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A Day To Remember The Greatest Generation
- Thread starter greenwald
- Start date
akbeemer
SURVIVOR
My father participated in the invasion of Normandy, although not in the initial assault. Thirty-two years later I was part of a skydiving team representing US Army Europe that jumped into the fields surrounding St. Mere-Eglis with the French, British and Dutch parachute teams. It was quite an honor to do so and to meet the people of the village that lived thru the actual invasion. Nearly every shop in Saint Mere-Eglis had pictures of a villager in the window that was taken after elements of the 82d ABN landed in the village. They took the village but at a heavy cost. Often there were additional pictures of the same two people that were taken over the years. The village church, where PVT John Steele's parachute was caught on a spire, was in use, but still retained the visible evidence of gunfire. I met the then retired PVT Steele in the barber shop at Fort Bragg in the mid-1960s. Getting to tour the various scenes of action was a memorable few days for me and a chance to meet many combat and civilian participants of the actual occupation and invasion while they were still young men and women.
Last edited:
gfspencer
New member
patiodadio
Motorcyclist
My great uncle Frank Blevins went ashore on D-Day, he was a combat engineer. The only story I remember him telling about D-Day was that when he stepped off the landing craft he "went under, head and ears". A lot of the guys with him drowned.
RPGR90s
Member
My dad was there. 1st wave.
Growing up, I remember when the relatives were over, and when the conversation turned to WWII, he would get up and go to another room. The day he passed away, my uncle told me, "your dad. yeah, he saw some incredibly horrible things at D-Day, Battle of the Bulge. Those who really saw it, they can't talk about it."
If the opening scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" are accurate, man.....
He idolized Harry Truman, and always believed that dropping the A-Bomb was necessary and saved his life. In his words, "they started it at Pearl Harbor. We finished it in Nagasaki".
My buddy's dad was there too. When camping, one of us usually comments, "our dads were men, REAL men".
Let us never forget that they were the Greatest Generation. Maybe it's a good time to re-read Tom Brokaw's book.
Growing up, I remember when the relatives were over, and when the conversation turned to WWII, he would get up and go to another room. The day he passed away, my uncle told me, "your dad. yeah, he saw some incredibly horrible things at D-Day, Battle of the Bulge. Those who really saw it, they can't talk about it."
If the opening scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" are accurate, man.....
He idolized Harry Truman, and always believed that dropping the A-Bomb was necessary and saved his life. In his words, "they started it at Pearl Harbor. We finished it in Nagasaki".
My buddy's dad was there too. When camping, one of us usually comments, "our dads were men, REAL men".
Let us never forget that they were the Greatest Generation. Maybe it's a good time to re-read Tom Brokaw's book.
My dad was inspirational in the same way. He was at Pearl Harbor, so he was in the Pacific for the whole war. He got out and was recalled for Korea. He ended with a tour in-country in Vietnam. He VERY rarely said anything about it, never anything about Pearl Harbor. I followed in his footsteps and went to the Naval Academy. That made him very proud.
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Truly, the Longest Day of June (in 1944)!
Couldn't agree more. I had relatives on both sides of my family who landed on the beaches and after personally visiting in 2015, the magnitude of what was accomplished that day truly hit home. For those who have not been to Normandy, I cannot recommend enough that you go.
Especially humbling was an excursion to Pointe-du-hoc: a heavily defended series of German gun batteries that were assaulted by the Rangers after scaling 100' cliffs to reach them. Many of the fortifications, although damaged from air and sea bombardments, remain in place today and provide an indication of what the Rangers faced. The original assault force of about 225 men had only 90 left after the second day of action.
Respect to all the Allied Forces that landed and liberated Europe.
