D-Day

[Takumaji]

My salute goes out to those brave men who gave their lifes for a free Europe. You are not forgotten.

I'm going to watch The Longest Day tonight.

. . . -

 

[Cylotron]

My grandfather fought in WWII(British pilot). One night my grandmother & father(he was a kid then) stayed over at an aunt's house. They wanted to go back home but this aunt had them stay. That night the neighborhood was bombed and my family's house was destroyed. If they had gone home they'd have died(and I wouldn't be here). After all that mess though, they ended up packing up and coming here to good ol' USA.

 

[Takumaji]

My father fought bravely too, just for the Axis forces... he was sent to Russia in 1943 to the Djnepr region, then one day his emplacement got overrun and he became a P.O.W. in a Russian camp in Siberia. He was released in December 1946 and arrived at home in summer 1947. Most of the journey had to be done on foot. He caught several diseases while he was imprisoned, among them hepatitis which eventually led to liver cancer from which he died in 1995.

For me, D-Day also is a day to remember my good ol' dad and his generation of lost kids.

 

[SNKorSWM]

I'm gonna watch Saving Private Ryan again.

 

[ReplicaX]

Jim Martin, dressed as he was 70 years ago, will be parachuting into Normandy today at age 93.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/d-day-anniversary-veteran-paratrooper-jump_n_5447257.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

 

[Kristian Meller]

I would watch Saving Private Ryan if it wasn't for the fact that I got Endless Love in the mail today

 

[theMot]

Sorry to hear about your dad Tak, i couldn't imagine going through something like that.

Amazing turn around by you guys post war though. Much like Japan which was hammered post war and also went on to become the power house it is today.

 

[ballzdeepx]

http://www.army.mil/d-day/
The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolph Hitler’s crack troops.

I salute these men as well.

Tak that is an interesting perspective, I'm sorry about your dad but thanks for sharing. War is hell no doubt about it.

 

[Neodogg]

My G-pa wasnt part of the D-day theatre, but was part of the Anzio Italy invasion, got a silver star in that campaign. Hats off to all D-Day vets, thanks.

 

[Late]

*ninja*

They fought the good fight.

 

[Takumaji]

Sorry to hear about your dad Tak, i couldn't imagine going through something like that.

Tak that is an interesting perspective, I'm sorry about your dad but thanks for sharing. War is hell no doubt about it.

The older my sister and I got, the more dad told us what he did and saw in World War II, on the Eastern Front, in the P.O.W. camp and during his long trip back to blighty. First-hand experience like that beats any history book and made us see the reality beyond propaganda and big brass heads who moved their troops like chess pieces and never really had to endure the brutality, blood, dirt, starvation and bitter cold that was the Eastern Front, Western Front, any front for that matter. These people went through a giant bone grinder and never were the same when they returned home, no matter which side they fought on.

Before that, my grandfather (mother's side) went through the bone grinder of World War I, other members of the family got killed during bombing raids, one of them starved to death in the hunger winter of '45, etc.

So... we all paid our price, eh.

 

[Neodogg]

These people went through a giant bone grinder and never were the same when they returned home, no matter which side they fought on.

So... we all paid our price, eh.

G-Pa never really spoke of the War, just showed us pictures, uniforms, a couple guns and flags from the Nazi's he kept. I'm pretty sure it messed with his head, cause he was a big drinker.

 

[Dr Shroom]

My grandpa was in the Marine during WWII and somehow dodged most of the fights and still found some time to father at least one child over in Japan (at least thats the rumor floatint around our family's history).

The ship he was supposed to be on got sunk while he was locked up on land for beating the radio guy.

 

[Pope Sazae]

It's also national Doughnut Day

 

[El Maricon Loco]

It's also national Doughnut Day

Yeah, I heard that at and was ready to go knock out someone at Krispy Kreme HQ (then steal donuts), but then I saw it started in 1938


~

My Gma lost her bro Jimmy in Battle of the Bulge, the kicker is they were first generation of US born kids. Parents from Germany, with a decent amount of familie still in the Fatherland. WOW.

 

[Kristian Meller]

My grandpa was in the Marine during WWII and somehow dodged most of the fights and still found some time to father at least one child over in Japan (at least thats the rumor floatint around our family's history).

The ship he was supposed to be on got sunk while he was locked up on land for beating the radio guy.

Big Tymer soldier?

 

[Dr Shroom]

I wouldn't be suprised if he had more children elsewhere. We know he's been to China too several times (actually found a business card from a Shanghai tailor from around 1930 some years ago.) Sailors were the big dicked bastards who swooped in and fucked every members mother back in the day.

He died over 20 years ago though so I never had a chance to ask him about it. Sorry about the lack of any good D-day stories from my side.

 

[K-2]

My grandfather arrived in France D Day +3. He had NY City blaster ' s license so the story went he blew up bridges for Patton.

He was drafted his last eligible year (35) didn't have found memories of the war and didn't talk about it much.

 

[GutsDozer]

Coming off those boats....man that had to be scary as hell. Guys dying all around you before you even hit shore. Those were men that had real balls and real patriots. I had family in the Pacific and European theater. I got to hear some good stories before they passed away.

 

[El Maricon Loco]

Coming off those boats....man that had to be scary as hell. Guys dying all around you before you even hit shore. Those were men that had real balls and real patriots. I had family in the Pacific and European theater. I got to hear some good stories before they passed away.

Yeah dude, like fucking anvils hanging between their knees, a stroll through the meat grinder.

 

[skate323k137]

My Grandpa was a mortar gunner in the Philippines. He was captured by the Japanese, survived the Bataan death march and three years in Japanese POW camps, including slave labor in the Mitsubishi mines. He had better historical odds of surviving concentration camps than the camps he was in.

He would have died in the bombings if there were not smoke over Kokura, causing the 2nd bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki instead.

 

[rarehero]

My grandfather was a medic after the first wave at Normandy.
Which I'm guessing was pretty horrific.
I never got to talk to him about it when he was alive.

 

[StevenK]

Coming off those boats....man that had to be scary as hell. Guys dying all around you before you even hit shore. Those were men that had real balls and real patriots. I had family in the Pacific and European theater. I got to hear some good stories before they passed away.

I'm not sure it was real balls and real patriotism as much as just no fucking choice. Not to take anything away from what they did of course.

It does make me wonder what the outcome would be of national conscription/the draft in the modern western world. People question what they are told to do a lot more these days than they did back then, and are much better informed. Part of me feels there would be a lot of cowardice hidden behind conscientious objection (very likely me for one), though I also wonder whether this is such a bad thing - and whether it would stop something escalating to quite the same scale as was seen in the two world wars ever again.

But yeah, hats off to everyone who fought that day for what they genuinely believed was the right thing - whichever side they were on.

 

[ReplicaX]

Coming off those boats....man that had to be scary as hell. Guys dying all around you before you even hit shore. Those were men that had real balls and real patriots. I had family in the Pacific and European theater. I got to hear some good stories before they passed away.

Now imagine that in the Air with 1000s of flak rounds bursting all around you.

42 C-47s lost. D-Day casualties for the airborne divisions totaled 9,150. This isn't including the Pathfinders we lost. This was just for D-Day not the whole Normandy Campaign.

 

[GutsDozer]

Now imagine that in the Air with 1000s of flak rounds bursting all around you.

42 C-47s lost. D-Day casualties for the airborne divisions totaled 9,150. This isn't including the Pathfinders we lost. This was just for D-Day not the whole Normandy Campaign.

Yeah the Airborne divisions were hard ass. They would return with half the damn plane missing if they came back at all.