[Mr. Dough]

Folks, I scanned this from a copy of the book Brave Men by Ernie Pyle. Highly recommended if you can find a copy. Emphasis above is mine. This was scanned and OCR'd so there may be some errors.
I pray some of this spirit survives for the challenges this country faces today....

[SkyDancer]

And if D-Day was reported by today’s MSM ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px_XBJHrs4I

[skeeter]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027164/posts

[AzSteven]

Been reading The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara this week - a very well-done novel of the D-Day Invasion. Last night, I watched the first episode of Band of Brothers with some friends on a nice widescreen HDTV, and tonight we follow with the second episode, Day of Days.

These men who went ashore on Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword, Juno; they were just ordinary guys, thrust into an extraordinary circumstance. None of them went in to be a hero, but as far as I am concerned they all came out as heroes. The fire in their eyes that day is reflected in the eyes of many an American and British soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan today, and I for one thank God that we are able to produce men like that when we need them.

[J Aguilar]

Thank you America!

[Loud Mime]

BTTT

Does anybody know what ships went into shallow water to direct their cannons against the pillboxes?

[MNJohnnie]

Great post. Can read all of Ernie Pyle’s columns here

http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/erniepyle/wartime-columns/3/#WartimeColumns

[schu]

Ping for later

[EverOnward]

Thank you to all those honorable, brave souls who gave so much.

[RoadTest]

Good job, Mr. Dough! Thank you.

[Monkey Face]

I was a baby when this happened.

However, my love for all things military has never decreased.

I married a sailor. I had a son who joined the army and a daughter who joined the navy. My life has been that of a military wife, mom and widow.

Today, I have a grandson who has already been to Iraq, and one who is about to go. My prayers are for all those who are serving where I can’t go.

[Victor]

ping

[CRBDeuce]

Ernie Pyle....certainly the best known war correspondent ever for good reason! A soldier's best friend, one of his 'accomplishments' not so well known is the Ernie Pyle Bill:

[His] columns not only described the soldier's hardships, but also spoke out on his behalf. In a column from Italy in 1944, Pyle proposed that combat soldiers be given "fight pay," similar to an airman's flight pay. In May of that year, Congress acted on Pyle's suggestion, giving soldiers 50 percent extra pay for combat service, legislation nicknamed "the Ernie Pyle bill."

...and we thought Congress was slow today!

[RetiredArmy]

One of the very last so called reporters that actually supported the troops.

[ex-Texan]

*BUMP* !

[sono]

Another climactic battle happened on June 6 - June 6, 1918.

[centexan]

Ernie Pyle bump in memory of Captain Waskow

[hinckley buzzard]

The other day I talked with a man who went ashore on D-day plus 1. Like Pyle he was stunned by the vastness of the debris and the scope of the enterprise. He had initially been assigned to training as a turret gunner on the B17 but after a fire on board during training, he refused to fly again. So they made him a machine gunner and assigned to the infantry. His unit married up with Patton's Third Army and he made it clear to the Elbe, shook hands with Russian troops.

In civilian life he had been a club singer and musician. He was 19 years old when he enlisted.

[redstates4ever]

Thanks for this. I think Brave Men should be required reading in our high schools (I can dream, can’t I?)

[Titan Magroyne]

bfl

[Redbob]

When I was in school, “Gallant Men” was a TV show - can you imagine such a thing now?