D-Day, 76 years ago today.

Lewkat

Lewkat

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey, USA
Are there any WWII vets among us? Even though I was only 11 years old and 10 years before I was commissioned in the Air Force, I recall this date very clearly. Those of us in the U.S. had many friends and relatives who would be the first to hit those beaches in Normandy, France and I remember the adults sitting by the radio waiting for news of the invasion. I can't imagine what the folks in the U. K. and France were thinking, much less the rest of Europe and Australia. I know most Australians were on the Pacific front but some were with the Allies in Europe as well. When it was over, much blood had been spilled and many still lie beneath the soil in France. Let us salute them all and wish God Speed and many, many thanks for our freedoms today.
 

The landing of 24,000 British, Canadian, & American troops on Normandy beach... and absolutely hell for them all... . My mother was 10 years old at the time....

76 years is not a long time... in fact it's very short, yet how things have changed in the world hugely ,.. we owe these heroic men and women a huge debt of gratitude, in fact no amount of gratude can repay what they endured and died for.. ...we will never see anything like it again..and I hope we never need it
 
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"They fought together as brothers-in-arms. They died together and now they sleep side by side. To them, we have a solemn obligation."
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Sr.

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The courage of those men storming the beach is mind bending. So many shot down before taking even a few steps onto the sand, yet they kept coming.

My father was a paratrooper meant to drop behind the lines, but his glider was shot down. He was rescued, but had to wear a leg brace after that. I wasn't born yet, but I remember the brace.
 
D-Day is a really big deal and an heroic event by any measurement.

All of my relatives were in the Navy or Marines and fought in the Pacific: Guam, Midway, Leyte Gulf, and the major battle for Okinawa. One of them got to go swimming twice. All of them survived WWII.

One of my uncles was not so lucky during WWI and died from the effects of mustard gas poisoning.
 
I just posted this over on the Early Retirement forum...cut and paste below..

76 years ago on 6-Jun-44 the D-Day invasion in Europe began.

ms. gamboolgals father, Mr. Beam was in the 101st from the beginning of it at Toccoa Georgia. He was in the 501 Parachute Infantry Regiment Headquarters 3, 3rd Battalion.

Mr. Beam said that when they were in the plane over Normandy that the sky was bright as daylight from the German gunfire - and that all he wanted was to get out of the plane. He was in every major fight of the war and was never wounded. He never spoke of the killing to us but did say he had a pencil shot out of his hand all of his web gear shot off of him.

Mr. Beam had utmost respect for the German soldiers. He said they were excellent soldiers and would kill you in the blink of a eye.

He was on Eisenhower's Honor guard and was at Nuremberg. He walked Nazis to/from the trial and some of them to the gallows.

In about 1992 when our son was 7 years old Mr. and Mrs. Beam started taking him to the 101st reunions and our son got to meet all the old veterans and they of course took him in and treated him special. They went to reunions for several years. What a great experience for our son to have had and to meet these great men.

We lost Mr. Beam in 2008. I miss him greatly as he was a father to me. I would sit with him and listen to him for hours about the war and him growing up as a Sharecroppers Widow child with 7 children in East Texas. They were poor folks.

There were 5 boys and 4 fought in WW2 - all in combat and they all survived. One uncle had a glass eye from being shot thru the eye. When he died a old man he still had the bullet in his brain. He had a good job and family and you could not tell he had been wounded other than the glass eye.

We lost Mrs. Beam in Nov 2019. She was active in the 101st wives and families organization and thru her we were also.
End of an era....

Hats off and I'll raise a glass tonight to Mr. Beam, his brothers and to all the veterans who have served and are on active duty to this day. Thank you all for your service.

Mr. Beam is pictured in the lower right pic
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My father's older brother, My Uncle Arthur whom I never met, died on D-Day. He died fighting for a better world. When my Dad passed two years ago, a picture of his brother Arthur was on the wall of the room he passed in. There are times when I think concepts like honor are no longer a respected part of the American landscape, at least not for young people.
 
When I was in the ARMY Reserve we had a Retirement ceremony for guys who were leaving. One of the senior Operations Sergeants was retiring. I thought he was just another reservist with no distinguishing service. He never war a combat patch or any Uniform Decorations. But on Retirement day he showed up all decked out. Combat patch (101st Airborne), Jump wings with two stars, (two combat Jumps) Silver Star with V, Bronze Star with V, Purple heart, All the European combat ribbons, the French Fore-de-Gurre the works. Me being the nosy Intelligence dork had to tell him, "Your are going to be in a world of Shit if any other OFFICERS catch you wearing all that SHIT!!!

That is when he informed me that he was blasting out of a C-47 over Normandy on the early hours of June 6th 1944. I then piped up and said he wasn't that old. He informed me he was all of 16 (going on 17) while partaking his great adventure!!! I guess KIDS were made of sterner stuff back then.
 


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