June 6th 1944
 

D-Day. 9,000 Allied soldiers and sailors were killed or wounded in Normandy 68 years ago today.:(
Your sacrifice is not forgotten. Thank you and all WW II Veterans. Normandy Invasion, June 1944

Time of the landings from the sea.--Starting from 0600 hours in the morning, fully visible. Before the landing there was a heavy bombardment of extraordinary intensity from the sea and the air, with weapons of all calibers. The consequence was that all field defenses were more or less knocked out and "ploughed down," so that for the most part only the solid fortifications remained intact. The enemy seeped in through the gaps without trying to attack the fortifications and big strong points. These strong points held out in cases for over a week and therefore split up enemy forces. By holding out to the last they helped their own leaders very much to gain time and to prevent a breakthrough of the enemy from the bridgehead.

Field Marshal Von Runstedt.

D-Day, the Normandy Invasion, 6-25 June 1944

An acquaintance of mine who is still living was a marine on one of those beaches. A finer man I've never known. Thanks Hack!

Larry,

To the best of my knowledge, there were no USMC units in combat at Normandy, or anywhere in the ETO. Your guy most likely was Army.

I was there a few years ago and was kind of disappointed at how it really hasn't been very well preserved (Omaha Beach) . There are a few pillboxes left ( you can even get in them) and wander over Pointe du Hoc, but most of it has been developed. Pity.

Maybe so. I have no idea which beach either.

There were, but a very small number of specialists. snipers, gunners and OSS hell-raisers. See below:

" Assigned to the secretive world of spies and saboteurs were 51 Marines who served with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services to engage in behind-the-lines operations in North Africa and Europe from 1941 to 1945.

These OSS Marines served with partisan and resistance groups in France, Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy, Austria, Albania, Greece, Morocco and Egypt; on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia; in Rumania; and in North and West Africa. Ten of these OSS Marines also served with forces in Ceylon, Burma, Malaya and China.

Marine Colonel Peter J. Ortiz was twice awarded the Navy Cross for heroism while serving with the French Resistance.

Shipboard detachments of Marines served throughout the landings in North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Normandy invasion as gun crews aboard battleships and cruisers. A 200-man detachment was normally carried aboard a battleship, and 80 Marines served aboard cruisers to man the secondary batteries of 5-inch guns providing fire for the landing forces.
During the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion, Marines, renowned as expert riflemen, played a vital role reminiscent of the days of the sailing Navy when sharpshooters were sent to the fighting tops. Stationed high in the superstructures of the invasion fleet, Marine riflemen exploded floating mines in the path of the ships moving across the English Channel to the beaches of Normandy.

On Aug. 29, 1944, during the invasion of southern France, Marines from the battleship USS Augusta and the cruiser USS Philadelphia went ashore in Marseilles harbor to accept the surrender of more than 700 Germans who had fortified island garrisons.
Although few, these proud Marines played a vital role in the Atlantic, African and European campaigns of World War II. "

may we never forget

They don't call the people from that era the "Greatest Generation" for nothing.

My late Father spent time in the Atlantic during the war, but was a member of the Secretary of the Navy staff at war's end. He was in DC on VE AND VJ day. He told me about the partying that went on celebrating these two occasions. He never thought it was a big deal, but I was always fascinated.

He was in the Nations Capital for two of the biggest celebrations our nation has ever seen.

Those people came out of tough circumstances with the depression still in effect while at the same time, they had to gear up to fight a serious war. The vast majority of the country were involved in the war. If not in the military, they were involved in building war goods or any number of endeavors.

Had it not been for the Greatest Generation, we would be speaking German or Japanese in this country today.

My grandfather was supposed to go in on d day but he was injured in a prior incident so he was out of commission. From what I understand, not many of his unit were left afterwards.

Yep, the odds wouldn't have been real good for Grandpa.:(

I stand corrected... and thanks for setting me straight. :)

You know, this week is a big one in US Naval history. The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway passed quietly by on Monday June 4th. The Navy stopped Japan's eastward momentum and crippled their Naval Air power greaty.

On a sadder note.....

