80 years ago tonight
- Thread starter Nitt1300
- Start date
I sent a group email to a bunch of people last night. One friend’s father was a tail gunner who flew over bombing God knows what since it was pre dawn. He said they were dropping holy hell but really couldn’t see what they were actually hitting. Went back to base and then flew another mission in the AM. Told me that the water looked gray given the amount of ships storming the beach.
Whenever there was a celebration or show on TV and we mentioned it to him in case he wanted to tune in, all he would say is that he was there and didn’t need to see anything on TV. He lived to 97 and he never forgot that night and day. Those missions were burned into his brain and the fact that he was likely bombing at least some of his friends since he and his family immigrated here from Germany a short number of years before 6-6-44.
Saying someone is a hero is overblown today. Not with these guys. Thank you to all!
Whenever there was a celebration or show on TV and we mentioned it to him in case he wanted to tune in, all he would say is that he was there and didn’t need to see anything on TV. He lived to 97 and he never forgot that night and day. Those missions were burned into his brain and the fact that he was likely bombing at least some of his friends since he and his family immigrated here from Germany a short number of years before 6-6-44.
Saying someone is a hero is overblown today. Not with these guys. Thank you to all!
Grandfather from the coal regions, was in the CCC, poor as hell, limited education, disabled vet Guadalcanal and now his kids and their kids are lacking for nothing, well-educated, and basically living great lives. Greatest generation indeed.
My Brother in laws father was a glider pilot.
That was practically a suicide mission.
On a side note there is an awesome Glider Pilot museum in Lubbock.
I read this book (written by a D-Day paratrooper) back when it came out, 1967. I consider it a privilege to recommend this to the McAndrew board.
currahee book - Google Search
www.google.com
Especially since the arrival of helicopters, vertical envelopment (static line parachuting) is a hugely expensive and inefficient means of delivering troops to a battlefield. That said, military parachuting is an awesome fraternity. Hearing "Airborne!" with the "All the way!" response is still inspiring to me.
And I will add another that I thoroughly enjoyed...Following along from great article from Tom, this book from the late/great Stephen Ambrose is a collection of 1000+ interviews... really good
And lets not forget the women who stormed ashore. Give em' hell, ladies!
Ok. Ok.
This photo was 7 months later, in southern France.
Ok. Ok.
This photo was 7 months later, in southern France.
This isn’t exactly a D-Day story but on March 2, 1945 my grandfather, who was 20 at the time, went up on his 12th mission as a top turret gunner in a B-17. The plane got shot down and his parachute got caught in a tree where he was captured the next day. After a few days, one of the guards overheard him speaking in Hungarian. The guard happened to have family there so he always slipped my grandfather a little bit of extra food and kept him from being the next one shot via orders from someone above him. finally, after a little over two months, the US forces came in and took down the camp, saving hundreds.
My grandfather never told anyone about what went on over there other than these few items that he told his younger brother once he got home who then he ended up telling my father after my grandfather passed. We found all of his old army bags and things down in the basement of his house after he passed including the letter to my great grandparents telling them he was missing in action.
My grandfather never told anyone about what went on over there other than these few items that he told his younger brother once he got home who then he ended up telling my father after my grandfather passed. We found all of his old army bags and things down in the basement of his house after he passed including the letter to my great grandparents telling them he was missing in action.
The title calls to mind the epic 3 volume set by Douglas Southall Freeman: Lee's Lieutenants, A Study in Command. The abridged volume is over 900 pages. I read, over many, many months, all 3 volumes at roughly 2,400 pages. That... was a challenge.One of the best books on D Day:
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The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc
Rangers scale the cliffs
40th Anniversary commemoration at Normandy by President Reagan
Rangers scale the cliffs
40th Anniversary commemoration at Normandy by President Reagan
Another book: The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw. Bedford VA, a town of 3000, gave up 19 of its sons on D-Day. Part of the 29th Infantry Division. Its patch is the blue and gray yin and yang symbol.
Had three family members serve in WWII and all had interesting experiences. My grandfather served in the US Navy aboard the USS Alaska at both Iowa Jima and Okinawa. When not at battle stations, he was a cook. At battle stations he was a gunners mate helping feed ammunition. He traded 1/2 gallon of ice cream with a marine from Iowa for a Japanese rifle. They filled the barrel with concrete before allowing it to come stateside. My nephew still has the rifle. My uncle Bernie was a B17 bomber pilot with the 8th Army Air Force flying missions over Germany. I remember as a kid him building a single seat prop plane from a kit in the garage in his home in Bensalem, PA. He eventually flew the thing. My other uncle Jon was with the OSS during the war. He was an MD and eventually rose to the rank of Colonel. He was in a unit that parachuted into Rome ahead of the Allied forces to help secure the Pope and make sure the Germans didn’t take him as a hostage. After the war (we learned much later) he served in the CIA and was the physician to the Shah of Iran’s first wife. He died during the Vietnam war when a plane he was flying crashed in Vientiane Laos. Since the US was not supposed to be operating in Laos his name does not appear on the wall. He and his wife (also CIA) are both buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
My Uncle was a coxswain on a LCVP at Omaha Beach, the boat became disabled , he then ran ashore for cover. He
told me many G.I.'s were getting shot and kept falling on him.
When i was a young boy, i asked him what impression did he get from that day ? He told me "it looked like the
world was on fire".
told me many G.I.'s were getting shot and kept falling on him.
When i was a young boy, i asked him what impression did he get from that day ? He told me "it looked like the
world was on fire".
