Posted on 06/05/2017 10:38:25 AM PDT by simpson96
SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE, France, June 5, 2017 — "There are moments in a nation's history when its future course is decided by a chosen few who walked bravely into the valley of the shadow of death," Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti said during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Iron Mike Memorial here yesterday.
"In such moments, young men and women pledge their lives so that their nation can live," said NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe and the commander of U.S. European Command.
U.S. Army paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and the 82nd Airborne Division; French, British, Dutch and German troops; French nationals; and family and friends participated in the ceremony, which marked the 73rd anniversary of the D-Day landings in France.
Each year, countless visitors come to visit the Iron Mike Memorial here. The 14-foot tall statue of a World War II-era airborne soldier is a copy of a sculpture that stands at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The statue was erected to pay tribute to the numerous American paratroopers and infantry soldiers who lost their lives in this area of France.
An inscription on the Iron Mike Memorial statue says that about 254 U.S. soldiers were killed and 525 were wounded during the Battle for La Fiere Bridgehead, June 6-9, 1944.
This 500-yard stretch of causeway transformed a unit, defined its character and inspired an Army, he said.
U.S., German and French dignitaries salute as "Taps" is played during an "Iron Mike" wreath-laying ceremony in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, June 4, 2017. The ceremony commemorated the 73rd anniversary of the D-Day landings.
(Excerpt) Read more at defense.gov ...
Full Day D-Day Broadcasts
D Day - Broadcast Part 1 - 0250 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxBO-YnxwNM
D Day - Broadcast Part 2 - 0700 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf6Iq0DnXbA
D Day - Broadcast Part 3 - 1100 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HbyG1QAc6U
D Day - Broadcast Part 4 - 1500 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WiOQmlBbSY
D Day - Broadcast Part 5 - 1900 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQxcTnHJzg0
D Day - Broadcast Part 6 - 2300 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoClWCMiM0c
The Longest Day ! Jean has a long mustache
“Blessent mon coeur d’une langueur monotone.”
I have an uncle who was there, first wave at Omaha beach, combat engineer. Listening to him talk about it is powerful, you can see him reliving it and well up in tears when he talks about buddies he watched die. Like in Saving Private Ryan he had three guys in his out fit get hit with mortar or artillery round. One second they were there and the next second, just gone. His landing craft passed by the USS Texas battleship as she cut loose with a massive broadside against the Krauts.
He went on to fight in the Hurtgen Forrest where he got frost bite and sent to the Ardennnes, the quite sector to recuperate and participate in the Battle of the Bulge. He ended up in Czechoslovakia/Austria area by wars end. He is in his 90’s now and in failing health.
Thanks for those links. I look forward to having a listen.
Thank him for us, please.
I had the honor a few years ago to visit the American Cemetery at Normandy.
It really something everyone should do at least once in their lifetime.
I’ve listened to them many times, and lament the sad decline of journalism since then.
Amazing. Truly the Greatest Generation. Awful to think that today’s kids are clueless.
I just learned from a video called the 19th is gone (about the 19th combat engineer battilion) that engineers did not get the $10 a month combat pay.
These were the guys who went out ahead and cleared mines!
My dad had an Army engineer company on his LCT on Utah Beach. They had bulldozers and TNT.
I also visited cemetery at Normandy. Cried the entire time
It was cold in October of 1962 when I went to the drive-in with my veteran father to see the Longest Day. I believe it was the first time I saw him cry. That and the movie made a big mark on me.
Of all the places I want to go before I die Normandy is the highest on my list. I know it will be hard but that is foolish and self-absorbed of me compared to what the men of that day, the days before and the days after suffered.
I don’t believe I can ever be dried of tears to remember what these men endured and accomplished.
It is impossible to walk a battle ground and not feel humbled below the tops of my shoes. The intensity of the rage, brutality, horror, honor and love infuse the places and makes all other human endeavor and trial shrink to insignificance in these places where scores of young men meet their own judgement day.
I didn't know it at the time, but they were watching 'The Longest Day'.
“Our promise is that no matter how many years pass, the world will never forget their sacrifices,” Schmidt said. “We as a nation are committed to this memory.”
No, he is wrong, the world will forget. They are forgetting now. We still have a few people of that generation and people only one generation removed from them but when they are gone the memory will be very dim. It is getting dim now. That is just the way things, mankind goes. We still remember the 300 Spartains at Thermopyle but probably none memoriaize their sacrifice.
I wonder how many centuries we will maintain the hallowed grounds of the dead before someones find a more compelling use for that land?
Those patriots are my heroes. They define honor,liberty and the greatness of America. I also wore the uniform but those men who stormed the beach and the skies are men of impeccable greatness.
Much gratitude for your Uncle for what he did and the blessings of Jesus on him too.
I had an Uncle you went in with the 82nd. Never heard him talk about it. My older brother did, I’ll have to ask him about that.
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