Posted on 05/27/2013 1:46:44 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA
I don’t know where you got your numbers, but the British numbers don’t sound close to being right. Per those, there were no wounded British survivors.
Here’s another source:
“The Allied casualties figures for D-Day have generally been estimated at 10,000, including 2500 dead. Broken down by nationality, the usual D-Day casualty figures are approximately 2700 British, 946 Canadians, and 6603 Americans. However recent painstaking research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation has achieved a more accurate - and much higher - figure for the Allied personnel who were killed on D-Day. They have recorded the names of individual Allied personnel killed on 6 June 1944 in Operation Overlord, and so far they have verified 2499 American D-Day fatalities and 1915 from the other Allied nations, a total of 4414 dead (much higher than the traditional figure of 2500 dead). “
Sixty years ago I was working with a man near here. I found a large knife in the back of his truck bed under a bunch of wet hay and since it was all rusted up I asked if I could have it.
His answer...(not gruff)...”Oh hell no! I cut a Jap’s throat on Iwo with that!”
My dad never like to talk about his war years in Europe and had no use for those who bragged about their exploits. One local man could spin some real tales of his adventures in Europe! My dad despised him because that man had never left the states.
I became friends with an old couple at church. Shut ins. Visiting them the first time and making small talk. I noticed that Harry had an anchor tattoo - and I asked,
“Oh were you a sailor? Must have been World War II? My Dad was in the Navy in WWII”
He answered “Yes”.
His wife piped in “He drove a Higgin’s boat”.
“Oh, the landing craft - wow.”
The guy seemed a bit surprised that I knew that and looked up and said “That’s right”.
His wife then said “He was at D-Day.”
I just sat there not knowing what to say. Shocked with the movie reels playing in my mind, awe at what this guy had done, and could tell he hadn’t wanted to talk about any of it. (But his wife was sure proud!) I just got up and walked over and shook his hand again and said “Thanks for your service, and all the sacrifices that you made.”
Over the years I have been surprised by the number of old men, relatives and aquaintances, who I would have never known the amazing bravery and service they gave on the battlefield. Some of them were profusely decorated and never boasted a word, only to learn on their death of just how incredibly patriotic they were.
The Ms and I are heading over soon... And plan on saying a special prayer for the revival of our country while kneeling in the graveyard at Normandy.
Thank you to all of you who have guarded this great nation. We pray for all of the servicemen and women who are in harms way. We especially pray for the souls of all of the brave men and women who have given all for their country, and for their families.
God Bless you all.
T & family
I had a professor in college who was an 18 year old conscript on the French coast that morning. The description of the boats coming ashore was a side of the story I had never heard. There were solders, he said, as far as his eyes could see. And they were all coming to kill him.
Funny story was that he and his friends hightailed it out of there and ended up in southern France. He said his time as a POW was not horrible.
The few evenings I spent talking to him about his experiences were some of the best hours of my young life. It really opened my eyes to the fact that people can get swept into the most horrible situations through no fault of their own. This guy was an artist—not a nazi.
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