Back when I was in my early 20s I worked security for a major university. One of the campus cops - I’ll call him Bill - was older than most of us. He was also fat and slow.
Bill didn’t look anything like those slick cops you see on TV. Some of the younger campus cops made fun of him. And they just wouldn’t stop. Bill never said anything back. He just took it.
Well, one day Bill brought a briefcase to roll call. He didn’t say a word. He just opened up his briefcase in front of us. In that briefcase were citations and rows of medals. Bill was an Army Ranger who landed on D-Day.
Nobody made fun of Bill after that.
I am named for my uncle who was killed in France in the immediate aftermath of D-Day. He was 19 years old, and the youngest of my grandfather’s children by his first wife who had died of TB several years earlier.
His other two brothers served in the Army in various places................
R.I.P. uncle Bill Warner.
Thank you for starting the thread.
‘For days, we had to walk bent over. I thought I'd never be able to stand up straight again.’
I listen to a WW2 podcast called “We have ways of making you talk”. It’s done by 2 Englishmen James Holland and Al Murray. They did a ten part D Day show which I thought was great. It’s on YouTube They do make fun of Patton’s high pitch voice and pump up Monte a lot but that’s to be expected.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M8vlwsT106E&list=PL6OnZvWLYS_eODWHIYsk4cgHLcEzggcNp&index=118&pp=iAQB
Thanks LR. GGG ping without the graphic.
No matter how many times I see it, those first 15–20 minutes hit hard. I find myself thanking God for the courage, grit, and sheer determination of those young men who stormed the beach 81 years ago today.
May God bless them, and may He continue to protect and watch over our country.
In 1944 my dad was a staff sergeant in the U. S. Army Air Corps stationed at Colorado Springs. My mom worked at the telegraph office while she did her student teaching. One day my mom was waiting to get on a bus, but it was military priority. My dad saw her and said, “I’ll get you on this bus if you’ll share your sandwich with me.”
Not long afterward, he proposed and she accepted. they set the date for June sixth. When that day came, the base was locked down, and they didn’t know why. my dad needed to get off base to go get married. But needed the chaplain’s permission in order to do so. he was given one hour to complete the task.
It was D day; they just didn’t know it. Their anniversary has always been easy to remember.
CBS Reports (1964): “D-Day Plus 20 Years - Eisenhower Returns to Normandy”
https://youtu.be/vNaxTXfjfXk?si=UFWamyCq7JV0eb-X
THAT was great - thanks for posting. There were several celebrities there that day also. Some names surprised me or I’d forgotten..
https://www.biography.com/military-figures/d-day-famous-people
The picture on Bing is grand. I always use Bing for my searches and enjoy the daily pictures..
Thanks.
My wife was working as an elderly assistant for a couple. The man had Dementia but he did remember that he was at D-Day. He had several pictures.
One of our church members drove a Higgins boat on D-Day. It messed up his head pretty badly.
My dad had a D-Day ribbon but he was on Okinawa. it must have been a unit citation as I think he was attached to the 8th AF building/repairing airfields. When I found his DD-214, he was awarded a Bronze Star for being the guy who filled out the forms for medals and discharges.
My grandpa Stanley landed on Utah Beach as a member of 4ID. He was wounded inland and was propped up against a fence until he could be attended.
He had instructed told to stay upright— he told us all he wanted to do was lie down (shattered pelvis, elbow/arm)— but apparently those that were more survivable were identified as being upright and got care. So, by doing so, likely saved his life. He was able to return in 1995 for the 50th anniversary.
Wow! Were there tears in the room? Just wondering about the reaction. Thanks.
Quiet, kind, and very tolerant boss, Bob H. - U.S. Army Ranger at Point du Hoc - I have wondered? But cannot yet confirm.
Brother-in-law of mine, age 17, landed at Normandy in 3rd week of June 1944. Fought all the way across France. Later in Austria. After German surrender, returned to France. Thence New York, close to 19th birthday.
I asked what did he remember the most?
“The dead bodies in roadside drainage ditches all across France.”
He had walked all the way. Until Christmas Eve, when somebody realized that he had not had a break. Sent him by transport, from eastern France, toward Paris. Transport stopped. Sent back toward the front.
After the war, quiet, kind, tolerant salesman.
Da-da-da-daaaaa...
I think I’ll watch The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan today!