[MassWholeBimmer]

We owe more than we can imagine to those brave souls... Much more..... Never forget...

My dad was in the first wave. Guess I'm lucky to be writing this. He never wanted to talk about it... Probably can't blame him...

[3798j]

First photo is my Dad's LST (Landing Ship Tank, aka. Large Slow Target) on one of the Normandy Beaches (photo taken not on D-day, but on one of the many subsequent landings to re-supply troops with needed supplies and vehicles). It was just one of the 7000 ships that crossed the channel on D-day.
Second photo...one found on the internet. Operation Overlord...What an incredible undertaking.

[M-technik-3]

With less and less surviving WW 2 vets the days we once gave thanks for are quickly fading.

Sad, friend of mine Bill passed last fall he was a B17 pilot based in Britain and did all of his missions.

[3.0L]

My dad was an infantryman during the last few months of the war.
He served under General Patton. Dad eventually got trench foot and
dysentery and had to be evacuated back to England. The war in
Europe ended 2 weeks later.

Also, one of my uncles was a co-pilot on a B-17. His aircraft took
a direct hit from 88mm flak. The pilot received burns to his hands,
plus his parachute was burned. My uncle flew the crippled bomber
back to England. He later said he was scared shitless. He went on
to fly more missions and survived the war. His damaged bomber
was eventually repaired and returned to service. It went down in
flames a few missions later.

Dad didn’t talk about the war much, but did leave us a small, green
zipper bag with memoribilia tucked inside. It includes a compass
and mess utensils he confiscated from 2 German prisoners he
escorted to the rear. The utensils have zwasticas and are of typical
German high quality.

[Pauly Wauly]

.

[MassWholeBimmer]

About 15 years ago, I was in Dijon France on business. It was March. I had a weekend to kill. The weather forecast around the Normandy region was cold and rainy. I decided to weekend in the South. To this day, I regret that decision. Well there is always the bucket list.

[Alfisti]

I cannot imagine how those boys felt as they approached that beach, good god the fear.

[StealthCruiser212325]

We will never forget the sacrifice and bravery of the men who fought that day against tyranny and oppression.

What truly amazes is behind the scenes deception by the Allies to fool the Nazis on where the invasion was to take place. It was so good, or deceitful, so to put it, that even when the full operation was in effect, the Germans did not put their entire armored and infantry divisions into the fight until it was too late. By that time, the Allies had not only established a beach head, but had broken through and were half way across France liberating villages and cities along the way and racing toward the German border.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by StealthCruiser212325

We will never forget the sacrifice and bravery of the men who fought that day against tyranny and oppression.

What truly amazes is behind the scenes deception by the Allies to fool the Nazis on where the invasion was to take place. It was so good, or deceitful, so to put it, that even when the full operation was in effect, the Germans did not put their entire armored and infantry divisions into the fight until it was too late. By that time, the Allies had not only established a beach head, but had broken through and were half way across France liberating villages and cities along the way and racing toward the German border.

Check out the movie "The Man who Never Was," it's quite informative.

[e61it]

My dad was a truck driver after the landings. During operation Cobra his unit was hit by friendly fire from US bombers who erred in their targeting. He suffered from ptsd the rest of his life and stayed in the house on 4th of July holidays. We lost a lot of men during the landings and a lot of men after them.