dib Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great 351877[/snapback] I wish we had leaders and citizens like that today. God bless each and every vet of D-Day.
Mark VI Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/ww2-pix/d-day01.jpg
USMCBillsFan Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Here's to the Greatest Generation. 351894[/snapback] I second that.
Mark VI Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Here's to the Greatest Generation. 351894[/snapback] Truer word were never spoken.
col_forbin Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 ........where's my "Band of Brothers" DVD when I need it.
flomoe Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Here's to the Greatest Generation. 351894[/snapback] I couldn't have said it any better myself.
SilverNRed Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/ww2-pix/d-day01.jpg 351889[/snapback] "Look out, Hitler. Here we come!"
Thailog80 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 God bless each and every vet of D-Day. 351884[/snapback] ditto
pkwwjd Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 I thank God everytime that I remember the men who were so valiant on the fields that day (week, month ...) On a lighter note ... Did you notice he sought the blessing of God? Where was the ACLU to get him fired. Doesn't he know that he's mixing church & state ... Just shows how things have changed in this day.
Corp000085 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 I wish we had leaders and citizens like that today. God bless each and every vet of D-Day. 351884[/snapback] We do.
elcrusho Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 ........where's my "Band of Brothers" DVD when I need it. 351929[/snapback] If you have Adelphia it is on HBO on Demand... All 10 episodes....
rockpile Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Here's to the Greatest Generation. 351894[/snapback] On Memorial Day, most of the miltary was in the parade in downtown Rochester, but I was in Fairport with the grandchildren. They knew why Memorial Day was observed (my daughter has been doing home school for 5 years). Whenever a Veterans Post marched by with their colors displayed, baseball caps came off as we paid respect to those who died so we could be free. I salute ALL veterans, living and dead, for their sacrifice and service.
erynthered Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied peoples joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance. The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers -- at the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine-guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting only ninety could still bear arms. Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your 'lives fought for life...and left the vivid air signed with your honor'... Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love. The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt. You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you. Ronald Reagan's speech at Pointe de Hoc, Normandy, on June 6, 1984: Thank you to all our Vets, God bless you all.......
Arkady Renko Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 On Memorial Day, most of the miltary was in the parade in downtown Rochester, but I was in Fairport with the grandchildren. They knew why Memorial Day was observed (my daughter has been doing home school for 5 years). Whenever a Veterans Post marched by with their colors displayed, baseball caps came off as we paid respect to those who died so we could be free. I salute ALL veterans, living and dead, for their sacrifice and service. 352101[/snapback] Here, here!
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank the millions of Russians that died bleeding the Wehrmacht white in 1941-43 in order to make the invasion of France possible...
Pete Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Here's to the Greatest Generation. 351894[/snapback] Amen. Thank you
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 We do. 352045[/snapback] We do? Where's Eisenhower? Where's Patton? Where's Bradley or MacArthur? And what about the kids who lied about their age to join the Army? Won't find too many of them nowadays.
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