June 6, 1944

[Rot 911]

[Rick Lee]

Truly the greatest generation.

[KFC911]

Thanks Kurt! Sometimes we need a reminder...

[Jims5543]

From my Great Uncles Recollection of my Grandfather, Georga Adams life, remember this began 6 months of intense fighting. 6 Months.

Finally, the invasion came. It was June 6, 1944. The Americans landed at Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, in Normandy, and the English landed at the other beaches in the Normandy area.
It was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of the world.
George landed at Utah, which was “bad”, but not quite as bad as Omaha. From Utah Beach, the 9th fought it way West to the Cherbourg Peninsula, and ultimately took Cherbourg, which was a major deep water sea port.
George remembers that in Cherbourg, some of the German units fought quite frantically and had to be driven out of the city house by house. Now the beachhead was secure from Cherbourg to Caen, but the English, under Montgomery, could not tak e Caen, which was the main park of the allied battle plan.
Along the whole beachhead front, the Germans had dug in behind 100 year old growths of Hedge Rows and the fighting was fierce, with the 9th, again, taking many casualties. George lost several close friends here.
There was a fear that the allies were bogged down and would be stuck in North Western France for a long time. By September of 1944, Patton convinced Eisenhower to allow him to return to the Front and head the 9th again.
In September, the 9th under Patton broke the German lines and went down the South Coast of France. “The Great Breakout” was under way, and the 9th (and George) liberated many French towns. He sent my mother a scarf with the 9th insignia and a list of all the towns liberated (Vendome, Nantes, and many others). George’s unit visited the Great Cathedral at Nantes, which was totally bombed out on the inside, but the outside structure remained. I visited the Cathedral in the 1980’s and it was still heavily damaged even then. George remembers going to mass in the bombed-out cathedral when he was there.
The 9th then turned East and headed across France to Paris. The 9th started toward Caen from its rear and Montgomery finally broke out of the Caen line, took the city and headed North toward the low countries, Belgium, Netherlands, etc., where the English got bogged down again. (A good book about this in Cornelius Ryans “A Bridge To Far”)
The German Casualties were enormous, especially at the Battle of Falaise Gap, Northwest France.
Finally the allied armies were at the gates of Paris.
Eisenhower decided to let the “Free French” under Charles DeGaule, liberate Paris. This angered George and many of the Americans, because the French hadn’t done any of the fighting for France, but were given the honor of taking Paris, which the Germans surrendered rather that having it destroyed. The French “underground”, which fought all through the war against the Germans, were in fact helpful to the allied cause, but General DeGaule and French army had little to do with that.
George visited Paris once and went to the Folleys-Breagere. The price of admission was a pack of cigarettes.

[Joeaksa]

A salute to the men and women of this generation!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Agreed - they were "the greatest".

My grandfather was one of those guys.

[onewhippedpuppy]

They made sacrifices that our current generations (mine included) can't even comprehend. They are responsible for making this country what it is today, even though the lessons they taught us are slowly being forgotten.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Wonderful reminder.

My Dad was not in the ETO but he was stationed on Tinian at the end of the war and witnessed flight prep and the return. He was an aircraft mechanic. Far too few of that generation left anymore.

[pwd72s]

Thanks...64 years...wow. We DO owe those guys.

[stevepaa]

My dad and his two brothers; one in Alaska, one in Pacific and one in Africa. I don't think any saw direct comabt, at least they never discussed it. My dad and one brother still alive and kicking.


I visited France last year and went to Normandy. There is great admiration among the French for the American GI. All of the landing beach names are very familiar to the French people. At the beaches there are visitors from all over Europe.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by stevepaa

My dad and his two brothers; one in Alaska, one in Pacific and one in Africa. I don't think any saw direct comabt, at least they never discussed it.

Are you Italian? I found out something really disturbing about the mob a few months ago.

[Mike Andrew]

A shame that many of our countrymen fail to undersatnd the significance of today and what it has meant to each of us and to the world in gereral. 6600 men gave their lives that day to defend the freedom of us and the Europeans and are owed a huge debt of gratitude. I hope that those who watch the news today & are reminded of Normandy, will pause for a moment and reflect on the debt we owe those men.
Truly, The Greatest Generation.

[stevepaa]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

Are you Italian? I found out something really disturbing about the mob a few months ago.

a band of scots we are.


What did the Italian mob do?

