I've been to Normandy a couple of times. Hallowed ground.
I've shared this before, but my German grandfather was a civilian construction foreman who helped build the West Wall. The irony of my dad coming ashore a couple days after the main landing and possibly scrambling over the ruins of my grandfather's handiwork is not lost on me.
I went to the American Cemetery in Normandy a few years ago.
Most aren’t aware, that nearby is a German cemetery that is still very well taken care of.
One of my closest friends in Mississippi is a ships captain who used to work for the federal govt as a security contractor and before that was a Ranger...not just he did Darby but a real ranger ...1st battalion I think
His maternal grandpa was a Wehrmacht officer on the Eastern front...a captain or major equivalent I think from some elite branch ....he was trying to get west at the end of the war but was caught by Ukes who sent him east.
Russkies held him till 1956 in the work camps
My friend loved his grandpa who moved here to Biloxi to work at Ingalls shipyards
He kept a big wartime 1000 yard stare pic of him on his wall in his govt office which drove the PC and diversity hire apparatchiks crazy
It kept him entertained
“I’ve been to Normandy a couple of times. Hallowed ground.”
There was a ship full of us going there for April 27th. Bad, typhoon like winds, blocked the French ports from our itinerary and we never set foot in France or Belgium this trip. It was the Rotterdam sailing from Tampa to Holland.