Friday, June 8th marks the 45th anniversary of the attack on the USS Liberty.:mad::mad:

IMMEDIATE PRIORITY
DTG 062349Z JUN 67

FROM: COMSIXTHFLT

TO: LIBERTY

INFO: CINCUSNAVEUR/USCINCEUR/JCS/CNO/DIRNSA/CINCLANTFLT/
DIRNAVSECGRU/DIRNAVSECGRUEUR/ASSTDIRNAVSECGRU/
DIRNAVSECGRULANT/HQ NSAEUR/COMFAIRMED/COMSERVLANT/
COMSERVON EIGHT/CTF 60/CTF 64/NFOIO/NAVCOMMSTA
MOROCCO/CINCLANT/CTF 63/CTF 67/
NAVCOMMSTA GREECE/NAVCAMS MOROCCO/NAVCOMMSTA SPAIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L

USS LIBERTY OPERATIONAL CONTROL

A. CINCUSNAVEUR 061357Z JUN 67 NOTAL
B. JCS 011545Z JUN 67 NOTAL
C. CINCUSNAVEUR 311750Z MAY 67 (MOVORD 7-67) NOTAL
D. CINCUSNAVEUR 011305Z JUN 67 NOTAL
E. COMSIXTHFLT OPORD 1-66 NOTAL
F. CINCUSNAVEUR P03120.5B NOTAL

1. UPON CHOP TO COMSIXTHFLT AT 070001Z, CONDUCT OPERATIONS IAW REF B,
C AND D.

2. IN VIEW PRESENT ARAB/ISRAELI SITUATION AND UNPREDICTABILITY OF UAR
ACTIONS MAINTAIN A HIGH STATE OF VIGILANCE AGAINST ATTACK OR THREAT OF ATTACK.
REPORT BY FLASH PRECEDENCE ANY THREATENING OR SUSPICIOUS ACTIONS DIRECTED
AGAINST YOU OR ANY DIVERSION FROM SCHEDULE NECESSITATED BY EXTERNAL THREAT.
ADVISE IF LOCAL SITUATION DICTATES CHANGE IN AREA OF OPS ASSIGNED BY REF B.

3. KEEP COMSIXTHFLT AND CTF 63 INFORMED OF LOGISTIC NEEDS SUFFICIENTLY IN ADVANCE
TO ENABLE ORDERLY LOGSUP PLANNING. MAIL DELIVERY WILL BE ARRANGED IF FEASIBLE.

4. INCLUDE COMSIXTHFLT AS INFO ADDEE ON REPORTS REQUIRED BY PARA 2 REF B
AS MODIFIED BY REF C AND D.

5. SUBMIT REPORTS OF CONTACT WITH SHIPS AIRCRAFT AND SUBMARINES WHICH ARE
UNIDENT, HOSTILE, OF INTELL INTEREST OR ENGAGE IN HARASSMENT, IAW REF
F. EMERGENCY PLAN CHARLIE NOW IN EFFECT IN SIXTHFLT.

6. COMSIXTHFLT OPERATIONAL DOCUMENTS ON ALERTS, EMERG ACTIONS AND NUCLEAR
RELEASE WILL NOT BE PROVIDED. THEREFORE, ACTION IS NOT REQUIRED ON NATIONAL
EXERCISE AND DRILL MSGS IDENTIFIED BY FLAG WORD WHITE OR BLUE DELTA.
NO ACTION REQUIRED ON NATO EXERCISE MSGS. IN EVENT OF ACTUAL ALERT
OR OTHER EMERGENCY,
COMSIXTHFLT WILL SEPARATELY DIRECT LIBERTY BY CLASSIFIED MSG.

7. COMMUNICATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ANNEX CHARLIE REF E.
A. COPY KR BROADCAST. ADVISE IF CARDS AVAILABLE TO COPY XRA BCST.
B. IF PERMENANT TERMINATION REQUIRED WITH MED COMM STA SUBMIT REQUEST
IAW APPENDIX XVI TO ANNEX CHARLIE TO REF E.
C. ALTHOUGH NOT ASSIGNED TO TF 60 UTILIZE TF 60 TACTICAL CIRCUITS AS REQUIRED.
D. AUTRGRA TO ENTER SIXES ALFA AS REQUIRED.