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by Mike Andrew

A shame that many of our countrymen fail to undersatnd the significance of today and what it has meant to each of us and to the world in gereral. 6600 men gave their lives that day to defend the freedom of us and the Europeans and are owed a huge debt of gratitude. I hope that those who watch the news today & are reminded of Normandy, will pause for a moment and reflect on the debt we owe those men.
Truly, The Greatest Generation.

Well said.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

They made sacrifices that our current generations (mine included) can't even comprehend.

Not really true, Matt. There are men and women deployed around the world right now who absolutely understand the sacrifice. The next greatest generation has been on the ground for years.

They have made personal sacrifices that are on par with the veterans of WWII. You guys just haven't met them yet.

Edit: At my Sons middle school graduation this morning, we honored a number of men and women who have been deployed to Kabul for over 14 months. Some of them are on their second or third push to the Middle East and beyond. Less than 1% of the country serves in the military. I'm happy to have had the chance to be among them.

[pwd72s]

This morning's OREGONIAN, the state's only large newspaper...not one article of remembrance. Shame on them.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm not trivializing the sacrifices of our men/women in uniform today and I certainly don't want to get into an argument over which generation's soldiers were "better" or "braver", but I do think that being sent "into harm's way" today is done in a lot more calculated manner which is carefully planned and designed to limit risk/exposure/casualties.

To stand in one of those landing craft approaching the Omaha Beach knowing damn well that you'd likely be dead, maimed or wounded in a few minutes, or hoping that you'd be one of the one-in-ten or one-in-twenty that actually made it up the beachhead over the bodies of your fallen companions without being shot, grenaded, shelled, shrapneled or blown to pieces had to be scary as hell. I'm not saying solidiers today don't experience their own hazards (IEDs, snipers, suicide bombers, etc.) but in general it seems that missions today are selected and designed to have a much higher probability of success with fewer casualties.

On D-Day, it was all about throwing masses of troops and resources at a couple of relatively small points to establish a secure point of entry onto the European continent. Everyone knew it. It was like the old 18th & 19th century tactic of forming lines with enough guys where even if half of them fell, the "bigger picture" would still be a net advance. Not much consolation for the unlucky ones.

All I'm saying is today's soldiers should be grateful they're not called upon to be "just numbers" like the guys on D-Day were. Missions and objectives can be chosen a lot more selectively - they don't have to just swarm positions en masse knowing full well a certain percentage is going to have it be "not their day". I'm still grateful for the jobs they do (my personal misgivings about their unfortunate exploitation and misuse by short-sighted and politically-motivated grandstanding politicians aside).

The WW2 soldiers had balls the size of basketballs. Not sure many of us (me included) could do what they did and storm that beach. It'd be awfully hard not to despair in that position knowing that you were very likely about to die.

[nostatic]

My dad was on a ship halfway around the world fighting the other bad guys.

A huge debt is owed.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I'm not trivializing the sacrifices of our men/women in uniform today and I certainly don't want to get into an argument over which generation's soldiers were "better" or "braver", but I do think that being sent "into harm's way" today is done in a lot more calculated manner which is carefully planned and designed to limit risk/exposure/casualties...

POP,

No argument at all. There are a few things you may not be aware of. There is no greater fear, and I have been on the convoys, than the threat of the unknown, especially IEDs.

They face them everyday, get in the truck when every fiber that speaks to survival says don't get in.

They also fight in urban areas, the absolute worst terrain in a fight. Google Fallujah.

Lastly, the rules of engagement in WWII were free fire. Try and be a rifleman today under the pressure of fighting with the current ROE. Every young Marine I have had the honor of talking with expresses the same concern. But, they do it.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Jeff, I agree.

When that movie came out I was right in the middle of going through my divorce. I mentioned having seen it to my then teenage kids and telling them I wanted them to see it. My daughter mentioned my then soon-to-be ex didn't want to see it because she heard the first twenty minutes were, "...ew...tooo violent". I remember being so p!ssed off at that.

Those men DIED for us in the face of overwhelming odds and as you put it Jeff, knowing in a few moments they were likely going to be blown to hell and she couldn't watch a FICTIONAL DEPICTION of it?! They had to actually do it and die for you and 50 years later you can't watch an artificial portrayal of it? I found that shameful then and I still do. In my opinon, those opening minutes give us that weren't there and have never faced an enemy in the field the best idea of what war must be like for some that I have ever seen. Its a frightful thing.

Re-read my earlier post. My Dad was on Tinian for the atom bomb missions. I know it changed the way he looked at things the rest of his life.