Posted on 06/06/2016 8:49:02 AM PDT by crz
A navy vet returns to Omaha Beach. Two part video.
72 years ago today, my father in law was landing on Utah beach.
A man in my building was there also.
He was 19.
I look at my 19 year old grandsons and wonder if they could ever survive something like that-—they have lived such good,easy lives.
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he and his buddies can never receive enough of our thanks!
In my younger days I worked a university security job. One of my co-workers was an older man. He was quiet, and also a bit overweight. Some of the younger hot-shots on the job made fun of him. It became an almost daily thing.
Then one day the older man brought a presentation box into the station. Without saying a word, he just put it on the dressing room table. The box was filled with commendations and medals. He was an Army Ranger who had landed on D-Day. The teasing stopped.
Nice story.
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Most remembrances about that day focus on Omaha Beach, but Utah Beach was no picnic. That’s where my Dad landed.
Yup. Quiet dignified courage. That was how it was done.
On my daily walk, I passed an elderly gentleman every day. Did this for years. His name was Dan and originally from Hell’s Kitchen Manhattan. We’d always chat, usually about the $#@! Mariners loss the previous night.
One day, out of the clear blue, he says to me “Do you know where I was 69 years ago today, kid!? (Kid! I am 65). I was landing at Normandy. Cold, scared and wet. But alive”
D Day has never been the same for me since Dan’s “reveal”
Dan passed away 2 years ago
Here is to you, Dan the Man !!
My grandfather also landed at Utah. He talked about how he was sure he was going to die. He would’ve been 91 tomorrow. He passed away three weeks ago.
He was truly a kind soul & a real gentleman. 7 children and 68 years of marriage. And he was a patriot.
Amen to that!
I was there last year. It truly is one of the most hallowed places on the planet.
I visited last summer. Spent most of the time crying. Was overwhelming to walk through the American cemetery. Gratitude to those brave brave men
I was there last year. It truly is one of the most hallowed places on the planet.
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2 years ago for me.
I have no words for it.
PFL
All those crosses - I hope it really p***es off the atheists!
Lots of Stars of David there, too.
My Dad couldnt go, they wouldnt let him since he owned a sawmill and tons of lumber was needed for crating. So they deffered him and the whole crew ASAP.
I did have two uncles, one in the Navy and spent 1945 on the USS Missouri. The other in the Marines and landed several places in the Pacific...his last landing was gonna be the Japanese home islands. Said they had a party like no other after they heard they dropped the bomb on them. He and his buddies knew they wouldnt have made it invading the home islands.
Wow! On the Missouri!
Had an uncle that went all the way thru Saipan to Okinawa. He made it thru the combat, but not the war. He died in the early 70s.
My wife lost a cousin on Iwo Jima. And her uncle was shot down in a B24 in the Pacific.
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