D-Day - 75th Anniversary

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[Trey3216 15,308]

1 hour ago, Catpfish said:

Video went private just when it was about to start for me

 

I’m searching all over the place for it but can’t find it yet.  

[Armybrat 40,527]

[YGIFS 19,445]

23 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

Dammit Vin, just say the fucking score!  

He was a damn fine storyteller.  Wish he would have made it say something today on the 80th anniversary.  He brings up such an important point, the years and lives and manufacturing that went into today just to make it happen, let alone succeed.  An untold tale of valiancy and dedication that I will never completely know.  I doubt the world will ever come together like that again.  But who knows what tomorrow will bring.  

It is 2100hrs-Normandy.  After the infantry retreat, 21st Panzer Division will also be defeated/surrender at Juno Section.  Elements of U.S. Army Rangers 5th Battalion have reached Point-du-Hoc.  Field Marshal Rommel arrives at his command post, further fueling historical theories he knew this was going to happen and felt it best in the long run for Germany.  The sun has set and things are going to get very violent in Caen.  

[Biff Tannen 45,013]

1 hour ago, Catpfish said:

Crappy video quality, but, damn, right in the feels

Never seen this.  God damn.  And Brad Pitt looking like a goon.

[Carl Spackler 3,456]

I am pissed off that work is blowing up & I couldn't follow all the events commemorating the D-Day landings.  Never forget the sacrifice.

[YGIFS 19,445]

10 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

I am pissed off that work is blowing up & I couldn't follow all the events commemorating the D-Day landings.  Never forget the sacrifice.

The sacrifice of you being extra busy at work today?    

My grandfather and father, both wartime USN veterans, drilled into my head as a kid, the history of the landings themselves.  It wasn't until about 15 years ago that I started to learn more about the preparations and then what happened in the immediate days following the invasion.  So many things had to go just right for this thing to work.  It wasn't elegant, but it was effective.  There was also the Soviet alternative approach to retaking the continent like Booger in "Better Off Dead"................."Send ten million guys and some tanks that way (points West) really fast.  If anything gets in your way...........turn."  

[Jameslaw121 4,439]

2 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

I never undsertood the animosity towards the French. I have worked with them in a few places and never had an issue. Nor them with me as a Texan. They stand with us everywhere. Sure, there are things to make fun of, but they are very good allies to the US and we are to them when it really matters.

YGIF, I love the postings on this. Shit, lets pick a unit and follow them to May of 1945.

And yep, sitting with my assistant today. Two college degrees and knows fuck all about WW2. Have him watching the D-Day clips being posted.

again, merci. appreciate the information.

This would be a cool idea. Or follow a unit from each Theatre from Dec. 6th 1941 through VE and VJ Day

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,295]

2 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

• They had our backs in the Revolutionary war via two big boom-boom sticks on wheels and naval support

The Franklin 1-season series on Apple TV is a good watch. It's about his time in Paris during the revolutionary war procuring assistance from the French. I know they take some liberties with the historic truth but it's worth watching and then learning more on your own. You have to love how pretty much everyone hated John Adams.

It presents the strange nature of how the French supported the US in overthrowing George III as our king. All while France was about to face the situation within their own country. It demonstrated how much the French hated the Brits over their own good.

[InkaUtexas 24,932]

8 minutes ago, Jameslaw121 said:

This would be a cool idea. Or follow a unit from each Theatre from Dec. 6th 1941 through VE and VJ Day

Yep. Assistant just told me his grandfather was in the Navy. Okinawa, Iwo, Leyte Gulf. Bronze star, Navy Cross and three purple hearts. Went on to become a Senator for Texas.

[ConferenceRoom 5,969]

12 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Yep. Assistant just told me his grandfather was in the Navy. Okinawa, Iwo, Leyte Gulf. Bronze star, Navy Cross and three purple hearts. Went on to become a Senator for Texas.

Quote

He served in the Pacific as a group commander of assault landing craft during several invasions, including Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Leyte Gulf, and Lingayen Gulf. In the Lingayen Gulf landing, a Japanese mortar hit squarely in the middle of his craft, destroying the boat and killing all thirty soldiers and crew, except for him. He was knocked into the water, unconscious, but was rescued by another ship

Wow.

[InkaUtexas 24,932]

5 minutes ago, ConferenceRoom said:

Wow.

