75 years ago today brave men stormed the beaches of Normandy

[Chandler#81]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andy-rooney-on-world-war-ii-d-day-a-day-unlike-any-other-60-minutes-2019-06-06/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab5j&linkId=68645642

 

Andy Rooney talks D-Day.

[BuffaloBill]

6 hours ago, CowgirlsFan said:

Saying thank you will never be enough.❤️??

 

 

 

 

Amen

[DC Tom]

1 hour ago, MarkyMannn said:

Lost in the Normandy publicity is that the day before, MORE US troops and ships than Normandy left for the Marianas Islands to fight the Japanese.  Generally regarded as the battle where Japan knew they lost the war

 

My dad served in the Pacific in an artillery unit.  Joined the Army in 1940 and discharged at the end of 1945

 

That's a point that puts in perspective the entire American contribution to the war: the US staged major amphibious operations, one across the Channel, the other across 1000 miles of the Pacific, at the same time on opposite sides of the world.  

 

And two weeks later, the Russians kicked off the largest land offensive in the world to that date...riding American Studebakers (450,000 through the war, with two full sets of tires for each) and tanks (about a third of the independent tank brigades were Lend-Lease Shermans), flying about 5,000 American aircraft (many of which were built in Buffalo by Curtiss or Bell) using American aviation fuel, walking on American shoes (one pair per two Soviet riflemen throughout the war), and eating American food (1000 calories of battle rations per rifleman per day throughout the war).  

 

And that doesn't even consider the battles of Imphal-Kohima, the China theater, the Italian theater, the start of the B-29 campaign (the most expensive war program, even more than the Manhattan Project, and something no other country had the industrial base to develop).  

 

American economic and industrial output during the war was unbelievable.  There's a lot to be said for the old line that the war was won by British science, American industry, and Russian blood.  

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

*I stand corrected. after talking to my cousin my uncle after surviving (although wounded) DDay was kia in October 1944 and buried in Holland. they were able to bring his remains home to be buried back the 70's.

 

 

 "all gave some; some gave all"

 

Edited June 6, 2019 by DaBillsFanSince1973

[DC Tom]

3 hours ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

he received his first purple heart after being wounded following the jump. he would receive another in October 1944 that would cost him his life. his remains were located in Holland.

 

 

 

 

506th of the 101st Airborne.  He probably died somewhere near Son on the Wilhelmina Canal.

 

That was also Dick Winters' regiment (i.e. "Band of Brothers.")  You know what company your uncle was in?

[Tiberius]

15 minutes ago, DC Tom said:

 

That's a point that puts in perspective the entire American contribution to the war: the US staged major amphibious operations, one across the Channel, the other across 1000 miles of the Pacific, at the same time on opposite sides of the world.  

 

And two weeks later, the Russians kicked off the largest land offensive in the world to that date...riding American Studebakers (450,000 through the war, with two full sets of tires for each) and tanks (about a third of the independent tank brigades were Lend-Lease Shermans), flying about 5,000 American aircraft (many of which were built in Buffalo by Curtiss or Bell) using American aviation fuel, walking on American shoes (one pair per two Soviet riflemen throughout the war), and eating American food (1000 calories of battle rations per rifleman per day throughout the war).  

 

And that doesn't even consider the battles of Imphal-Kohima, the China theater, the Italian theater, the start of the B-29 campaign (the most expensive war program, even more than the Manhattan Project, and something no other country had the industrial base to develop).  

 

American economic and industrial output during the war was unbelievable.  There's a lot to be said for the old line that the war was won by British science, American industry, and Russian blood.  

Russians flew a lot of the P-39's which were not good for high altitude fighting as they could not figure out how to attach supercharger because of the strange placement of the engine, but it was great at low altitude fighting. 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

27 minutes ago, DC Tom said:

 

506th of the 101st Airborne.  He probably died somewhere near Son on the Wilhelmina Canal.

 

That was also Dick Winters' regiment (i.e. "Band of Brothers.")  You know what company your uncle was in?

 

Correct, 506th of the 101st Airborne. not sure of the company? Parachute Infantry Regiment?

 

I'm going to copy/paste a couple posts from my cousins (second cousin) son regarding my uncle. 

 

Remembering my Grandfather PFC Morris Thomas, Machine Gunner, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division, KIA, October, 1944 in the fierce fighting for the liberation of Holland.

