70 Years Ago Today (June 6th)

I really can't imagine the amount of courage it would have taken to storm the beaches of Normandy or parachute in behind enemy lines. WWII is something that I've really enjoyed learning about now that I've gotten a little older and I have so much respect for the men who enlisted to fight in the war. There are so few of these heroes still alive today but they should always be remembered, especially today.

June 6th 1944.

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

-- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Letter to Troops, June 2, 1944

I really can't imagine the amount of courage it would have taken to storm the beaches of Normandy or parachute in behind enemy lines. WWII is something that I've really enjoyed learning about now that I've gotten a little older and I have so much respect for the men who enlisted to fight in the war. There are so few of these heroes still alive today but they should always be remembered, especially today.

 

June 6th 1944.

We owe them everything.........:thumb:

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

 

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

 

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

 

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

 

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

 

-- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Letter to Troops, June 2, 1944

I admit...I shed a tear reading that.

D-Day Then & Now:

D-Day: Then and now

Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I don't think I would be able to soak up some rays on that beach.

D-Day Then & Now:

 

D-Day: Then and now

 

Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I don't think I would be able to soak up some rays on that beach.

Yeah that is sacred ground...no way could I do that either.

I saw a story online this morning about how some French are upset and calling the pre-invasion Allied bombing "Criminal" due to civilians being killed.

I would simply ask them if they speak German, when they said no...I'd tell them your welcome and to shut up!!!

I saw a story online this morning about how some French are upset and calling the pre-invasion Allied bombing "Criminal" due to civilians being killed.

 

I would simply ask them if they speak German, when they said no...I'd tell them your welcome and to shut up!!!

Those kinds of people have always been around and will always be around.

There have been very few military forces in the history of the world that have tried as hard to limit the impact of war on civilians like the United States. For every story of our brutality, the stories of our enemies dwarf them tenfold.

Now, I won't pretend that horrific things weren't done during the Second World War. Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have kept me up at night were I one of the men who worked on those bombs (and it did that very thing to many of them) and what happened in Dresden makes me cringe.

But like Sherman said: "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it."

He also said something else I feel is poignant about how things were made to happen from 1941 onward: "War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want."

We didn't start that war. America didn't even want that war. And yet America was the one made to end the war.

Now, I won't pretend that horrific things weren't done during the Second World War. Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have kept me up at night were I one of the men who worked on those bombs (and it did that very thing to many of them)

I said in the thread about creating a movie, that I think it would be a brilliant drama to focus on these men who were involved in the Manhatten Project.

Those kinds of people have always been around and will always be around.

 

There have been very few military forces in the history of the world that have tried as hard to limit the impact of war on civilians like the United States. For every story of our brutality, the stories of our enemies dwarf them tenfold.

 

Now, I won't pretend that horrific things weren't done during the Second World War. Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have kept me up at night were I one of the men who worked on those bombs (and it did that very thing to many of them) and what happened in Dresden makes me cringe.

 

But like Sherman said: "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it."

 

He also said something else I feel is poignant about how things were made to happen from 1941 onward: "War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want."

 

We didn't start that war. America didn't even want that war. And yet America was the one made to end the war.

The land invasion of Japan would have cost the Allies an estimated 1million + casualties and maybe as many as 10 million Japanese dead. Both Japan and Germany should have surrendered much earlier than they did, which would have saved the lives of so many of their own citizens. Hitler was hell-bent on destroying everything in Germany once he realized the war was lost.

The land invasion of Japan would have cost the Allies an estimated 1million + casualties and maybe as many as 10 million Japanese dead. Both Japan and Germany should have surrendered much earlier than they did, which would have saved the lives of so many of their own citizens. Hitler was hell-bent on destroying everything in Germany once he realized the war was lost.

Don't misunderstand me: I get what happened and why. Doesn't change the horror. You can explain it and give all sorts of good reasons why things have to happen. It doesn't make the actual event any less horrific.

Don't misunderstand me: I get what happened and why. Doesn't change the horror. You can explain it and give all sorts of good reasons why things have to happen. It doesn't make the actual event any less horrific.

I agree. I imagine it would haunt me as well.

I agree. I imagine it would haunt me as well.

I can't even fathom. And that's for guys who weren't right up in it.

My grandfather arrived too late for D-Day but did spend the winter of 1944-45 in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. He talks a lot about his army days and things that happened and people he knew but he doesn't talk much about that winter. I couldn't begin to say why. The guy spent his entire life in the meat packing business and is to this day, even at 90 years old, a tough, stubborn, gruff old upper midwesterner; even he has a few things he carries with him I suspect.

Many gallant things happened on D-Day. Among them, the decision to invade at Normandy by Eisenhower. I can't find it, but have seen a paper on what might have happened if the invasion had failed. Some scary things to consider.