My family did not fight on D-Day, but they did fight in Monte Cassino, Bastogne, Iwo Jima, Inchon (Korean War), Kham Duc (Vietnam). I also had two uncles that were peace keeping troops in Japan and German after the war.
Fortunately, only one of my uncles was wounded. That would be my Uncle Goodman Wilson, who enlisted at age 16, in the Marines (5th Marine Division) landed on Iwo Jima on D-Day and was wounded after 7 days in battle. He was shot in the forearm. He spend a year and half in hospitals after his wounding.
When I was a child, I would try to ask him about what it was like on Iwo Jima. He didn't want to talk about it. He would tell me about how hot it was. How he didn't like black sand. And how I never need to worry about anything like that. I once asked him if he killed any Japs. He simply said with a tear in his eye, "yes, too many, and don't ask me about it again."
Brit KIA was far lower than 2700
My close Uncle, I didn't even think about or know that he had been in the war. Found out at his funeral that he had been a bombardier over Germany.
Why such a huge number of French civilians killed on Normandy’s D-Day?
I've been watching war movies all day and have yet to see a soldier wait on purpose until someone fires at them before they shoot.
Our guys should come home because they are used as fodder for Hussein. If they were allowed to fight, they would stomp those guys into the dirt from whence they came.
When I was a child, I would try to ask him about what it was like on Iwo Jima. He didn't want to talk about it.
I've heard the same thing many,many times...particularly about WWII vets (and Korea).They didn't like talking about it,at least not to family.I suspect that it was because it was too painful for them and/or to protect their loved ones from the horror.My guess is that they were more willing to talk to other vets at places like VFW posts...and that was probably therapeutic for them,talking to someone who understood well.
Thanks for reminding me.....I save THE LONGEST DAY for June 6th....TONIGHT IT’S THE GREAT ESCAPE
Total KIA sailors at Guadalcanal: 5,041.
Polish troops also participated in the invasion of Normandy, but I don’t know if any of their units were involved on the first day.
My step-dad was an enlisted man in the legendary 8th Air Force. I once asked him what he was doing on D-Day, His answer, “Painting a fence.”
"There are only two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts, you're the fightin' 29th."
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.
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.