Yep, that is him.

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[YGIFS 19,445]

Would Storm.  

[InkaUtexas 24,932]

German TV covered it live. Got Dusty about the 2Hour mark.

 

 

[Armybrat 40,527]

The Grand Old Lady of D-Day being towed to dry dock in Galveston last year…

 

 

[AUS-97HORN 11,550]

3 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

I never undsertood the animosity towards the French. I have worked with them in a few places and never had an issue. Nor them with me as a Texan. They stand with us everywhere. Sure, there are things to make fun of, but they are very good allies to the US and we are to them when it really matters.

Its because as a whole, they have a losing war persona.   Napoleon started out great, ended in military failure.

They got DOG-stomped in the 1870 Prussian war- lasted 6 months and Paris was captured.

in WW1 they fought valiantly.... but until the last days of the war, every battle of the entire Western Front was fought on either French or Belgian soil. 

And the largest portion of it is the complete shock experienced by all British and even American high-level officers at how soon France's 1940 defenses fell apart.

 

Keep in mind, in May 1940, France was, by a huge margin, the WORLDS LARGEST TRAINED ARMY and more than double the tanks that Germany did. yet they got wiped out. rolled up, and surrendered in ~45 days from the start of the offensive.  Then AFTER they surrendered, they turned their WW1 hero into a German toady traitor.

France could have absolutely kept fighting after the loss of Paris, but they lost their appetite to fight and chickened out once they lost their capitol.

and the French Resistance wasnt a thing from 1940 to at least 1942, and even into 1943. 

The French ACCEPTED their defeat. It wasnt until 2-3 years of them being shown as 2nd class citizens to the Germans and Germany treating them all with contempt (and brutual reprisals for even the smallest form of passive resistance), that the resistance started.  And even then the Gestapo did a pretty solid job of curtailing resistance activities until 1944.

 

and finally when you visit Paris, (PARIS- not Normandy). go ahead and find me the memorials to the Americans, I honestly couldnt find many and the ones that are there are small memorials here and there about the city.  Most of the commemorative plaques are about the  French Resistance killed during the battle for Paris.

you have to get out of Paris and especially into West, SW. and Southern France before the people all GENUINELY like Americans.   None of that area ever forgot about us. Thats important to remember

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,295]

8 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

and finally when you visit Paris, (PARIS- not Normandy). go ahead and find me the memorials to the Americans, I honestly couldnt find many and the ones that are there are small memorials here and there about the city.  Most of the commemorative plaques are about the  French Resistance killed during the battle for Paris.

you have to get out of Paris and especially into West, SW. and Southern France before the people all GENUINELY like Americans.   None of that area ever forgot about us. Thats important to remember

I don't care if the Parisians have memorials to Americans or not. We have a lot of bad memorials in the US so could that be considered worse than not having any?

Edited June 6 by Nice Guy Eddie

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

3 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

Any one have a good replay of the entire event? Would like to watch it tonight.

All 12 hours

 

[Trey3216 15,308]

37 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

German TV covered it live. Got Dusty about the 2Hour mark.

 

 

2:26:00 is where "Blood on the Risers" comes in.  

[YGIFS 19,445]

As I said, the memorials the French do each year to mark this day are remarkable and emotional.  As their elders die off, they simply do not allow the younger generations to forget how close they were to living under the thumb of the Reich, for centuries.  They can do plaques or not do plaques, who gives a shit.  But they treat those gravesites and those landing sites as sacred as any Cathedral.  

You wanna go down a D-Day rabbit hole on the internet tonight, take a look at what the Vichy French are up 80 years ago today. 

[Trey3216 15,308]

18 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

Its because as a whole, they have a losing war persona.   Napoleon started out great, ended in military failure.

They got DOG-stomped in the 1870 Prussian war- lasted 6 months and Paris was captured.

in WW1 they fought valiantly.... but until the last days of the war, every battle of the entire Western Front was fought on either French or Belgian soil. 

And the largest portion of it is the complete shock experienced by all British and even American high-level officers at how soon France's 1940 defenses fell apart.

 

Keep in mind, in May 1940, France was, by a huge margin, the WORLDS LARGEST TRAINED ARMY and more than double the tanks that Germany did. yet they got wiped out. rolled up, and surrendered in ~45 days from the start of the offensive.  Then AFTER they surrendered, they turned their WW1 hero into a German toady traitor.