8. ACKNOWLEDGE.

GP-4

The boys of Pointe du Hoc: Normandy Speech: Ceremony Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, D-Day 6/6/84 - YouTube

I knew a man who stormed the beach. He didn't talk about it much, but he said you would be amazed how efficient a shovel a belt buckle could be when one was sufficiently motivated. Motivation was high.

Thanks for the reminder.

My wife gave me Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation” as a Christmas gift in 1998. As I read it, it gave me chills. Let me explain why.

My Dad was a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corp. After training in Laredo, Texas, Ft. Myers, Florida, and Lowry Field, Colorado, he shipped out to England. He was assigned to a heavy bombardment group, and served as a waist-gunner in a B-24 Liberator. He flew his first combat mission when he was 19 years old on a ship named "Liberty Run". From February to August, 1944, he flew twenty-nine bombing missions over France and Germany. The targets included the German cities of Achmer, Frederickshaven, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Osnabruck, Zeitz, and Berlin (four missions), among others, as well as several French cities. Four of these missions were on June 4, 5, and 6 (two on the 6th). The records I have list these targets as "Secret, Invasion Coast, France. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after helping his crew bail-out over the North Sea on the way back to England from Hamburg. He told me they were picked up within minutes by the Royal Navy. If not for the Royal Navy he told me, the cold water would have killed them all. He settled in the suburbs of North Jersey, and spent the rest of his short life working on Wall St. He died in 1976.

My Uncle John served in the U.S. Army with the 315th Regiment. He landed at Utah Beach, D-Day + 3. He was awarded the Bronze Star for helping evacuate wounded soldiers from behind enemy lines. He raised his family in Bellerose, Queens NY, and worked for many years as a handy-man in several apartment buildings in Manhattan. He was very proud of serving in the U.S Army, and went to nearly all of the re-unions. He retired to Garden City, Long Island where he died in 2009.

Uncle Bill served in the U.S. Navy aboard a destroyer in the Pacific (not sure which one). He never talked about the war. He spent the rest of his working years selling appliances, TV’s, and stereos in North Jersey. He enjoyed a long and healthy retirement. He took good care of his home, always making sure the lawn looked good. He never needed help doing anything around the house, even in his late eighties. He died last year.


My other Uncle John served with the Second Marine Division in the South Pacific. He was one of the funniest guys in the world. He settled in Woodside, Queens NY, and had a fine career with the NYPD. He died in 1984.


I hope that current and future generations of Americans will remember these lessons of pride, compassion, and humility, personified by our "Greatest Generation".

Thanks VERY much for this post!

I was born in 1949. Growing up in the fifties and sixties it seemed like most all of the people my age had parents who were involved somehow in the war. I took their service very much for granted.

Today, I realize just how Golden these people were, and just how precious the gift that they gave us.

Very true. My great-uncle was lost at sea when his ship was sunk by a torpedo. My paternal grandfather, who was the younger brother and lost his leg as a child, was thrust into the position of being groomed to head the business. Understandably, my great-grand parents and my grandfather were never the same after Gordon's death.

My maternal grandfather was a pilot, but didn't like to talk about the war. Which is a shame, I would have liked to heard more about his experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBt1W8wm4AM

Real life survival ,most GIs suffered many thoughts of guys who didnt make it much like these.

My father was there with the Engineers. He retired from the Army when my mother was pregnant with me and moved back to the ranch. Never, not once did he speak of the war.

My dad served from 1940 to 1962. He talked and wrote about his experiences. Audie Murphy acted in a movie about himself, can't talk more about yourself than that! I doubt anybody would say he was anything but and incredibly brave, patriotic, dedicated and extremely luck mofo.

Some people talk about their experiences, some don't. In and of itself, it doesn't mean a damned thing.

Who said it does?

The closest my grandfather ever got was when he talked about the telegram he got while overseas.

"Betty is resting. Walter and Martha are doing well."

It took him awhile to realize my grandmother had twins.

I had a neighbor when I was a kid that said he was there. He said they walked on to the beach and had to go looking for trouble. He also said he had been switched to another unit or something at the last minute and the original group he was in did not fare so well. The switch had something to do with his drinking and fighting with others, something he did until the day he died.

