Normandy 75th Anniversary

Golf1echo · 06-05-2019, 07:40

Blessent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone répéter Blessent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone

75 years ago on June 5th 1944 23:15 this message was broadcast over the radio, it was the second part of the 1866 Verlaine poem "Chanson d'Automne" ,and the signal to French Resistance Groups that the invasion would begin within 48 hours.

This year, the 75th commemoration of the Normandy Invasion is very large with the recognition that surviving Veterans are well into their 90s.

I see elements of the 75th Ranger Battalion scaled the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc this morning, paratroopers have been jumping from vintage C 47 Dakotas, a wreath was placed by divers at the site were several tanks sunk.

Edit: https://www.eur.army.mil/Newsroom/Videos-Photos/

Nice to see the Veterans remembered and honored. Amazing feats and sacrifices were made in that operation back in 1944. God bless those men and women...

tonyz · 06-05-2019, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golf1echo

Nice to see the Veterans remembered and honored. Amazing feats and sacrifices were made that day back in 1944. God bless those men and women...

Amen.

Ret10Echo · 06-05-2019, 12:20

June 5, 1944

The ultimate Weather Delay

Quote:

The long sobs
Of the violins
Of autumn
Wound my heart
With a languor
Monotonous.

All suffocating
And pale when
The hour strikes
I remember
The old days
And weep

And I go away
In the ill wind
that carries me off
This side and beyond
Like the
Dead leaf.

mojaveman · 06-05-2019, 14:59

Here's a guy who at 97 still has the Airborne spirit.

Awesome.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/d-day-...75-years-later

Flagg · 06-05-2019, 15:11

I had the opportunity to jump at the 70th, visit Pointe du Hoc, Caranten, Pegasus Bridge, the beaches, the cemeteries of the fallen, and beers at the Stop Bar with old and new friends & allies.

The crowds were staggering, so I can't imagine how crowded it will be this year.

It was the greatest mass display of freedom I have ever experienced in my life.

Golf1echo · 06-05-2019, 16:01

Echo thank you, for accuracy the code only used the first paragraph of the poem.

My friend jumped today, I was very glad he got that chance.

EDIT: Original War Department film made into video... covers some detail on gliders I was not aware of.

https://m.*******.com/watch?v=KGR1ulnWN3o

Ret10Echo · 06-05-2019, 19:15

02:00 June 6

**Airbornelawyer** · 06-06-2019, 01:03

Poor Mark Clark.

After the French breakthrough in the mountains south of the Liri Valley and the link-up of II Corps on the French left flank with the VI Corps in the Anzio beachhead, uniting the US 5th Army, German resistance in the Liri Valley collapsed. But rather than serve as the anvil on which the British 8th Army hammer would smash the German 10th Army retreating down the valley, Clark decided he'd rather have the glory of liberating Rome and turned 5th Army north, taking the city without resistance but allowing the Germans to retreat in a more orderly fashion and establish a new series of defensive lines.

So, for no real tactical gain and a tactical loss in allowing the Germans to pull back, Gen. Clark got the glory of liberating the Eternal City on June 5. And immediately got pushed off the front pages the next day when the headlines were the D-Day invasion. And 75 years later, we are still commemorating D-Day and hardly anyone remembers the capture of Rome.

---

I've been to Normandy several times, in both the summer and winter. It is always full of tourists, though less crowded than around the anniversaries.

I have some closer-up pictures of the Ranger monument from the 1990s, before they fenced it off due to collapsing rock, but I haven't scanned them. Here's a more recent one:

**Joker** · 06-06-2019, 11:55

Churchill, Ike, & The "Epic Human Tragedy" Of The First Wave At Omaha

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...rst-wave-omaha

cbtengr · 06-06-2019, 13:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joker

Churchill, Ike, & The "Epic Human Tragedy" Of The First Wave At Omaha

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...rst-wave-omaha

Thanks for the link, an incredible story about incredible individuals.

Uman · 06-06-2019, 19:16

I am a military history guy and it just dawned on me to ask this question.

Why din't the US Army use LVT's that the Marines had developed for Island Hopping?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Vehicle_Tracked

Some where armed with howitzers. and flame throwers. I think they would have faired better than the canvas floating M-4.

Ret10Echo · 06-06-2019, 19:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uman

I am a military history guy and it just dawned on me to ask this question.

Why din't the US Army use LVT's that the Marines had developed for Island Hopping?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Vehicle_Tracked

Some where armed with howitzers. and flame throwers. I think they would have faired better than the canvas floating M-4.

I've seen a few notes in the interweb that note the capacity of the LTV versus Higgins as well as the relative protective nature of one versus the other. Opinion appears to be that the difference was negligible.

Met a D-Day vet a few years back down at what is now the WW-II museum in New Orleans.

He said that if he had known the damn Higgins Boat was made of plywood before the landing he would have been much, much more concerned about what was happening.

BTW - If you haven't hit that museum yet you're doing yourself a disservice.

R10 Sends

Requiem · 06-06-2019, 20:09

So many sacrifices. So much bravery, so many men willing to do their duty, even if meant being the first on the beach. Thank you, warriors.

Marina Amaral colorizes historical photographs. If you haven't seen her work, you should check it out. Somehow, seeing history in living color brings it all home in a way nothing else can.

Here. Edited to add: More here.

The soldier in the center of this photo doesn't look old enough to shave.

S.

SF_BHT · 06-06-2019, 20:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Requiem

So many sacrifices. So much bravery, so many men willing to do their duty, even if meant being the first on the beach. Thank you, warriors.

Marina Amaral colorizes historical photographs. If you haven't seen her work, you should check it out. Somehow, seeing history in living color brings it all home in a way nothing else can.

Here.

The soldier in the center of this photo doesn't look old enough to shave.

S.

Well he made corporal.... they were landing to kick a corporal out of Berlin. Got to watch those corporals...

PSM · 06-06-2019, 20:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by SF_BHT

Well he made corporal.... they were landing to kick a corporal out of Berlin. Got to watch those corporals...

I had a DS in Basic that looked younger than that and had a star on his CIB. His CIB was earned in the Dominican Republic and the star in Viet Nam. It's in their genes.