 

Honoring 16 year old Dutch civilian Leonardo’s GM Jeunken, Killed In Action, October 1944 in fierce action in the town of Opheusden, Holland. When my grandfather’s Assistance Gunner was killed, Leonardus picked up a rifle and provided covering fire for my grandfather, PFC Morris Thomas of the 506th PIR, so he could continue to man his .30 caliber machine gun.

Edited June 6, 2019 by DaBillsFanSince1973

[DC Tom]

8 minutes ago, Tiberius said:

Russians flew a lot of the P-39's which were not good for high altitude fighting as they could not figure out how to attach supercharger because of the strange placement of the engine, but it was great at low altitude fighting. 

 

No, they had a turbocharger on the prototype, but the Air Force asked it be deleted to save weight and money.  They put a single-stage supercharger on the XP-39E, and added a double-stage to the P-63.  

 

They were uniquely loved by the Russians, as it fit their VVS doctrine almost perfectly (a large cannon with minimal machine guns, compact airframe, excellent maneuverability below 20,000 feet) and was better equipped and built than most Russian planes.  The second-highest scoring Russian ace - Aleksander Pokryshkin - got almost all his victories in a P-39/P-63.

[DC Tom]

3 minutes ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

 

Correct, 506th of the 101st Airborne. not sure of the company?

 

I'm going to copy/paste a couple posts from my cousins (second cousin) son regarding my uncle. 

 

Remembering my Grandfather PFC Morris Thomas, Machine Gunner, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division, KIA, October, 1944 in the fierce fighting for the liberation of Holland.

 

Honoring 16 year old Dutch civilian Leonardo’s GM Jeunken, Killed In Action, October 1944 in fierce action in the town of Opheusden, Holland. When my grandfather’s Assistance Gunner was killed, Leonardus picked up a rifle and provided covering fire for my grandfather, PFC Morris Thomas of the 506th PIR, so he could continue to man his .30 caliber machine gun.

 

Technically, Leonardus would have been subject to summary execution - legally, under international law - as a partisan and not a uniformed soldier for what he did.

 

He actually would have been fighting towards the end of the Market-Garden operation.  Technically, the Netherlands wasn't "liberated" for many more months after that, because Field Marshal Montgomery was a stupid ***** midget.

 

[vorpma]

1 hour ago, Chandler#81 said:

Excellent post. I didn’t mean to infer millennials don’t care or haven’t represented us very well in our Armed Services. The poll I referenced means they likely weren’t taught about or wasn't required to do in depth study of that era of US history in schools. It shows my age that the 1st half of the 20th century was required learning through multiple grades of my school years. Then again, we also had shop, arts & music study, which youngins don’t know about either..

Given the GI’s approximate age then, they’re all well into their 90’s now and very soon will all be gone. I was barely born when the last US Civil War soldiers died in the late ‘50s. It seemed so ancient then, though it was ‘only’ 80ish years prior. 

Btw, in depth Civil War history was also required learning through multiple years of my schooling..

 

I remember with great reverence all America’s Greatest Generation, from combat soldiers to the sacrifices and 7 day work weeks on the home front.

Not on you Chandler#81, I sometimes get down hard on millennials so it was my "mea culpa." But hell yes, history is not taught in schools today in many ways leading to the repeat of past mistakes!

[MarkyMannn]

1 hour ago, DC Tom said:

And two weeks later, the Russians kicked off the largest land offensive in the world to that date...riding American Studebakers (450,000 through the war, with two full sets of tires for each) and tanks (about a third of the independent tank brigades were Lend-Lease Shermans), flying about 5,000 American aircraft (many of which were built in Buffalo by Curtiss or Bell) using American aviation fuel, walking on American shoes (one pair per two Soviet riflemen throughout the war), and eating American food (1000 calories of battle rations per rifleman per day throughout the war).  

Are you thinking Kursk?  That was the summer of 1943

[DC Tom]

13 minutes ago, MarkyMannn said:

Are you thinking Kursk?  That was the summer of 1943

 

Bagration.  

 

Don't try to teach me history. 

[B-Man]

 

[Buffalo716]

7 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

Thank you, Professor. While some of us here are versed in WWII theaters of operations, many are not as the decades slip away. A recent poll showed 50% of millennials are unfamiliar with the Nazi war on Jews. We don’t have much choice but to be grateful ANYTHING is being taught about the Greatest Generation.

 

P.S. If Clark weren’t such an egotistical ass and kept the heat on in the Italian mountains instead of stupidly racing to the Open city of Rome, it likely wouldn’t have taken the Nazi surrender a year later to claim victory in Italy.