I always thought he was just making stuff up until I found that there was one small group that hit the beach and there was no one there to 'greet' them.

One weird thing was that anyone I ever met that had a part in it did not like to talk about it but this guy did. I guess if I had taken part and all I did was get out of a boat and wander around on the beach I would tell people about it myself.

My grandfather volunteered for service in the Navy in WWII. He was rejected due to his poor eyesight. He instead spent the war working as a civilian electrician mostly working on subs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. I remember him telling me about the stench aboard the British subs. After the war he spent the rest of his working life in warehousing, deciding which trucks would unload and at which dock. He died in 1993.

My other grandfather was a little older, beyond draft age, but volunteered on the condition that he be commissioned a Captain. The Army offered 2nd LT, and he declined, instead making Sealtest ice cream for the duration of the war and for many years after. He died around 1982.

My great Uncle John (last of the tall Shaffers at least until my half brother arrived many years later) was a Merchant Marine on a tanker that got torpedoed 50 miles out from New Orleans. He was burned badly when he abandoned ship, and ended up not making it.

My Uncle Bud was in Motor T during the war and family history has it that he drove the last truck out of Bastogne before it was surrounded by the Germans. He liked to drink, and to joke, and keeled over in the middle of telling one on his back porch around 1979.

My father was a little too young for WWII (but remembers Pearl Harbor), and joined the Army shortly before the onset of the Korean War. He wasn't sent to that, and wasn't sent to Vietnam either. He was still in when Gulf War I started and concluded his service stateside. He's still sucking wind at 80.

My dad graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in June 1941. He & my mother married the same day in the Academy Chapel. He wes sent to Greenland aboard the Cutter North Star until March 42. He was up there when the war started. He never talked about this tour or his second tour up there from July 42 to June 43 as CO of a Subchaser. Many years after his death, I stumbled across a clip on You tube about the Cost Guard and nearly fell off my seat when I saw him in the video. Just a momentary "cameo", but I swear it's my father at 6:26 turning to face the camera.:cool:
Coast Guard On Foreign Shores - Part 1 - YouTube

My dad wanted to be an AAF pilot before Pearl Harbor, joined up as soon as that happened and went to flight school. He didn't make the cut as a pilot, but became a B-17 bombardier in the early days in a B-17F. He did 52 missions in North Africa, and Sicily, got the DFC and was able to bag an ME-109 through the wimpy side gun he had in the early plane. Probably not a lot of fun up there before we had good fighter escorts ( just P-38s ) He didn't talk too much about it- I should have asked more questions....

That's the thing, asking the right questions at the right time.

Yeah, some folks deal with it by talking about it and others deal with it by avoiding even thinking about it.

Audie Murphy grew up about 40 miles from where I sit right now, so this is definitely Audie Murphy country.

Audie was not without demons after the war. His wives said that his nightmares were violent and an every night thing.

Ben Johnson was a buddy of his in Hollywood. Audie's downfall later in life was gambling. Ben Johnson told about a day at the race track with Audie. He said that Audie would study the racing forms intently and didn't want to be bothered while doing it.

While studying his racing forms some young ladies walked by and oohed and ahhed over him and how cute he was. He paid them no attention and they went on. In a few minutes a big, tough looking guy came back and started yelling at Audie saying that he had flirted with his wife.

Audie calmly pulled a pistol out of his belt, cocked it and pointed it at the tough guy. He said something like: "I've already killed 280 of you Son of a 8itches, so one more won't make any difference." Ben said the tough guy instantly turned white and slinked away. Audie calmly went back to his racing form. He ALWAYS carried a side arm with him after the war.

He ended up dying in a plane "accident" while owing a serious, six figure gambling debt to the mob. There was lots of speculation that it was a mob hit.

Audie was an intently dedicated soldier and did more than his share as a member of the Greatest Generation. His life afterwards was not without his paying for his time with a front row seat watching and participating in the atrocities of war.

Thanks for the 'rest of the story.' I knew he had PTSD but not the particulars.

