Scantlings

Give a pause for those Allied soldiers who gave their all at Normandy on this day in 1944. I had the honor on this day in 1998 to stand on Omaha Beach and then silently climb that bluff with Army, Air Force and Defense Agency civilian associates, silently walk the American Cemetary and then sit in a preserved German gun emplacement and share a toast of French champagne to those brace men who gave their all for a greater cause.

Hear hear! To all the Americans, Canadians and British who laid down their lives.

Don't forget the free French and Poles who were there!

Thanks for posting this. I'm a history geek, so I tend to have dates like these in my calendar and I give a thought. I haven't visited Omaha beach, but I have visited places like Peleliu

When you stand on orange beach, it's hard to imaging what this was like because it's become such peaceful place. There are only small monuments and the airfield is not really maintained and so close to the beach. Diving the reef there are no signs of the invasion either. You'd never know what bloodshed and horror happened here.



A creepy spot on Tinian is the bomb pit where they loaded the nuclear bomb. Such a small and modest thing for such a terrible thing.

Thanks Larry. Also know,we're thinking of you, too. Wish you were here.

kimbottles wrote:Don't forget the free French and Poles who were there!

My father thx you for that Kim. He has gone on to join his lost friends.

I think of Normandy whenever I think of courage or overcoming fear or being dragged along by ones fellows for whatever it is that makesus able to face mortal danger. This was also one of the times when sacrifice in war led to a clear and tangible benefit. While the world is still full of terrible violence, I hope we don't have to witness it on that scale again,

My late father-in-law was in charge of a landing craft on Juno Beach. Every 06JUN he'd phone the same person and say "Hey--we're still alive!" Sadly, the family never found out who this buddy was.

He left the navy and went on to great things in the medical world.

I was fortunate to visit Omaha Beach on a school trip back in 78. Even as a cocky 16-yr old, it was overwhelming to run up the beach in "street clothes", much less army boots, slinging rifles and loaded backpacks with incoming fire. A moving trip for anyone visiting France.

IrieMon wrote:I was fortunate to visit Omaha Beach on a school trip back in 78. Even as a cocky 16-yr old, it was overwhelming to run up the beach in "street clothes", much less army boots, slinging rifles and loaded backpacks with incoming fire. A moving trip for anyone visiting France.

This weekend that is where we will be.

I don't check into off topic as much as I should. I always think of my grandfathers whenever major WWII dates come to pass. My father's father served stateside for the navy as a radio instructor and my mother's father served as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 stationed in England.

He's on the far left in this photo. He didn't speak of it much, but tended to refer to the missions less about where they went to bomb, but more about who didn't come back. It was always sobering to speak to him about it.