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75 years ago today brave men stormed the beaches of Normandy


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Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

 

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

 

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

 

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!

 

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

 

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.

 

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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This was sent out yesterday at 4:54 pm EST by a Judge in the Federal Court for the Western District of PA.   It's well written: 

 

 

"Dear Colleagues,

At this hour 75 years ago, 2245 hours British Double Summer Time, June 5, 1944, the paratroopers of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, along with the their British and Canadian comrades in arms, began to lift off from  air bases in England to serve as the "pathfinders" for the D-Day invasion. They were soon followed by other Airborne troops in unarmed gliders. Knowing of the toll that they would soon endure, General Eisenhower personally visited with them as they prepared to board the C-47 cargo planes that  would deliver them to France.

These men (and back then they were all men) were almost all 20 years old or younger, and were tasked with dropping behind enemy lines on the Normandy peninsula, in the middle of the night,  to secure the landing zones and to open pathways inland for the tens of thousands of troops that would soon land by sea. They sustained extensive casualties. They would become the first soldiers to land in occupied France to begin the battle that would free that country and the world from the grip of tyranny.

We are all the fortunate beneficiaries of their bravery and sacrifice in that Great Crusade, and now, 75 years later, the very last of them are fading from our view. I would urge all of us, in our own way, to take a moment away from our vital work on behalf of the Nation to reflect on their service to the cause of freedom."

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We should honor the men who fought that day (and others preceding and following in that great conflict) by enjoying the liberty they sacrificed to give us.  Here is a quote from a news article I recently read: 

 

Helen Patton, a granddaughter of famed American tank commander Gen. George S. Patton Jr., is back in Normandy for the 75th anniversary with a message that younger generations should enjoy the liberties so many soldiers fought and died for.

Presiding Monday at a game of American football played close to the landing beaches, she quoted from a poem written by her grandfather during World War I to convey the idea that part of honoring those sacrifices is relishing life:

"When I sit in my tank and wait for the hour for the great barrage to come down, I wish to god there was one more day for raising hell in town."

Edited by RyanC883
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1 hour ago, DC Tom said:

75 years ago yesterday, Operation Forager started.

 

75 years ago the day before, Rome was occupied.

 

The war was bigger than D-Day.

Thank you, Professor. While some of us here are versed in WWII theaters of operations, many are not as the decades slip away. A recent poll showed 50% of millennials are unfamiliar with the Nazi war on Jews. We don’t have much choice but to be grateful ANYTHING is being taught about the Greatest Generation.

 

P.S. If Clark weren’t such an egotistical ass and kept the heat on in the Italian mountains instead of stupidly racing to the Open city of Rome, it likely wouldn’t have taken the Nazi surrender a year later to claim victory in Italy.

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I agree with Ronna McDaniel and so many other Republicans- today should be about honoring Donald Trump and all that he has done for this great country.  God bless that man.  To think, if only his doctors had let him fight in Vietnam, it may have turned the whole tide of the war.

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12 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Thank you, Professor. While some of us here are versed in WWII theaters of operations, many are not as the decades slip away. A recent poll showed 50% of millennials are unfamiliar with the Nazi war on Jews. We don’t have much choice but to be grateful ANYTHING is being taught about the Greatest Generation.

Not to bring this topic into a millennial bashing conversation, but that thought was going through my mind as i was reading some of the posted articles. I really don't think anyone from the generations of today could have the guts to do what these young hero's did back then. Heck I would have to question my self for that matter. Never really know until you are put into that situation, but man running right into that knowing pretty much you were going to die. Hope we never have to make a decision like that again in the history of man..

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7 minutes ago, badassgixxer05 said:

Not to bring this topic into a millennial bashing conversation, but that thought was going through my mind as i was reading some of the posted articles. I really don't think anyone from the generations of today could have the guts to do what these young hero's did back then. Heck I would have to question my self for that matter. Never really know until you are put into that situation, but man running right into that knowing pretty much you were going to die. Hope we never have to make a decision like that again in the history of man..

a) did you serve?

 

b) do you have any idea how many “millennials” have served?

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