Midwest Chick's Place

(A.K.A. Non-Original Rants)

–Co-opting good stuff from all over the ‘Net and maybe some original thoughts—ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

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D-Day…

On the 6th of June in 1944, Allied forces stormed five beaches at Normandy, France.

When the seaborne units began to land about 6:30 am on June 6, the British and Canadians on Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches overcame light opposition. So did the Americans at Utah. The U.S. 1st Division at Omaha Beach, however, confronted the best of the German coast divisions, the 352nd, and was roughly handled by machine gunners as the troops waded ashore. During the morning, the landing at Omaha threatened to fail. Only dedicated local leadership eventually got the troops inland—though at a cost of more than 2,000 casualties.

The National WWII Museum has several oral histories from veterans who fought on those beaches. Its mission:

The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today—so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn.

The Babylon Bee did a spectacular biting satire piece (ht B) about how the moonbats of today would have us look at our past. Make sure you have a strong stomach because it’s so spot on to the thinking of those who would undermine our past that I threw up a little bit.

I think that my generation is the last one to have direct connections to men of the Greatest Generation. We’re the last ones who got the true history that celebrated what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers did to secure liberty and freedom in the world.

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Midwest Chick

13 responses to “D-Day…”

  1. avraham Avatar
    avraham

    My dad was in the U.S. Air Force at that time working on the B-29. But most if his work was secret. So I never got information except what the air force was willing to release-. He himself never talked about WWII; and you probably know that everyone (i.e., every American) that was a part of it always downplayed their role – saying, “We just had a job to do and we did it.”

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  2. dave in pa. Avatar
    dave in pa.

    my dad joined the navy because he didn’t want to wear a tie.
    yup. changed his last name a bit and joined up. about the only thing he missed was pearl harbor. got a navy cross for doing
    “stupid shit” and 14-or so battle stars. he told me a few stories but that was only after I came home. like he said, no one would understand it unless you went thru it yourself.
    he also told me, “it okay to be scared but do what you have too” that was where training came in, you don’t think about it, you just do it.
    most kids today have no idea about WW2, it not taught in schools anymore. my kid’s social studies “book” had 2.5 pages on it, but over 60 pages on the civil rights movement.
    what would our fathers say about that ?

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  3. Midwest Chick Avatar
    Midwest Chick

    avraham–Pretty much the answer that all of them gave.

    dave–I know of someone who went to Canada to join the war before the US got involved. Our fathers would be mortally insulted I think, not because of their personal stories, but because what they did is being sidelined and replaced with tyranny.

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  4. Zarba Avatar
    Zarba

    My father served in WWII and Korea. Luckily, he was stationed stateside. Other friends of his were not so lucky.

    One was a tail gunner on a Liberator flying out of Italy. 3 others were Marines who stormed Iwo Jima. A couple others waded ashore on D-Day in Normandy. One was a green 2nd Lieutenant during the Battle of the Bulge.

    Great men, all.

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  5. Unferth Avatar
    Unferth

    One of my mother’s cousins went to Canada to join the war. He was shot down three times, and eventually was held in a POW camp.

    My 8th grade history teacher fought house-to-house across France. He made history come alive.

    When my kids were growing up, I set up Battlefield 1942 for us to play as a home LAN party. When my son saw the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, he recognized it immediately as Omaha Beach.

    I’m convinced that if Germany and the Soviets had remained allies, most of today’s youth would have supported the Axis powers. They seem to be all in on authoritarian rule, domestic spying, and tossing your political opposition into prison. For that matter, most Western European governments would probably gladly embrace National Socialism.

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  6. capvideo Avatar
    capvideo

    I went to the National WWII Museum in 2022. At the time, at least, it was a great experience, from the train transport in place of a new recruit to the “canteen” with cheesily-named but definitely old-school dishes.

    It was the last thing I did in New Orleans before the end of that trip, and would make a great excuse for visiting New Orleans.

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  7. Nemo Avatar
    Nemo

    The opening scenes in Saving Private Ryan are so realistic as bring tears to eyes thinking if it was even 1/4 that bad it’s a wonder anyone survived.

    As much as I detest Tom Hanks, that was one of his best portrayals, IMHO. The shaking right hand tells all.

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  8. Doc B Avatar
    Doc B

    My grandmother’s brother is buried at the American cemetery in Normandy. 29th Division, Utah Beach.

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  9. Nemo Avatar
    Nemo

    @avraham

    Not to nit pick, however the U.S. Air Force was not created until after WWII.

    “The National Security Act of 1947 became law on July 26, 1947. It created the Department of the Air Force”

    Your Dad served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in WWII as did mine.

    My Dad was on a ship bound for Australia on Dec. 9, 1942 as part of an aircraft maintenance brigade. As the front progressed across the Pacific, his brigade moved to New Guinea where he spent the rest of the war. He didn’t return home until almost a year after the war ended.

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  10. Midwest Chick Avatar
    Midwest Chick

    Zarba–Wow! Great men all indeed!

    Unferth–You are lucky in your eighth grade teacher and what you did with your kids. Unfortunately the creeping socialism in government education has had its effect so the ideas of liberty and freedom are scary and should be traded for safety.

    cap–That would be a great reason to visit New Orleans.

    Nemo–Tom Hanks is a horrible person but a good actor.

    Nemo–Spot on. It was Army Air Corps. Thank you for part of your dad’s story!

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  11. Old NFO Avatar
    Old NFO

    Common men, with uncommon bravery… May they rest in peace.

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  12. Midwest Chick Avatar
    Midwest Chick

    NFO–Yes, and yes, may they rest in peace.

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  13. Nemo Avatar
    Nemo

    This link is to a story I found at Ken’s place in a comment on an article on D-Day. It’s about a 15 min. read and tells a tale of the absolute mayhem encountered by one company on that fateful day.

    https://patch.com/new-jersey/ramsey-nj/bp–the-ww-ii-normandy-invasion-6-june-1944-first-wav6b0df285fc#

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