France could have absolutely kept fighting after the loss of Paris, but they lost their appetite to fight and chickened out once they lost their capitol.

and the French Resistance wasnt a thing from 1940 to at least 1942, and even into 1943. 

The French ACCEPTED their defeat. It wasnt until 2-3 years of them being shown as 2nd class citizens to the Germans and Germany treating them all with contempt (and brutual reprisals for even the smallest form of passive resistance), that the resistance started.  And even then the Gestapo did a pretty solid job of curtailing resistance activities until 1944.

 

and finally when you visit Paris, (PARIS- not Normandy). go ahead and find me the memorials to the Americans, I honestly couldnt find many and the ones that are there are small memorials here and there about the city.  Most of the commemorative plaques are about the  French Resistance killed during the battle for Paris.

you have to get out of Paris and especially into West, SW. and Southern France before the people all GENUINELY like Americans.   None of that area ever forgot about us. Thats important to remember

THey can say what they want, but for me, the Arc de Triomphe is ours.  The scenes of American tanks rolling through it when Paris was liberated was all I need to see.  

[Armybrat 40,527]

I’ll bet those yanks slayed a lot of local poon over the next few months.

[BillyGoatHill 4,267]

🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧🇫🇷🤘

 

Edited June 6 by BillyGoatHill

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

4 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

I never undsertood the animosity towards the French. I have worked with them in a few places and never had an issue. Nor them with me as a Texan. They stand with us everywhere. Sure, there are things to make fun of, but they are very good allies to the US and we are to them when it really matters.

The animosity some have is really fucking stupid.  Back around the invasion of Iraq when the “freedom fries” bullshit was going on, we stopped at a little restaurant to grab a quick meal while in the road, and when asked for my side, I mentioned French fries.  I got this little speech from the waitress, “honey we call them Freedom fries because the French deserted us” and she made sure and used a loud voice so others could hear. In an equally elevated voice I said something like “first of all, they are called French fries not because of where they are from or who makes them, but because they are potatoes that re cut into long strips, you know, Frenched, which I’m sure your cooks know, and they aren’t even called French fries in France, the British came up with the term, and second, just last week there were French soldiers killed and wounded fighting alongside Americans in Afghanistan, so no, they didn’t abandon us, they just chose not to go into Iraq, and I don’t think we should have invaded Iraq either”.  Followed by “I think you should leave” and I was like “yep, because I don’t know how many of you are going to spit in our food.”  To this day, even though we pass by it every few years and it’s changed hands and styles half-a-dozen times, I refuse to go there because that waitress probably still works there.  She was never going to leave that town.

[InkaUtexas 24,932]

1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said:

The animosity some have is really fucking stupid.  Back around the invasion of Iraq when the “freedom fries” bullshit was going on, we stopped at a little restaurant to grab a quick meal while in the road, and when asked for my side, I mentioned French fries.  I got this little speech from the waitress, “honey we call them Freedom fries because the French deserted us” and she made sure and used a loud voice so others could hear. In an equally elevated voice I said something like “first of all, they are called French fries not because of where they are from or who makes them, but because they are potatoes that re cut into long strips, you know, Frenched, which I’m sure your cooks know, and they aren’t even called French fries in France, the British came up with the term, and second, just last week there were French soldiers killed and wounded fighting alongside Americans in Afghanistan, so no, they didn’t abandon us, they just chose not to go into Iraq, and I don’t think we should have invaded Iraq either”.  Followed by “I think you should leave” and I was like “yep, because I don’t know how many of you are going to spit in our food.”  To this day, even though we pass by it every few years and it’s changed hands and styles half-a-dozen times, I refuse to go there because that waitress probably still works there.  She was never going to leave that town.

Yep, fuck em.

I worked with the French in Bosnia, Haiti and Afghanistan. And I have traveled France quite a bit, including walking from Belgium to Paris when I was 17. Never had an issue.

And for any American who does, go visit Yorktown.

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

8 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

I’ll bet those yanks slayed a lot of local poon over the next few months.

When Tom Jones started singing today, there was a loud rustle picked up by seismographs as the panties of female baby boomers watching dropped around the world.

