D-Day Anniversary

[InProgress]

 

Today we have 74th anniversary of landing in Normandy. Anyone have plans for this? Or someone is in france on some nice events? I always planned to visit Normandy, probably will go next year on 75th anniversary.

 

 

[-332FG-Gordon200]

Not far from my home is the National DDay Memorial. An old friend and veteran of the invasion (29th Inf) created the memorial in this small Virginia town as a tribute to the five young men from Bedford who died on the beaches June 6th, 1944.

https://www.dday.org/

 

We attended the same church and his son was in my class in school. When I was deploying to Vietnam Mr Slaughter gave me a pocket knife that I still have today. Bob Slaughter died May of 2012. His obituary ~ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bob-slaughter-d-day-veteran-who-helped-create-national-memorial-in-bedfordva/2012/05/30/gJQA1Ndj2U_story.html?utm_term=.6365972bfe28

 

 

[InProgress]

Wow that's the best looking memorial i have ever seen so simple but so great, they even made this look like boad and bunker. I wish german veterans weren't so forgotten today ?

[unreasonable]

That is a remarkable memorial.

[LuftManu]

Thats a good memorial.

My respect for all sides who fought on the conflict. May we never fight again.

 

[-332FG-Gordon200]

1 hour ago, InProgress said:

Wow that's the best looking memorial i have ever seen so simple but so great, they even made this look like boad and bunker. I wish german veterans weren't so forgotten today ?

They use compressed air bursts at the water's surface to simulate bullets hitting the water for a sense of realism in the otherwise static display. It adds a feeling of peril that is lacking in other monuments.

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that all combatants should be remembered and honored. Their sacrifices should be acknowledged. We should learn from them and pursue peaceful solutions to problems.

[Pict]

5 hours ago, InProgress said:

Today we have 74th anniversary of landing in Normandy. Anyone have plans for this? Or someone is in france on some nice events? I always planned to visit Normandy, probably will go next year on 75th anniversary.

 

As it happens I was passing through the area just a couple of weeks ago and as I have visited this part of Normandy a few times already, I tended to avoid the "beaten track" of the landing beeches and came across the Mont De Huisnes German military cemetery.

 

Here's what I saw through my camera lens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Poochnboo]

5 hours ago, Gordon200 said:

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that all combatants should be remembered and honored. Their sacrifices should be acknowledged. We should learn from them and pursue peaceful solutions to problems.

The importance of this event, and WW2 in general, on our lives can not be exaggerated. Everything that followed is because of a direct or indirect influence of the Second World War. Communist China is Communist, because the Japanese invaded the country, causing Chiang Kai Shek to break off from his fighting with Mao, and defend the nation against Japan. There wouldn't have been a Berlin wall because there wouldn't have been an East and west Germany. There would not have been a Korean War and we wouldn't have Kim to worry about because Korea would never have been divided in two. The U.S. would never have gotten involved in Viet Nam because it would have just remained a French problem. 
Many of us wouldn't be here, because a lot of us are part of the baby boom that occured when all those guys came back from over seas. 
There would probably not have been a Cold War, and we, most likely, would have some nuclear weapons by now, but not the amount we have. There would have been no hurry to develope jets. We might not have seen them make a real huge impact on aviation until well into the 50's. 
You could probably think of dozens of more ways the war affected all of our lives if you sat down and thought about it.

[Pict]

2 hours ago, TimJ147 said:

Here is the footage if anyone is interested

 

Good job thanks...

 

it brings back a few memories and explains where the Centaur tank that used to sit across the road from the Gondree cafe went too, I noticed it was gone last time I drove over the bridge.

 

 

[Chief_Mouser]

I must be getting old; went to the 50th Anniversary and it seems like yesterday. Might go again next year for the 75th.

Cheers.

Edited June 6, 2018 by 216th_Cat

[Gambit21]

Tim - watched every second of that.

Thanks for posting.

[-332FG-Gordon200]

 

[Rjel]

I posted this link a couple of years ago. This is CBS Radio's broadcast for June 6, 1944. I find it fascinating listening, watching or reading about historical  from sources that were then current day. I can feel myself slipping back in time listening to this.  There is also a link on the same site for NBC's D-Day broadcast.

 

https://archive.org/details/CBD440606CBSDDayCBS

[Trooper117]

On 6/6/2018 at 9:52 PM, 216th_Cat said:

I must be getting old; went to the 50th Anniversary and it seems like yesterday. Might go again next year for the 75th.

Cheers.

 

I was still in the army on the 50th... To mark the occasion we parachuted into the original DZ at Ranville in the biggest airborne operation the British army has done since WWII.

Then did it again, this time in September for the 50th at Ginkel Heath DZ at Arnhem... Great days!