Posted on 06/05/2016 9:22:52 PM PDT by pboyington
Probably not hyperbole.
My now deceased father inlaw was part of this. He was in the Screaming Eagles as a glider infantryman (think it was the 317th). He did a combat landing in Operation Market Garden before D-Day They ran out of airplanes to tow the glider infantry but he and 97 other giys from their division went in to perform anti-armor duties. The reat if the division went ashore the afternoon of day 2 if I remember the story correctly. Being a BAR man and now inserted with a unit he did not belong to he got a lot of (you are short... go sneak into that hedgerow and see of there are Germans in there...why send you buddy when you got a new guy). At one point an officer peeked over something to glass out into the distance and took a round through the face. Then they got pinned down by 88 mm shelling and he went a little whacky after 10 hrs. He got up and began walking around. The fellas tackled him. He got shipped back to the field station where they gave him a sleeping pill which did nothing for him. They moved him back to the divisional medical aid station and gave him 2 more pills. He said he woke up in England and his time in the war was over for the time being. And since Truman dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese Empire....he did not have to rejoin the war effort....and it lrobably saved my paternal grandfather as well since he would have been over his malaria and jungle rot. Thanks Truman for doing the right thing and God Bless all the WW2 vets.
The guys who died that day may disagree it was the best day of the century. At least for them.
WE need to know our history. We need to always remember that the world as we know it, is here because the Allies defeated the Axis powers in World War II.
We need to remember D-Day and the major turning point it was in the war.
I also had discussions with relatives who served, and who were on the home front. Most have passed on now. But, they impressed on me that it wasn’t always clear that we were going to win World War II.
History tells us that the Axis were at their peak of conquest in November and December of 1942. Japan occupied parts of the Aleutian Islands at that time. A full year after Pearl Harbor, we were nowhere near winning the war.
It’s easy for us now to sit back and say, what a great triumph, history tells us we won World War II, and it was inevitable. The point is, no, it was not inevitable, and it was due to great men such as General Eisenhower, and key events such as D-Day, that led us to victory.
Thanks for the post. Tweeted the link.
That's the difference between now and then. They were fighting for a higher goal and willing would give their lives to achieve it.
For many today their life is most important and they would never squander it for their country...
Great read. Thanks for posting.
If that was true none of the landing crafts would have had machine gunners positioned as lethal incentive to get everyone off of the boats.
Its a little romanticized being so far away from it. There was plenty of patriotism there but you cant say everyone who was drafted was happy to be there or wanted to die for their country.
Yes. Even FDR was great in the era of that fateful day.
FDR gave a radio address on or around D-Day, which included a prayer, and it is one of the most moving things you'll ever hear. Kind of reminiscent of Churchill's Finest Hour" speech, or that sort of thing.
Anyway, sometimes even a bad overall President will rise to the occasion...
6 and a half minutes, and worth a listen.
And I’ll always remember Ronald Reagan at Normandy, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day.
Other presidents have gone to Normandy to commemorate D-Day, but none, in my opinion, had the impact of Reagan’s speech upon his visit.
It’s available on Netflix.
Great Crusade, how politically incorrect
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