[Carl Spackler 3,456]

2 hours ago, YGIFS said:

The sacrifice of you being extra busy at work today?    

 

I was prepared to make a joke in response, but I just couldn't do it.  Yeah, I know this is Surly, but . . .

As someone who's been to the American cemetery over there, it's pretty sobering when you see all those white crosses -- rows upon rows -- and think of what those boys faced that day.

 

[YGIFS 19,445]

I've been to several national cemeteries and buried several veteran relatives with full service.  But only seen the images of the Normandy site through photographs and videos.  And it is such a weird feeling.  It is so anguishing to see how many, but it looks so beautiful, but such a cost of young life, and in the end-the mission achieved, but there's bodies under those headstones.  Most of them glad to have done what they did to liberate the Western World.  It is such a mixed bag of emotions.  I'm not crying, you're crying!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mininghorn88 2,243]

I believe that I have posted these here somewhere in the past.

These are uniforms of soldiers that particpated in D-Day.  They survived training.  They survived storming the beach. They survived the day.  They would survive many more days of combat and uncertainty until the surrender comes in May 1945. Many would not rotate home until late 1945 or early 1946.  Many being overseas for two years or more.  They were all survivors and badasses.  One became a POW (newspaper clip below).  All uniforms are ID'd.

Co. B, 12th IR, 4th ID.  WIA July 1944

357th IR, 90th ID. Became a POW later in the war but escaped.  I will have to find the rest of the clipping.

505th PIR, 82nd Airborne.  Was air dropped in.

1st ID

101st Airborne.  Air dropped in.

56th Signal Battalion, 5th Corps

29th ID

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[mininghorn88 2,243]

6 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

I never undsertood the animosity towards the French. I have worked with them in a few places and never had an issue. Nor them with me as a Texan. They stand with us everywhere. Sure, there are things to make fun of, but they are very good allies to the US and we are to them when it really matters.

YGIF, I love the postings on this. Shit, lets pick a unit and follow them to May of 1945.

And yep, sitting with my assistant today. Two college degrees and knows fuck all about WW2. Have him watching the D-Day clips being posted.

again, merci. appreciate the information.

This right here.  Enjoying the tidbits and reminders.  I am all for this.

[YGIFS 19,445]

Damnit, I'm not crying.  Y'all are crying.  France, the U.S., Ukraine, Canada, Britain, all those other countries all represented.  Please, please, please Lord...let this last large gathering of the Allied Expeditionary Force veterans be a reminder of what we need to preserve and not revert back to our old bullshit.  I don't want to see just 9 of 'em in another 5 years looking around at us thinking "How'd you guys fuck this up this much?"  

It is now 0100hrs in Normandy.  The Higgins' will continue to ferry reinforcements, but once they can see clearly in the night sky a very curious continued lack of Luftwaffe presence, the LCT boats will really start to move artillery and armor to the landing zones under cover of night as the paths are cleared.  As the old saying goes, "A Panzer is worth 4 Shermans, but the Americans had 5."  Well, it is at this hour on 7 June, that the 5th ones start to arrive.  20% of the City of Caen is on fire however.  For most of the Allied troops and airmen, this will be their second night in a row without sleep.  Village however, after village, continue to be liberated on the way to the first big one-Bayeux.   

[mchookem 15,535]

my contribution, as i was literally just there...

[InkaUtexas 24,932]

Very cool, but it is either 1900 hours or 7PM.

I wish we could all move to the 24 hour clock.

[YGIFS 19,445]

We'll move to the 24-hour clock like the rest of the world when somebody can tell me how many Cups are in a Liter?  Until then, you'll get nothing and like it! 

[GopherRock 1,760]

7 hours ago, YGIFS said:

 

As noted above, a German PM will typically attend but 'hang back' out of respect.  But in April or May of next year, they make it a point to teach their students about the 80th anniversary of their surrender.  About the book burning, the holocaust, the occupations.  And nary a single parent will bitch about "Well, it might make young Helmut feel slightly bad about himself because of our history."  They own it, they teach it, they condemn it.  We could learn something from that. 

It is 1740hrs in Normandy.  At Juno Beach (the Canadian sector), the Germans begin their full retreat.  Another sector will be taken and the armor will start rolling in 20 minutes.  

