June 6, 1944
 

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"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. ...I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!"
- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
June 6, 1944, D-Day

That reminds me, I was given a multi-Disc DVD set title "D-Day" last month. Maybe I'll start watching it tonight.

Both of my uncles went ashore on D-day.

One uncle was a sergeant in the infantry. He never talked about his service but he went all the way to Berlin. We didn't learn his rank or details of his service until after he died - but he used an SS dagger as his hunting knife.

His older brother was on a minesweeper that got sunk. He was picked up by a cruiser. The Admiral on board was agitated by the congestion at the beach and wanted to go in for a look. My uncle was a motorman and he was assigned to run the motor on the launch.

He told us he never got his head up high enough to see anything. He's still alive and living in his own house, after surviving two wives.

My Dad was the youngest, the war was over before he was old enough.

My.Dad sat the war out in a cushy job at Packard in Detroit making all the overtime that he wanted building RR Merlins so the fly Boyz could go all the way to Berlin.

My Dad's younger bro was a Lt USN commanding a LCT at D Day. The older one was in the Army on the Canal in the Pacific.

Thanks, Widgeon. Operation Overlord. Godspeed to our fallen......

On of my good friends was there. He was lucky enough to be on a support ship out in the ocean. He was unlucky enough to be part of the cleanup crew picking up bodies and body parts. He had nightmares for years.

Given their druthers I imagine everyone of them would rather have been some place else. The only thing of value would be to see the panoply of history play out before your very eyes.

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Dad was in the Pacific building the runway on Guam during its battle. His brother, my uncle, landed in Normandy

Dad's 1st cozin was in the PT Boats in the Solomon islands fighting the Japs. One of the guys in the squadron that he knew quite well later became President.

It's possible my grandfather served with your father. He was in the seabees on Kwajalein, Guadalcanal, and Corregidor if I remember the stories correctly.

MY FIL, who passed away three years ago was a PT boat crewman. He was an aviation Cadet but flunked out of flight school because he got vertigo flying on instruments...VFR he flew great!

So off to the Pacific as a young enlisted man.

Pictures of his boat(s):

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Someone cutting up onions in here? Whew......

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Maybe, Dad did not talk about it much. Would overhear conversations with his brothers. He was first Marine Division, engineer. Did hear about his construction of the runway at Guam where I think the big Tokyo raid originated.

Thanks for the Band of Brothers video, Baz. Don Malarkey is with his brothers now. There is still a tribute to him on the wall of The Cue Ball...
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My Uncle Adam was there. Only thing he ever talked about from his time in the Army was about all the girls he met in Europe.

I never knew, when we were going through my grandfathers estate we found all of the photos and medals. He was second wave motor pool, but still a huge hero to me. He never said a single word to me in all those years.

Probably not the kind of guys to be taking selfies of their experiences.
Certainly part of the Greatest Generation.

Colleville American Cemetery, Normandy, France, 2007.

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The closet that I have is two WW2 Garands