The Greatest Generation. "I shall not look upon his like again."
Posted on 05/28/2024 5:48:38 AM PDT by RandFan
The 6th June marks a significant day in world history. Just after midnight on 6th June 1944, the Allied forces invaded northern France, beginning the largest amphibious military operation in world history.
Known as Operation Overlord or D-Day, the invasion marked the Allied assault on Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ and changed the course of WWII.
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There are a number of ways you can remember the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe.
You can visit ‘Legacies of D-Day’ at the site of the British Normandy Memorial in France and the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The exhibition will be open to the public from 6th June, with online previews available on the Royal British Legion’s (RBL) website from 13th May. The RBL will also be hosting events around the UK and Normandy on 5th and 6th June.
Alongside the traditional anniversary service at Bayeux Cathedral, a service of Remembrance will be held in conjunction with the exhibition at the National Memorial Arboretum on 6th June at 2pm. A similar service of commemoration will mark D-Day 80 at the Bayeux War Cemetery in France on 5th June at 5pm. Along with the Ministry of Defence, the RBL will host a British National Event to mark D-Day 80 on 6th June at the British Normandy Memorial. This event will also be broadcast on UK National Television.
The RBL has helpful resources for members and supporters looking to commemorate D-Day 80 with their own community on 6th June 2024.
The UK city of Portsmouth will also host a major national commemorative event to mark D-Day 80 on 5th June 2024. Thousands of members of the public will be invited to attend alongside D-Day veterans, Armed Forces personnel and VIP guests. The event will be broadcast live for those who can’t attend in person.
You can also use the Ministry of Defence’s recently launched D-Day 80 website. You’ll find details on official commemorations in both the UK and Normandy, and can discover how to sign up for information and registration.
The opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan” is a graphic depiction of the Omaha Beach landing.
Back in 2018 I went on a 2-week Band of Brothers Tour thru Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours, starting in Toccoa, Ga and ending in Austria.
We spent nearly 2.5 days in Normandy, visiting all the sites where Easy Company saw action and all the landing beaches and many, many other places.
Fantastic Trip.
As always, will share the epic Reagan speech from 1984 (visited his museum and library two weeks ago).
Will Joe Biden go?
Please do I’ll watch that
The Greatest Generation. "I shall not look upon his like again."
My wife and I watched “The Longest Day” last night.
I reminded her that most of the soldiers and sailors were 18-20 year old men. Our son is approaching 30.
My father participated in Operation Dragoon, originally planned for the same time as D Day, but which got delayed until August 15 because of lack of resources.
One thinks that maybe one will take the day off. Another Memorial Day, except a bit more personal...
Three years and a day before I appeared. “ONLY 80 YEARS!”. How quickly history is tossed aside. Sad. It’s not so much younger folks forgetting, it’s that they never learned it or were taught it. Lucky for me my dad was career Navy and it afforded me the chance to see some of the results in Hawaii in the late 50’s and in Europe in the early 60’s. There was lots of cleaning up still to be done.
A friend will be there for the ceremonies with his family, I’m sure it will be a powerful memory they will have for the rest of their lives.
My Father was a cook in the army and in England for D-Day...I had the privilege to attend the 50th Anniversary on the USS Harlan County....spent the summer attending liberation celebrations in villages all over France.
You’d probably like this. Ike revisits Normandy twenty years later.
https://youtu.be/vNaxTXfjfXk?si=aHMZQAs37QQd-3eI
That delay was very costly but the whole Italian campaign was that way. The South of France was harder for the Germans to defend.
As an aside…A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would have to mirror the effort to invade Normandy. The lengths are longer. The defense is more lethal. And the motivation of the people on the island is higher than the natives of France.
So, when you hear how China is going to “invade” Taiwan, stop and actually think about “how” they would accomplish it.
WWII era amphibious events won’t ever happen again.
They'll simply buy Taiwan out.
RIP Uncle Bill
“I reminded her that most of the soldiers and sailors were 18-20 year old men.”
That was typical of the draft era and when patriotic young men just simply enlisted as soon as they could. This pretty much ended with the draft. The sandbox wars had soldiers averaging a few years older, but not by much.
My first thoughts in reading your remark is the sad bunch of young men today. A good portion of them are afraid of anything and everything. They are over emotional spineless girly boys, just pathetic. My daughter works at a convenience store and related a story about one. She found him crying at the cash register. A customer had triggered him over something, he wouldn’t say what. He was so pathetic he had to be sent home.
I’m willing to bet less than 50% of our young are emotionally fit for a war.
Bedford was chosen to be the location because there were more sons of that county who took part on D-Day than any other place in America.
I visited there several years ago, it's an absolutely amazing place. One that doesn't fail to impress upon the visitor the magnitude of Operation Overlord.
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