[Bob Dillon]

Never discount the resolve of several hundred thousand cold, wet, seasick mostly teenagers with guns.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfFpELosWjY

[sdbob]

Respect for all those soldiers. It seems they came at the right time,from all the right places to save society from evil. My dentist was in the 3rd wave, made it all across Europe. My uncle John drove for the Red Ball express.

[JSchmitz]

Amazing! Also my B-Day!

[george kujanski]

Amazing...truly the greatest generation!

george

[Charlie Brengun]

I'd forgotten that is today. Thanks for reminding me and even more, thank you to the soldiers that sacrificed so much to liberate my country.

[Skip Fix]

And my freaking Houston newspaper had no mention of it! Why we are loosing who we are as a country my dropping mention of these important dates.

[Greg Reid]

I had missed the date myself until I saw Bob's post. There was a time not too long ago that the mere mention of June 6th or December 7th, just the dates alone, would immediately trigger the significance of those dates in my mind.
It just goes to show you about how long it takes for other events to overwhelm them in our consciousness. Almost 80 years!
It made me think about it this way; Those boys in those landing craft landing on the beaches of France that day were about as far away from Lee surrendering to Grant at Appomattox as we are from D-Day today. The boys in Grant's and Lee's armies that day were only 69 years past the end of the Revolutionary War!
Now, that's not to be dismissive. Easily, it is one of the most significant events in human history.
It's just an observation made when I wondered why those dates didn't just jump out at me anymore like they once did.

[salem1912]

Just can't imagine what it took to pull that off. Thankfully successfully!
The Greatest Generation to me is a understatement. True heroes.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

And my freaking Houston newspaper had no mention of it! Why we are loosing who we are as a country my dropping mention of these important dates.

I don't know if it's the main newspaper there, but I checked online and found several stories on the Houston Chronicle website. It was a front page story in the newspaper here, and was covered on local and national TV.

[KS circutguy]

R.I.P. dad.
He served and was wounded at Normandy.
Mr. Koczan served with the 109th Infantry, 28th Division, during World War II, and was awarded the E.T.O. Service Medal with three battle stars, the Purple Heart, the New York State Conspicuous Service Star and the Bronze Star for Heroism.

Mr. Koczan was a past president of the Holy Name Society of the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church and a member of the church's golf league. He was a member and past president of the Solvay Kiwanis Club.

[salem1912]

Thanks for posting KS. How young was your Dad on D day? Would you know if the 109th Infantry, 28th Division was a Pennsylvania National Guard Unit?

[KS circutguy]

21,
https://history.army.mil/html/forces...inf/0109in.htm

[salem1912]

Not to drift off the OP. Was your dad from Pennsylvania?

[KS circutguy]

New York

[hurryinhoosier62]

Both my wife and I had uncles( in my case a great uncle) who served in the ETO. My wife’s Uncle George was a combat engineer on Omaha Beach; my great Uncle Maurice was a writer for Stars and Stripes. Both men saw things that affected their lives for the rest of their lives. God bless the memory of the greatest generation who accepted the gauntlet laid down for them and taught the world to never question whether the United States’ resolve when attacked.

[fyrffytr1]

Thanks to all that served then, and made the world a safer and better place for many of us.

[Bob Dillon]

Ike was said to have remarked when he and his generals decised the operation was a "go" that "Now it's up to a 19-year old private with a rifle."

He also had this note in his pocket just in case:

""Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops, My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."


]Studly bastard, wasn't he?

[ScumOne]

My Dad was in the Navy as an engineer at the Puget Sound yard in Bremerton, WA. He designed the heating/cooling systems on the battleships raised from Pearl Harbor. The military wouldn't let him fight in WWII, he was more useful to the Navy fixing ships.

But he had friends who were at D-Day, some came back, but not all. I heard a lot of hair raising tales growing up about them and his experiences with the ships from Pearl Harbor.

Respect to all the veterans of our military from this guy.

Jim

[Skip Fix]

looked again at my paper paper and no mention yesterday. A photo with a couple of lines of the ceremony in France!

My dad was Army would have gotten shipped over for Battle of the Bulge but the found out he had some engineering. Sent him to Oregon State as a Special Detail, then Oakridge then Los Alamos for the Manhattan project. he got to cart the high explosives for the detonator portion around behind a truck. One the brakes failed on the hills and took a mile or so to stop. got up to Staff Sargent. His older brother was Air Corp Colonel and helped develop incendiary bombs and napalm.

[KS circutguy]