I would have to believe those polls are pretty small or skewed

 

i have nephews in school and they were taught the holocaust multiple times in school 

 

Before 6th grade , in middle school and in HS .. atleast 3 times WW2 and the holocaust was a focal point and they are millennials

 

i would think most don’t pay attention 

[WhoTom]

5 hours ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

The craziest part was that one of his former GI buddies in particular, was able to pinpoint down to the exact sector their respective unit locations around the time of the start of the Battle of the Bulge, and that they would have been facing each other in the same section of the front! The lesson this taught me early on was that underneath our ethnic pasts, are similarities forged through shared experiences that can be the basis for common ground and yes, even so far as to have former sworn enemies becoming the closest of friends 30-40+ years (at that time) later.  

 

When I was in college, a friend and I were talking about our fathers. Both were men of faith, proud patriots, disciplined ... they probably would have been friends if they had known each other.

 

As it turned out, both were also WWII veterans.

 

Oh, did I mention that my friend was from Japan?

 

Yeah, there was an awkward moment when we both realized that our fathers were on opposite sides of the big war. Two guys with more similarities than differences, but because of petty politics, either one could have killed the other.

 

I have great respect for those who have fought to defend our freedoms, and I think the best way to honor their sacrifices is to prevent any more from having to do the same.

 

 

[DC Tom]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

 

When I was in college, a friend and I were talking about our fathers. Both were men of faith, proud patriots, disciplined ... they probably would have been friends if they had known each other.

 

As it turned out, both were also WWII veterans.

 

Oh, did I mention that my friend was from Japan?

 

Yeah, there was an awkward moment when we both realized that our fathers were on opposite sides of the big war. Two guys with more similarities than differences, but because of petty politics, either one could have killed the other.

 

I have great respect for those who have fought to defend our freedoms, and I think the best way to honor their sacrifices is to prevent any more from having to do the same.

 

 

 

I've talked to and read statements from soldiers on both sides of many wars, and except for Russians and Germans in WW2 (who really were fighting a war of extermination) it always stands out that they have a mutual respect and genuine goodwill for each other, because as soldiers they end up having more in common than they have differences.  Particularly when compared to their political leadership.

 

Holds true as far back as the Napoleonic wars.  Even holds true for the Anglo-Zulu war, despite the wide cultural gap.

[John from Riverside]

We had our university commencement this past weekend I always volunteer in some way whether working with the campus police to help with crowd control/security

 

This time they had enough help and I worked the handicap area making sure that those that came in wheelchairs and were comfortable and enjoyed the commencement.

 

Got to talk to a marine that served during this time still had his druthers about him and you could tell he was a mans man when he was young (still is) military spot military quick and we ended up talking for hours that day.....the storming of that beach was something I hope nobody ever has to do again.

 

 

[The Bills Blog]

Normandy was stormed by the Army. Why do the Marines think they are so superior to soldiers?

[B-Man]

 

 

 

 

 

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[Chandler#81]

15 hours ago, The Bills Blog said:

Normandy was stormed by the Army. Why do the Marines think they are so superior to soldiers?

Wow.

 

The Marine Corp is a department of the USN, wherein the majority of their efforts were placed in the Pacific Theater.

 

Excerpt from 10 things about the Corp;

THE MARINES WERE HELD BACK AT NORMANDY.

The purpose of the Marine Corps is amphibious warfare, or attacking the land by storming from the sea. And yet the Marines are largely absent from the Normandy Invasion—history’s most famous amphibious assault. Why did the Army get the job?

More people. The Army had 89 divisions; the Marine Corps had 6. (As goes the saying, “The Marines win battles; the Army wins wars.”) And almost all of the Marines were in the Pacific. But there was a contingent of Marines on board the U.S.S. Texas who were held back, probably because of the ongoing rivalry between the Army and the Marines. Because the leaders of the Allied Forces were Army generals, there was no chance they’d share the spotlight on the biggest operation of the war. Even when the invasion looked grim, the Marines who watched from the U.S.S. Texas were never unleashed. As journalist W. Thomas Smith has written, the leadership didn’t want headlines the next day to read “Marines save Rangers at Normandy.”

Marines assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner to the CIA and U.S. Army Special Forces, were on the ground, however, secretly working as observers of the invasion and facilitators for Army paratroopers who were jumping behind enemy lines.