"A fugitive from the law of averages";):):)

a bit of history.
http://www.audiemurphy.com/documents/doc019/TheSaturdayEveningPost-September151945.pdf


Who was that other lucky mofo who acted in a war movie about himself, produced by himself and contemporaneously filmed on his own Super 8?

Thanks for posting this Dynalow!

I think one of the best books about Audie is "No Name on the Bullet." It was thoroughly researched and written long after his death, the mid eighties I think. The story in your link was covered well in the book as well as many details of his life, before, during and after the military all the way to his death in 1970 or so.

BTW, it's kind of interesting that we are talking about Audie Murphey in a D-Day thread. He saw more fighting than most of the soldiers that hit the ground on D-Day, but he was not in Northern France on D-Day.

As tribute to soldiers who DID see the beaches on D-Day, many of them even non coms and officers had never been in combat. This is not in any way taking anything away from them. They fought hard through some really tough circumstances including the Battle of the Bulge for many of them. As opposed to the tough soldiers that fought their way through France and on into Germany, seeing about a year of combat, while Audie saw about three years.

I've always had a bit of curiosity in the back of my mind. The soldiers that were sent onto the beaches with no combat experience, I wonder if this was by design or necessity. I think it was by necessity, but I always wondered if maybe it was by design. Would a soldier that had never seen combat be more willing to charge the beach than those who had already suffered through the horrors of blood and guts? Just a thought of curiosity.

Well, logistics probably had as much to do with it as anything. Would it make much sense to take troops out of Italy or So. France, send them to GB to train and then go in against Jerry at Normandy? Then put the replacements in the field in the departed troops positions? Nightmarish, imo. The troops sent in, green or veterans, trained long and hard for D-Day.

But small towns like Bedford VA, where the D-Day Memorial is located, suffered greatly when local National Guard units were activated before the war.
Interesting read: "The Bedford Boys." 19 from that town died on D-day, having been in the local VA Nat'l Guard unit that was called up and rolled in to the 29th Division.
The Bedford Boys - National D-Day Memorial

My friend Joe and I are going to a 70th anniversary D-Day set of events in Normandie in 2014. Then we are going to Paris attend a six-day celebration of the 80th anniversary of the launch of the Traction Avant.

Joe has never set foot outside the US but we have a lot of friends through the French-language forums on cars that I post to. They help me get parts for the Citroens. Joe has seven, including the earliest Traction in the United States, I think it's like # 1200 from 1935.

Sounds like a fun trip Strelnik! I've never been to that part of France. I've been to Paris a number of times and to Monaco & Nice. Monaco and Nice and all along the Med in that area are my favorite places in France.

Nice, France. Was there once in '66. Flew in from Rota to catch up with the ship I was ordered to that was in port down the coast in Toulon. Interesting train ride. :)
One of the guys I went through boot camp with & I took the last launch back to the ship @ 2400. :o Once we hit the quarterdeck, I didn't see him again for about eight months. :eek: Such is life on a Carrier.:rolleyes:

Where I live on the South coast of Kent here in merry old England has a lot of WW2 connections. As well as being Battle of Britain central (a little fight we had with Hitler before you guys joined in :)), there are several stars & stripes flying not far from me near fields and beaches where U.S. aircrew lost their lives, and are kept pristine and tended to regularly with flowers.

The village I live in also housed pumping stations for operation 'pluto', which was an undersea pipeline which pumped fuel from the England to France after D-day. The pumping stations were disguised as normal houses and they're still here, turned into liveable houses now. There's loads of pill boxes (anti-invasion defences) that survive too.

I can see France from my local beach on a clear day, and you realise just how close the Germans were to us... I have done quite a few trips to the northern beaches, really nice countryside and coast with a lot of German concrete defences still there.

Thanks to the townspeople for honoring our lost airmen. :)

We do the same here to honor British sailors who died off Hatteras in 1942, helping us combat the U-Boat threat.
Hyde County, NC - Attractions - British Cemetery

nzww2buff - YouTube

You guys will love Ted's WW2 channel. I want to go on the Normandy tour with that guide, he really knew his stuff.

visited omaha beach, normandy etc. in summer 1979. water was freezing. still some pillboxes around. totally wide open and desolate on the beaches. no cover anywhere. those guys had "cojones".

my father said the whole country - USA - knew the invasion was coming. "D-Day, H-Hour" etc. and they held their breath. he was 14, read the papers, listened to the radio every night.

sad? to say the least? that so many lost their lives in those first few days. some drowned before they even hit the beaches.

not sure you could get such commitment - from the soldiers- and support -from the populace - in today's world. on the other hand, not sure such a situation will ever occur again, at least in our lifetimes

Thanks for posting this. I hope we never have to answer the question about whether we could do it again. I'm afraid the answer would not be good.

