and stayed afterward to set new ones.
My FIL was an American-born German who actually spoke German as his first language here in the States. Because his family had been here for 80 years or more, he was trusted to be used as an interpreter to help set up whatever kind of government was set up in the re-conquered territories. He had a funny story to tell about a time when he and another American soldier were sitting in a Jeep in a German village. Two women were sitting on the steps of their house, peeling potatoes, and gossiping away about their village. That went on for some time, and my FIL understood every word, but said nothing. One of them had a little boy who was quite intrigued by the Jeep, and he would creep closer and closer, until he was touching it, I guess. His mother told him in German to get away from the Jeep. My FIL then told her, in perfect German, that it was OK, the child could look at the car. He said you never saw two women disappear faster than they did. They grabbed their potatoes and their child and vanished into the house.
Neither my father nor my FIL was in the initial invasion, but both were in France not long afterward. My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was at the Bridge at Remagen. He was a combat engineer attached to the infantry. I think they were called the Lightening Brigade. They had a motto, "The first in and the last out," because they went in ahead to defuse mines, and stayed afterward to set new ones.
My FIL was an American-born German who actually spoke German as his first language here in the States. Because his family had been here for 80 years or more, he was trusted to be used as an interpreter to help set up whatever kind of government was set up in the re-conquered territories. He had a funny story to tell about a time when he and another American soldier were sitting in a Jeep in a German village. Two women were sitting on the steps of their house, peeling potatoes, and gossiping away about their village. That went on for some time, and my FIL understood every word, but said nothing. One of them had a little boy who was quite intrigued by the Jeep, and he would creep closer and closer, until he was touching it, I guess. His mother told him in German to get away from the Jeep. My FIL then told her, in perfect German, that it was OK, the child could look at the car. He said you never saw two women disappear faster than they did. They grabbed their potatoes and their child and vanished into the house.