ECKSJAY
Water is dirty
- Location
- Covington, WA
:us:
06 June 1944
- Thread starter ECKSJAY
- Start date
- Location
- Columbus, In
atriot: If it wasn't for all the soldiers who fought on that day it may have been a very different world today!WB9YZU
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Madison, WI
Thanks for the reminder!
-Ron
-Ron
Jeepm@n
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Northern, WI
Sir Charles
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Nellis AFB, NV
Kudos to the soldiers whose lives were selflessly dedicated for their country.
_____________
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I salute all who are serving, all who have served and all who gave all for our American way of life!
atriot:
tbburg
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Scottsdale AZ
JeepFreak21
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Cameron Park, CA
DoctorPhate
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Ottawa Canada
We should remember that it was not only the US that took part in D-Day but the British and Canadians as well.
tharlanjr
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- EAST COUNTY
Great Speech, Great President! I'm so thankful for the sacrifice those men gave on that day.
muddyrocks
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Zebulon,NC
Amen and Semper Fi.
Thanks brothers.
Thanks brothers.
5-90
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Hammerspace
Kids these days think musicians and sportsmen are heroes.
Truth is, we haven't had a generation of heroes since WWII. We have individual heroes - those actualy worthy of the name - but they're not usually put up in front of everyone by the media (instead, we lionise "Rap singers" and the like.)
The men who landed on the beaches on D-day are heroes - in the truest sense of the word. COL Paul Tibbets and his bomber crew on 06AUG1945? Also heroes - in that they brought a devastating war to an abrupt end.
Given the direction being taken by youth to-day, it's not very likely we will see heroism of that calibre - and if it is brought to light, it won't be held up in the press for all to see (since that sort of heroism doesn't bring higher ratings.)
Dates in history that should not be forgotten:
** 30MAY1868 (The original Memorial Day, to remeber the dead of the American Civil War.)
** 03SEP1783 (Signing of the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the American Revolution, and when Britain recognised the sovereignty of the United States of America.)
** 12MAY1784 (Official ratification of the Treaty of Paris, when signed ratification documents were exchanged in Paris, France.)
** 11NOV1918 (Armistice Day, the end of WWI)
** 07DEC1941 (The bombing of Pearl Harbor - "The Day that shall live in Infamy.")
** 06JUN1945 (D-Day, the final European offensive of WWII)
** 06 & 08AUG1945 (Dropping of the first atomic bombs on Japan.)
** 15AUG1945 (Japan surrenders, formally ending WWII in toto.)
Truth is, we haven't had a generation of heroes since WWII. We have individual heroes - those actualy worthy of the name - but they're not usually put up in front of everyone by the media (instead, we lionise "Rap singers" and the like.)
The men who landed on the beaches on D-day are heroes - in the truest sense of the word. COL Paul Tibbets and his bomber crew on 06AUG1945? Also heroes - in that they brought a devastating war to an abrupt end.
Given the direction being taken by youth to-day, it's not very likely we will see heroism of that calibre - and if it is brought to light, it won't be held up in the press for all to see (since that sort of heroism doesn't bring higher ratings.)
Dates in history that should not be forgotten:
** 30MAY1868 (The original Memorial Day, to remeber the dead of the American Civil War.)
** 03SEP1783 (Signing of the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the American Revolution, and when Britain recognised the sovereignty of the United States of America.)
** 12MAY1784 (Official ratification of the Treaty of Paris, when signed ratification documents were exchanged in Paris, France.)
** 11NOV1918 (Armistice Day, the end of WWI)
** 07DEC1941 (The bombing of Pearl Harbor - "The Day that shall live in Infamy.")
** 06JUN1945 (D-Day, the final European offensive of WWII)
** 06 & 08AUG1945 (Dropping of the first atomic bombs on Japan.)
** 15AUG1945 (Japan surrenders, formally ending WWII in toto.)
- Location
- NC Sandhills
My 6th grade teacher was a 82d Airborne guy who got to drop in on D-day. He was a good Dude!
:cheers: to Thomas Eden
Land soft, Kill quiet.
:cheers: to Thomas Eden
Land soft, Kill quiet.
5-90
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Hammerspace
Woody, I think it was you that first said this:
"Nothing sez, 'We like this place!' like dropping a battalion of Rangers on it."
My great-granddad was an antiair gunner on an Army ship for two years, in the Pacific. Kept him busy...
- Location
- Roanoke VA
One of our local towns, Bedford VA, lost 19 young men that day. The most "per capita" of any town/city in America. The Bedford National D-Day Memorial is a touching place to visit.
The Last of the Bedford Boys
There was a touching story published in the Richmond Times Dispatch on June 6, 2007 about Ray Nance, the last of the famed "Bedford Boys" that stormed the beach at Normandy on D-Day. Nineteen of the young men cut down that day were from the small central Virginia town of Bedford. The saying has been oft repeated that Bedford suffered the greatest loss of any town in the U.S. that day, per capita.
I grew up about 20 miles from Bedford and my uncle trained with Company A, but went into Normandy on D-Day plus one. Before D-Day was over 90 per cent of Company A was dead or wounded and Ray Nance was their lieutenant. He is now 93 years old and failing.
His life since D-Day has been haunted by bad dreams but sleep comes easier now, the ravages of time offering blessed forgetfulness.
I went to school and grew up with their cousins and nephews and nieces. Some of my teachers were their sisters. And now all the boys of Company A are gone, but one, and he's fading away and soon he'll be gone.