Eisenhower's projections before the invasion were a higher number of dead than actually occurred. Thank goodness.

I graduated from the University of Poitiers, so I want to get back down there too.

I spoke to my late father about this. He died in 2005 at the age of 91.
He was an MP and in military intelligence during the war.

He was also around when 9/11 happened and he said that it was NO comparison to the shock and anger that was felt following the attack on Pearl Harbor and even worse when the details of the Bataan Death March came to light.

There were people in this country that wanted to exterminate every living person in Japan, and senators who wanted to nuke the entire island. I really have the feeling that Truman was a reluctant user of the A-bomb, but if they wouldn't surrender unconditionally, then he would do what he had to do.

I asked my father about the Japanese internment camps, which were so controversial; and he countered that they probably saved a lot of lives. There were movements in some cities to lynch Japanese!

Fortunately, people were able to tell Japanese from Chinese and great sympathy for the Chinese existed, because they had been established in California, and the 1930s newspapers talked about the Japanese atrocities in China.

The fact that news was sparse and slow in coming made it worse. People chewed on things longer.

Maybe that's better than the flood of news we get, maybe not. Don't know.

One D-Day veteran I heard on the news last week said that the first 10 minutes of Saving Private Ryan pretty accurately depicts the initial landing.

Equally significant in the discussion of a "re-run" effort to me is whether we have the manufacturing capability to gear up for war as quickly as the country did in WW2. You can argue that the war would have been a lot more difficult had the country not began to gear up manufacturing before Dec. 7.
I honestly don't know if today we have the ability to simultaneously gear up an armed forces of millions of men and more millions in factories and plants around the country. It was eight months after Pearl Harbor when the Marines landed on Guadalcanal. To go from disaster to all out combat and victory in the Solomons in eight months reflects a national effort never before or since done on the planet.
I agree with you...I doubt we could do it again. I also don't think it'll ever be necessary. War is a much different endeavor today.

You make a great point about the 24 hour news cycle. It changes lots of things in many ways.

My Dad also was a WWII veteran on the Secretary of the Navy staff at wars end. For me 9/11 was the first time that I ever really felt that I understood how people must have felt when Pearl Harbor was attacked. For him, it didn't seem to phase him.

that's good to see. Here's a few photos I took today of a couple of the sites near me, first 2 is where a B17 crashed and another which is where a B24 crashed on the beach near my house.

It's so peaceful around here now I can't imagine what it would have felt like during the war.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...a/Stuff/m1.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...a/Stuff/m2.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...a/Stuff/m3.jpg

There are some war goods for which at the end of the defense cutbacks of the Clinton years, the tooling was put in mothballs with a plan that supposedly would allow the product to begin production again in two weeks. I know that one of the missiles that TI made, I think it was the HARM, tooling was put away in that manner. I'm sure that larger items couldn't be cranked back up in such a short time span, but at least they tried to have some sort of a plan.

Chazola,

It was quite thoughtful of you to take the time to make and post these pictures. It's also quite nice of the British people to be taking good care of our fallen brothers.

I hope it's of some repayment that there is a museum at an airfield in Terrell, Texas that is a tribute to the British pilots that trained there at the beginning of WWII. That is, before the US was involved, but the UK already was deep in the middle of it.

At the museum they have a big celebration every year honoring the British pilots that trained there, many of them lost in the war.

WWII was definitely a joint operation.

people today seem to lack an attention span. always playing and talking and texting on their "smart phones", which actually seem to make them...? and the news - tv and internet - adds to this generalized "ADD" (attention deficit disorder). if it bleeds, it leads. but then, on to the next "tragedy du jour".

anyhow, starting to sound like a grumpy old fart here. :D