Posted on 06/05/2017 6:25:07 PM PDT by John S Mosby
Poor Red Buttons, LOL! "Ding Dong....Ding Dong".
You are entitled to your opinion in contrast to those who were documented and lived events at the time.
As an FYI: The character Red Buttons well-played was a real participant- Pvt. John F. Steele 505th PIR 82nd Airborne.
From Army.mil: “Pvt. John Steele of F Company, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Steele was already a combat veteran, with combat jumps into Italy and Sicily under his belt prior to D-Day.
During his landing, Steele’s parachute became caught in the steeple of the church in the middle of the town square. Shot through the foot, Steele hung there for two hours pretending to be dead before the Germans noticed him and cut him down.
“There were some paratroopers who landed nearby, but they didn’t help him because they thought he was dead. The Germans thought he was dead also, but they wanted whatever papers he had on him and that is when they discovered that he was alive,” said Patrick Bunel, a curator at the Airborne Museum here (St. Mere Eglise).
The German soldiers took him prisoner, but Steele was able to escape once tanks that had landed at Utah beach arrived....Steele was awarded the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart for his actions during the invasion.
Today a uniformed mannequin hangs from a parachute and rigging on the steeple, in honor of Steele (who actually landed in back of the church), his fateful jump and the liberation of the town below.........Steele regularly visited here before his death in 1969 from cancer.”
Pretty much everything in The Longest Day is based on what really happened.
Same reason Brits drive on the wrong side of the road? You got me- wondered the same. Perhaps because the original Telegraph article was published at 6:30 AM BST on June 6, 2014 exactly 70 years later, and went back in time to the “launch” at 00:00 AM BST?
That would make sense from a “here’s what has happened already, if you had been there”. Why I put in a few “already happened” from the timeline.
Yeah, I’m well aware of why June 6th gets to be “the” D-Day. I’m just a bit amused that it bugs my dad, who must have seen more than a few Op Orders as a career Army officer.
To answer seqouyah’s question dad is still mentally sharp. Prone to repeating things several times these last few years when he gets tired, and physically his 96 yrs are taking their toll. But he remembers the past very clearly and I do get the chance to hear a lot of stories. From both parents actually.
Patch was a very good general, just not widely know outside of military buffs. Patch didn’t cultivate publicity and was more than happy to let Patton be the center of attention. Like Patton he died shortly after the end of the war.
Bump.
Thank you for reposting this crucial date in US (and world) history, from my post of last year. So much was riding on the lives of thousands of men, material, sacrifices— and REAL intelligence actors (not these p@ssies in dot.com techno world of today. No, these were anti-nazi and anti-stalinists in country with UK and US help—getting “up close and personal” outing the traitors of their own countries (the collaborators) and gifting them with a small arms round to the head (with a silencer). Up close, and very effectively personal to remove leadership.
I wish I could be with French friends in Normandy today and last night. For they gave much. As did a long dead old friend who was with OSS and managed a ring of Maquis (mostly communist French who hated the Vichy collaborators)— who came back from WWII to become a famous cardiologist who originated (with industry) recycling and re-servicing of affordable heart pacemakers. An ACTIVE take charge, great man. People (the jaded stupid uninquisitive millenial morons who only know what happened in the last 10 minute on their freaking i-phones.
There is no comparison- and yes, I am emotional on this complete national disconnect from our history— and loss each day of WWII veterans WHO SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. As every veteran— should not be forgotten.
Gonna watch “Darkest Hour” and then “The Longest Day” because as of tonight with the lying Quislings within our own government would gladly sell out the American people- and they deserve our infinite scorn. (Example: take Mrs. Ohr out in the public street of DC and shave her freaking gray haired head- for she and her hubby are certainly russian spies. then move on to hitlery and obamaumao, under force of US marshal’s arms (one can dream can’t one?).
BTW-— GO GATORS! And, thank you!
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