The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Utah Beach - The Seaborne Assault (6/6/1944) - Nov. 25th, 2003

www.army.mil ^

[stand watie]

HI, Sam!

[Soaring Feather]

Hi SW!!

free dixie, bf

[SAMWolf]

Morning Stand Watie.

[snippy_about_it]

New Dawn Forever
(D-Day, 6 June 1944)

By John R. Slaughter
Sergeant, Company D, 116th Infantry, 29th Division


As a raging maelstrom in England howled, a mighty Crusade sailed under a darkened shroud.
The tempest blew from left to right. The far coast bristled with a devil's delight!

The teeming channel unveiled a dreary dawn - thousands of ships with artillery drawn.
The typhoon weakened, shrill winds abated. Free men prayed and nervously waited.

Channel winds whipped landing crafts. Salt spray soaked men through;
Seasick pills helped little, brown puke bags too few.

Sickening, upchucking nausea, and a hundred-thousand dreads,
Into green battle helmets lowered many sickly heads.

Small gale-tossed landing crafts, blunt noses pointing shoreward;
Pitching, rolling king-sized swells, carrying thirty rifles forwards.

Toward unseen harm on steep, rocky bluffs.

Thru a surging, flooding tide, caused many of our men to die in the sea,
'Cause on the land there's yards of sand and no place on it to hide.

The journey to Hell was nightmare filled. Green jackets were salty stained.
Sailing into a hell-bent battle was not really too clearly explained.

To pea-green infantrymen, tho' extraordinarily skilled,
Many froze traumatized, seeing old buddies maimed and killed.

Mines in the water were tied to poles, some hiding 'neath the surf,
Just lying, waiting to ignite, to blow us from this Earth.

Fiery lightning and roaring thunder belched from 'floating forts'
And 'flying wings' dropped some things on Hitler's channel ports.

LCAs scraped sand. Rusty doors slammed down as 'Stonewallers' waited their turn
To exit the wombs of those tossing machines. Much worse was yet to come.

As streams of fire from stuttering guns find 'Lady Liberty's' dearest sons.
One stumbles on the pockless sand, 'M-1' exploding from his hand.

He utters a last shrill scream, "Oh, Dear God! Save my soul!
Please, someone, MEDICO!" Then silence . . . o serene.

The battered shore bleeds as the littered tidewater recedes,
Leaving the wounded and the dead washing in a surf that quickly turned red!

Smoking hulks - - carnage - - debris, sickening smell from TNT;
Barbed wire; 'Achtung! Minen!' Poles in the sand. 'Get across, Yank, if you can!'

The coastline bled, too many spilled red on Omaha Beach to leave.
Buckets of tears shed back at home. Everywhere mothers would grieve.

That unlucky telegram, o' so dread: 'We regret to inform you your son is dead.'
Died for Country much too young, didn't live long enough to sire a son.

What took place in 'Forty-Four' isn't talked about much anymore.
It was such a long, long time ago. Young boys forgotten that made it so.

But mothers, brothers and old Aunt Sue will never forget the "Gray and Blue".
Their faded photos in a bureau drawer, taken back in Devonshire in 1944.

Like all epic battles this too was won by naïve young men carrying a gun.
Mom's boys and young dads too, willing to die for Red, White and Blue.

Don't forget them dear folks, can't you see heroes we left in Normandy;
Under crosses and Stars lined up in rows; all just plain ol' GI Joes.

Over half a century has sped by since D-Day's fallen caused Mammas to cry.
Those teen-aged boys went to war; saved our homes and much, much more.

A permanent rest forever they lie. Might they ask, "What if?" and "Why?"
But remember, dear folks, to us they gave
'A land of the Free and Home of the Brave'

[Colonel_Flagg]

Good gracious, Sam, how far ahead do you plan the Foxhole? That sounds like a back-breaking amount of work!

[SCDogPapa]

29 degrees in South Carolina? That sounds un-American!

Well, it definitely sounds un-Southern. LOL!

[stand watie]

!!!!!

[snippy_about_it]

Good gracious, Sam, how far ahead do you plan the Foxhole?

Isn't SAM amazing? Grrr. I'm so jealous.

Ask me what my Friday thread is going to be.........I'll let you know Thursday night! LOL.

Now I don't want you to think I don't take the Foxhole seriously but I can't plan as far ahead as SAM and am nowhere near as disciplined or organized. I also change my mind a lot about what I want for what day. :)

SAM's attention to detail and planning boggles my mind.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! We try to stay at least a week ahead of time and the schedule is subject to change. Pont du Hoc has been ready for a while, it just seems to keep getting bumped back.

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

What took place in 'Forty-Four' isn't talked about much anymore.
It was such a long, long time ago. Young boys forgotten that made it so

It's not forgotten at the Foxhole.

[Colonel_Flagg]

I also change my mind a lot about what I want for what day. :)

That is your prerogative. Please excuse me while I duck ;)

SAM's attention to detail and planning boggles my mind.

There are people to whom planning comes easily. I wish I knew more of them.

[Colonel_Flagg]

What took place in 'Forty-Four' isn't talked about much anymore.
It was such a long, long time ago. Young boys forgotten that made it so.

We both know better, though, don't we? :)

[snippy_about_it]

Yep, we sure do Colonel. More folks just have to learn about the Foxhole and all our good people here, and we must get the word out by telling their stories, right? :)

[snippy_about_it]

That is your prerogative.

LOL. I was going to say it was a woman's prerogative to change her mind but I couldn't spell it. LOL. And low and behold FR now has spell check. Who knew?

[snippy_about_it]

It's not forgotten at the Foxhole.

That's for sure!

[Colonel_Flagg]

Who knew?

We did. :)

[Darksheare]

Afternoon, I am in, finally.

[Soaring Feather]

Puter fixed Darksheare??

[Darksheare]

Yup.
And it went without a hitch.
I didn't get zapped, and I didn't smell cooking hair or electronics