The Germans have been doing that for 80 years, and they still can't completely clean out the rot. 

Somewhere around 1740, Grandpa GR would come ashore in the American sector with his artillery unit, and would alternate between sending arty shells and .30-06s at the krauts from Normandy to the heart of Germany. Two Bronze Stars. Never told a soul about any of it until the day he died. We didn't learn about any of it until we read his DD214. 

Somewhere in my house is a picture of him with his unit in the Ardennes Forest in February 1945. 

Watching the replays of the ceremonies, and dammit it's getting dusty in here.

[YGIFS 19,445]

That's a whole other conversation for another thread.  My grandfather and some grand/great uncles were in the thick of WW2.  My wife's paternal grandfather was really in the shit.  And none of 'em talked about it until very late in life.  And I have no science to back this up.  But I suspect some of 'em, like my grandpa just felt like, "It was just this thing we did and we came home to learn to type, raise chickens, and drive trucks.  We had to do it so you wouldn't have to so get me a beer and quit asking questions." and the others it was more of a "I saw and did some shit I don't want to ever describe, I carry it with me always.  But it is mine, and mine alone."  Or something in between.  

I got to change the wreath out at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington many years ago.  But a great honor was about 10 years ago, we were at my wife's paternal grandfather's home and I hadn't said a word (rare for Lobo).  And some grandkid or cousin or something asked a question about WW2 and his service.  And be went into a back closet and brought out his uniform with medal plate and handed it to me. He couldn't see very well, if at all.  Barely knowing me, he asked me to explain what it all meant.  So I explained everything from the service stripes to the commendations to a few of the campaign medals.  I didn't know all of them, but I was pretty close.  He died a few years later, but we got him a plaque before he went at the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg.  RIP, Jake. 

Edited June 7 by YGIFS

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

1 hour ago, mininghorn88 said:

These are uniforms of soldiers that particpated in D-Day. 

So glad the US Army moved back to the pinks and greens and that most US soldiers there today were wearing them.
edit: didn’t realize they also brought back the Eisenhower jacket and bomber jackets as well.

Edited June 7 by atomheartbevo

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[mininghorn88 2,243]

Period photos and newspaper from my collection:

Normandy beaches post bombings

P47 flying over France in 1944.  This image is also found online. My copy is period stamped by the USAAF on the reverse with restrictions on distribution.

Beachheads Won original newspaper dated June 6, 1944 (stateside)

[HouTex 1,838]

8 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

I never undsertood the animosity towards the French. I have worked with them in a few places and never had an issue. Nor them with me as a Texan. They stand with us everywhere. Sure, there are things to make fun of, but they are very good allies to the US and we are to them when it really matters.

YGIF, I love the postings on this. Shit, lets pick a unit and follow them to May of 1945.

And yep, sitting with my assistant today. Two college degrees and knows fuck all about WW2. Have him watching the D-Day clips being posted.

again, merci. appreciate the information.

It’s not really animosity to the French per se.  I love the French and their culture.   I’m around 1/4 French blood.  It’s animosity to the French (and for that matter the British) leadership in the mid to late 1930’s that I despise.

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[Armybrat 40,527]

26 minutes ago, HouTex said:

It’s not really animosity to the French per se.  I love the French and their culture.   I’m around 1/4 French blood.  It’s animosity to the French (and for that matter the British) leadership in the mid to late 1930’s that I despise.

Don’t forget Charles de Gaulle postwar.

He made Patton look like the posterboy for humility.

Edited June 7 by Armybrat

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

27 minutes ago, HouTex said:

It’s not really animosity to the French per se.  I love the French and their culture.   I’m around 1/4 French blood.  It’s animosity to the French (and for that matter the British) leadership in the mid to late 1930’s that I despise.

I have a little animosity towards the German leadership in the 1930s, so I totally understand.

[Pato del Muerto 52,035]

2 hours ago, YGIFS said:

We'll move to the 24-hour clock like the rest of the world when somebody can tell me how many Cups are in a Liter?  Until then, you'll get nothing and like it! 

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[tx 3 putt 75,225]

 

[HouTex 1,838]

38 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Don’t forget Charles de Gaulle postwar.

He made Patton look like the posterboy for humility.

Exactly.  He did preserve French honor in 1940, but he was an arrogant ass all during the occupation and the post-war years.