June 6, 1944

[rice paddy daddy]

80 years ago today, on June 6, 1944, the Allied nations landed in Normandy, France to begin what General Dwight D Eisenhower termed The Great Crusade.

As a WWII history enthusiast I have studied this extensively. Although widely celebrated by the French, I'd wager less than 30% of Americans could correctly answer the question "what was D-Day?"

Tonight I plan to watch The Longest Day on YouTube in tribute to the gallant men who landed on those foreign shores so long ago.
I'm glad that I grew up among the men and women who rid the world of evil personified. They are almost all gone now.................................

Just some random thoughts by an old soldier and military history buff.

 

[havasu]

In 2018, we took a 10 day flat boat trip, which included touring Normandy. We were required to watch "The Longest Day" on the night before the tour, and glad I did. It is still supposedly the most accurate movie on the D-Day invasion.

God bless those real heroes!

 

[rice paddy daddy]

i treasure my old, worn paperback book that the movie was taken from. Meticulously researched and written by Cornelious Ryan.
Steven Ambrose, Band of Brothers author, also wrote an excellent book about D-Day.

Trivia factoid - Yogi Berra was a US Navy Gunners Mate who was close in to the beaches on D-Day as a .50 caliber machine gunner on a landing craft that had been converted to fire rockets at the German pillboxes.
He was wounded on D-Day, earning a Purple Heart.

 

[d_marsh]

Heroes honored and remember never die. God bless those men.

 

[UserNameTaken]

Remember D-Day June 6, 1944.

 

[Bacpacker]

God Bless them all

 

[lonewolf]

most people in Britain under 35 could not tell you WHEN or WHERE D Day was, many have never even heard of it, it isnt taught in schools.

 

[kenv1950]

My Dad France - 1944 under his C-47