70 years after we still remember,

Full broadcast day on CBS radio, 6-6-44 https://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day

The bravery of the solders who fought pure evil in Europe and the Pacific will not be forgotten, they were the " Greatest Generation".

This morning, I woke up at 6.30 am, hour of the first assault at Omaha beach.



I had to go to Paris for my job, so I listened to the radio while driving about the different cérémonies at Caen, Colleville and Arromanches.

Because of the 70th anniversary , trucks are not allowed to drive in the department of Calvados from 6.00 am till 9. 00 pm. The last few days, I saw many jeeps and other military vehicles that went to the beaches. That happens every year over here. I the past few months, a lot of road works were going on in the different villages to prepare for D Day. One and a half months ago I passed at St Mère Eglise and I had trouble to get at the church to make a picture of the para, still hanging on the tower





I celebrated D day my own way. I got all the flags out:





Far left, the flag of the US 82nd "All American" and 101st "Screaming Eagles" airborne divisions that were dropped at near St Mère Eglise
Left, US flag for the western beaches Utah and Omaha
Centre and right, Canadian and British flags for Gold, Juno and Sword beach.
Far right, flag of the British 6th "Pegasus" airborne division that landed with gliders near Bénouville and Ranville, the eastern flank.

I got out my copy of the 1947 Michelin map concerning the landings:







It is impossible to give back or to compensate for the effort and the achievement made on that day and for the weeks and months to come!

Lieven

Lieven:

A very appropriate reminder of day now long forgotten by far too many today.  That service and sacrifice lead to the eventual down fall of the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) made possible a better world is unmistakeable by the observant.

Yet the task now before the Allies is still before us in the modern world.  The present "volunteer military" has lead to a sense of detachment and more is the pity.

SD

That the invasion by the allies to reclaim this land from the Nazis is still remembered and so appreciated is heartening. I always feel like Americans are so despised all over the world, and it feels good know that it's not always so. Thanks.
Rusty

Rusty:

Care to speculate WHY Americans are so despised around the world and by whom??

SD

SuperDave wrote:Rusty:

Care to speculate WHY Americans are so despised around the world and by whom??

SD

No. Not here.

Lieven,Thank you so much for sharing that,my grandfathers brother,John was a part in the Normandy Invasion,I always remember my father saying to me as a child this man deserves great respect,he never told me why,it took me years to figure it out,they never talked about the service or what they had done.

RknRusty wrote:

SuperDave wrote:Rusty:

Care to speculate WHY Americans are so despised around the world and by whom??

SD

No. Not here.

Rusty:

Indeed, considering that not everything in our history has been to our credit especially under the current administration.  The Berghdal prisoner swap with the Tailiban for example.

By all accounts Bergdahl was a deserter and possibly a dozen or more Americans sacrificed their lives attempting to free him prior to the prisoner swap.

What to you make of that?

SD

SuperDave wrote:
Rusty:

Indeed, considering that not everything in our history has been to our credit especially under the current administration.

What to you make of that?

SD

Name a country where that is not the case.
This thread is about good will and commemoration of the allied forces that made it possible for all countries that choose to participate to have a better place to live. If you want to grouse and wave examples of "not everything in our history," start your own thread, it's just rude to do it here.
Rusty