D-Day 75

[Del-boy]

Couldn’t see a thread for this but certainly deserves one.
75 years since the D-Day landings that led to the liberation of Europe.

It’s quite remarkable that it was kept so secret, had the Germans known and prepared it could have been a massacre.

Also remarkable is the age of the soldiers who took part and stormed the beaches under fire. Young lads from 18 to early 20s.

Many died on the beaches that day and during the days following. It’s important we never forget the sacrifices made on the 6th June.

 

[Methuselah]

I was eight years old in June 1944. I remember walking up Walton Hall Avenue on my way to school. Coming down the East Lancs road was a massive convoy of American troops. Nose to tail, it stretched into the distance. I think they must have been on their way south for D-Day. I stood watching them go by and waved to them. Then I heard a shout from a truck just passing me. I looked up and was showered with sweets and chewing gum. I waved my thanks and could hardly get the sweets into my pockets there were so many. There must have been two or three months sweet rations. Every year brings back that memory and I hope the soldiers who threw the sweets made it through the war.

 

[bluelord49]

Four of us went to Normandy for the 60th Anniversary.
Visited loads of places but the most humbling was the American War Grave at Omagh Beach.
As far as the eye could see in front of you and to either side was rows and rows of graves with white crosses.
A few had the Star of Israel on them.
As has been mentioned above the majority of these graves had young men in.

 

[MrPerfectNot]

When we visited a few years ago, we were fortunate enough to visit all 5 invasion beaches. We spent a day and a half with one of the US military attaches from the US embassy in Paris - he was quite serious when he said it was important to visit all five, for they were each places of great risk, courage and valor. He was/is US Navy - he gave great credit to his Army colleagues, saying the respective Navies got the soldiers there, but the Armies had go up the beach.

One of the best times of my life.

 

[Eggs]

....amazing courage, it’s hard not to be emotionally affected by the stories from that time. As a parent, I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to have a child in the forces during those times.

 

[bluelord49]

Great post Del-boy..
Lest We Forget

 

[summerisle]

 

[Tipp blue]

Thankfully the world has not come to such horrendous conflict since and hopefully it will stay that way.

 

[PKwalnuts]

Check out @AP_Europe’s Tweet:

 

[canuckblue]

My Evertonian grandfather was 33 when he was one of the first paratroopers out of the planes that day. Daft bugger had transferred from the Royal Engineers, but he survived the war. He killed only one enemy soldier -- that day, in hand-to-hand combat with a knife. He never talked about it; I found out from other family members.

 

[wainy]

Check out @AP_Europe’s Tweet:

Amazing. We should never forget the sacrifices made by these men so that we can live in the world we do today.

 

[jaycee]

There honestly isnt the words to describe the bravery of these young men,there is no way to ever show enough gratitude for the sacrifices that generation made and its a debt that we can never repay,may each and everyone of them have found some kind of peace

 

[Sarnia Kevin]

 

[Sarnia Kevin]

Thanks Del-boy for starting this thread.

 

[Dharma]

Scenes from D-Day. Then and Now.

June 6, 1944: A Cromwell tank leads a British Army column from the 4th County of London Yeomanry, 7th Armoured Division, after landing on Gold Beach on D-Day in Ver-sur-Mer, France

A crashed US fighter plane is seen on the waterfront some time after Canadian forces came ashore on a Juno Beach

Caen