These men weren't heroes, they were just teenagers and young men answering the call when their country needed them. But when you think of what they accomplished, those cut down so young, the ones that have passed on and the one that is now left, they ended up being giants.
Jim Martin
The Last of the Bedford Boys
There was a touching story published in the Richmond Times Dispatch on June 6, 2007 about Ray Nance, the last of the famed "Bedford Boys" that stormed the beach at Normandy on D-Day. Nineteen of the young men cut down that day were from the small central Virginia town of Bedford. The saying has been oft repeated that Bedford suffered the greatest loss of any town in the U.S. that day, per capita.
I grew up about 20 miles from Bedford and my uncle trained with Company A, but went into Normandy on D-Day plus one. Before D-Day was over 90 per cent of Company A was dead or wounded and Ray Nance was their lieutenant. He is now 93 years old and failing.
His life since D-Day has been haunted by bad dreams but sleep comes easier now, the ravages of time offering blessed forgetfulness.
Ray Nance, who is about to turn 93, sleeps peacefully, largely because his failing memory no longer summons many images from June 6, 1944, when 19 young Bedford men were killed on the beach at the start of the D-Day invasion.
During recent interviews, the memory that shone through brightest for Nance was his rescue from the beach, where he had lain wounded for hours.
"I looked up, and there was a sergeant -- he was from Roanoke -- he said, 'Get up on my back, and I'll take you out of here,'" Nance recalled. "He carried me almost piggy-back all the way along the beach, maybe 300 yards. And don't you know, there wasn't a shot fired at us."
I went to high school in Bedford and have been well schooled in the sacrifices of that day and the way that little town was torn apart. I recall the story of the Western Union telegrapher taking notice after notice of the deaths and how they just wouldn't stop coming.During recent interviews, the memory that shone through brightest for Nance was his rescue from the beach, where he had lain wounded for hours.
"I looked up, and there was a sergeant -- he was from Roanoke -- he said, 'Get up on my back, and I'll take you out of here,'" Nance recalled. "He carried me almost piggy-back all the way along the beach, maybe 300 yards. And don't you know, there wasn't a shot fired at us."
I went to school and grew up with their cousins and nephews and nieces. Some of my teachers were their sisters. And now all the boys of Company A are gone, but one, and he's fading away and soon he'll be gone.
Until a few years ago, those memories haunted Nance's dreams. He would wake up and replay the events in his head, asking himself what he might have done differently to save some of his men. Nance was a lieutenant.
But he can no longer access those dark memories, he and his wife, Alpha, said in recent interviews. As a result, his wife said, "Ray is much more at peace."
Nance, who still has a boyish face and penetrating blue eyes, said he would prefer to remember everything -- "the good and the bad." Then he added, "Maybe some things are better forgotten."
Ray Nance still visits the National D-Day Memorial that sits on a beautiful hillside there in Bedford on a weekly basis with Alpha, his wife of 62 years. He is a smiling and pleasant gentleman and the last time I saw him was at the memorial about a year ago.But he can no longer access those dark memories, he and his wife, Alpha, said in recent interviews. As a result, his wife said, "Ray is much more at peace."
Nance, who still has a boyish face and penetrating blue eyes, said he would prefer to remember everything -- "the good and the bad." Then he added, "Maybe some things are better forgotten."
These men weren't heroes, they were just teenagers and young men answering the call when their country needed them. But when you think of what they accomplished, those cut down so young, the ones that have passed on and the one that is now left, they ended up being giants.
Jim Martin
90Blue_XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- In yer postz fixin yer spellinz.
Thanks to all those Heros for their sacrifices and to the Heros of Korea, VietNam and now Iraq/Afganastan. You are all appreciated for your service to your country and her citizens.
- Location
- Camden, SC
5-90
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Hammerspace
I meant in no way to slight the military heroes 1950 and forward - but we've stumbled through two wars without "home & hearth support" (Korea and Vietnam,) and while I firmly believe that Desert Storm 1991 was just, I'm not sure about Desert Storm II and GWOT (my main problem is that we should have finished the damned job the first time we were there, and to Hell with politics.)
But, while there are individual heroes currently (as said before,) I don't think we can count a whole generation of heroes in much the same way as we did in the late 1910's and 1940's.
It applies to them all the moreso because they weren't the ones to trumpet about it, it was done for them. The general consensus among the men who went to fight was, "It had to be done, we did it, and now we're home. Can we move on now?" Both a good thing and a bad thing, but it's what those men wanted.
vikingxj
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Bellingham, Washington
Having been there for the 60th year Anniversary, I find it quite humbling to have trodden on the same ground that so many had sacrificed themselves upon.
Darky
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- 29 Palms, CA
I was there for the 65th on a class trip to France. There were more American flags flying there that day than I see here at home on July 4th. People were very friendly towards, random people would just walk up and start talking to us. Those who were there that day may be gone, but the people of Normandy still remember what was done that day and are forever grateful.
If I ever get around to scanning my pictures, I'll put some up here. The ground looks like the green, rolling hills of Ireland or MO in miniature on account of all the shell craters. Some of the German bunkers are still standing and it's quite the feeling to look out the gunslits onto the beach.
If I ever get around to scanning my pictures, I'll put some up here. The ground looks like the green, rolling hills of Ireland or MO in miniature on account of all the shell craters. Some of the German bunkers are still standing and it's quite the feeling to look out the gunslits onto the beach.
Jeepm@n
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Northern, WI
It's guy's like this we have to thank for our freedom. It's too bad you don't see more of the media covering a story like this.
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