Sure, played by Henry Fonda in The Longest Day.
Posted on 06/06/2018 2:54:30 PM PDT by Rummyfan
What most Americans these days know about D-Day comes from the movies "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) or "Band of Brothers" (2001), and that's pretty good! It's infinitely better than not knowing anything at all about this pivotal Allied invasion of World War II.
However, to enhance your knowledge of this important battle whose anniversary is June 6, here are a few more interesting facts you may not have learned in school.
1. Teddy Roosevelt Jr. fought on D-Day.
You remember the original Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charging up San Juan Hill in the Spanish American War (1898) right? He earned the Medal of Honor for his incredible bravery that day. Well, his son Ted Jr. was no less brave.
Teddy Jr fought in World War I at Soissons and was wounded in action. Later, in World War II, he was a Brigadier General and led troops in North Africa and Italy. For the D-Day invasion, the 56-year-old soldier (the oldest Allied soldier on D-Day, by the way) begged to lead the men out of his landing craft and be the first on shore. He was given that honor, and led his men onto Utah Beach. (While they were heading for shore he led his men in singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Onward Christian Soldiers".)
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If you ever pass through Bedford, Virginia, the D-Day memorial is well worth your time. It’s on Route 460 between Lynchburg and Roanoke.
The US navy beached destroyers to use their guns to directly support the landed troops who were caught in the german planned crossfire on the beaches (the german artillery fired DOWN the beach and were thus protected from navy fire further out in the sea.) When they ran out of ammo they backed off and more destroyers took up their position.
Also until a recent documantary I saw I had never heard : that minesweepers swept the waters to create safe channels for the landing craft going into the beaches. They operated for many hours before the landings took place
The allegedly ill fated DD Tanks (amphibian Sherman tanks - Dual Drive) I always heard were a failure sinking in the rough sea - some actually worked and did good work on at least one of the landing beaches (not Omaha)
The French Resistance did more than 1500 sabotage attacks in the France the few days before the Invasion
Patton was 3rd Army commander and the top Gemeral in WWII of either side.
Sure, played by Henry Fonda in The Longest Day.
A friend who used to buy used military stuff once gave me one of those boxes. They were spring loaded and when opened, the aluminum would go flying out.
Well I had a party one night and that metal box was sitting on my stereo cabinet when somebody picked it up and accidentally unlocked it and when the lid flew open, the aluminum strips flew all over the living room.......LOL!
Read "The Far Shore" by Adm. Edward Ellsberg and find out how it was a near thing that they were used at all.
[Spoiler] An Army captain tries to tell one and all that the Mulberries are doomed to fail. Considered a fruitcake. Ellsberg gets involved and finds out that they are all flooded down on a shallow beach and will be pumped dry just before Invasion Day. He suggests that the Brits do a trial run. They object as "everybody knows it will work". He badgers them until they try, and they find out that the London sewage punps they commandeered were only designed to pump horizontally, and did not have the power to pump up and over. Ellsberg suggests the U.S. Navy salvagers do the job but Churchill comes over, throws out the Army Engineers and uses the Royal Navy.
Imagine what would have happened if Ellsberg hadn't listened to "that crazy guy".
A nest sidebar was that they sunk an old British battleship as a breakwater. There were 88 men in the crew. They were to blow the bottom out of her and skeedaddle, They did so and the Germans gleefully reported that they sunk a battleship and "fewer than 100 men survived."
I really liked the Longest Day. It had a stellar cast. Good story line ans it was pretty accurate!
The D Day Museum is in Bedford County
There is some wreckage of the B-25 on that mountain. Not much
The Krauts weren’t undermanned, they had enough troops and equipment to fend off the invasion it’s just they were in the worn places. Rommel had a hell of a time moving units to Normandy with the allied air cover wreaking havoc. Some units sustained 30+% casualties BEFORE EVEN MAKING DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE ENEMY!
Beautiful area, though. Really brought back memories...born and lived there for a few years as a kid. Nature has a distinctive look in Virginia...
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