[TheWillardHotel]

Our nation will cease when we stop honoring our past, in all its glory and pain.

[Protagoras]

Your father was a hero.

My Uncle was also a B-17 pilot, he paid the full price.

God bless them all.

[areafiftyone]

God bless him!!

[narby]

I was a fan of the USS Texas when I lived in Houston, still on static display there today. It would have been cool to see it in action, delivering broadsides at Normandy (But it has 14 inchers, not 16 inch like the Iowa class).

A few weeks after D-Day, the Texas had its best fight, when it dueled with a large German gun emplacement (most of its other action was shelling places that didn't have the ability to hit back). The ship took a couple of hits, and it didn't take out the guns themselves, but it destroyed enough of the gun infrastructure that the Germans abandoned it the next day.

[My2Cents]

From Stephan Ambrose's book, TO AMERICA)

In my interviews with World War II veterans, they sometimes tell me that the reason they fought was that they had learned as children the difference between right and wrong and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed, so they fought. Right there, I think, one hears the voice of Theodore Roosevelt ringing in the words of soldiers born after his death. It seems to me that perhaps our greatest strength is that American kids are brought up to know right from wrong. And of all our Presidents, the one who used the words "right" and "wrong" more than any other, who did the most to exalt right-doing, was Theodore Roosevelt.

(Note: TR might be overtaken by George W. Bush before his tenure is through)

[kidd]

Please set your father straight for me. Anyone who was anywhere near the Normandy coast on D-Day ranks among some of the bravest humans that ever lived. Salute.

Steven Ambrose commented that the air bombings behind the coastline and the wide dispersal of paratroopers had the effect of confusing the German troops - they didn't know where the front line was. As a consequence of this, there was little movement from German position to position, which kept them from reinforcing.

[centurion316]

Good post. My father-in-law was a B-24/B17 pilot in 8AF. His group, the 493BG flew its first combat mission on 6 Jun 1944. They were the last heavy bomb group to join the 8th AF. 493d initally flew B-24's, then transistioned to B-17s so that the entire 3d Air Division was B-17 equipped, thus greatly simplifing mission planning and mission execution with the 3 Air Division.

Bomber crews always had misgivings when asked to provide support close to ground troops. They understood the difficulties of hitting the pickle barrel. When 1st Army attempted the breakout from the Normandy Bridgehead (Operation Cobra), Bradley asked for close support from 8th AF. Several of the bombing runs came up short, landing on friendly troops. Hundreds were killed, including LTG Leslie J. McNair, commander of Army Ground Forces.

[Charles Martel]

Here's a nice image of Omaha Beach's defenses.

[Bars4Bill]

just happened to see this pic at Yahoo News today



Fri Jun 6,12:41 PM ET An historic aerial hand out image taken by the U.S. Air Force, realeased June 6, 2003, shows the eastern section of the beach codenamed Omaha, during the Second World War. The image, taken on June 6, 1944 at apprximately 1000BST by U.S. forces, shows the location where allied forces invaded Nazi-occupied France on D-Day under heavy resistance, resulting in more than 3,000 allied forces wounded or killed. ( MANDATORY CAPTION MUST INCLUDE 'Imagery courtesy Keele University Aerial Photgraphic Library and www.historicairphotos.com' ) ( NO ARCHIVE ) REUTERS/The Geoinformation Group

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the post and a different perspective on D-Day.

I thank your father for his service.

[VOA]

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[VOA]

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