I have done some interesting stuff and been under some stressful times in the military. Being shot at and have artillery drop on you is a pucker factor 11.
Being shot at like this is unimaginable. Your whole world would live rounds aimed at your body......crazy.
These men are Sheep Dogs of the highest order and will remain such until they die.
We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit." ~ General George S. Patton, Jr
Rangers, Lead The Way!" ~ Colonel Francis W. Dawson on the occasion of the Normandy Invasion, 1944
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....The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking." ~General Dwight D. Eisenhower giving the D-Day order on June 6, 1944.
Just a note, Eisenhower didn't feel all that certain about the D-Day invasion and wrote a letter of apology just in case they were repulsed.
Quote:
“Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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I walked all of Juno beach last summer. It was a very sobering and emotional experience. Heroes indeed.
Yes, it's very sobering. I found Omaha to be even more thought provoking. You can stand on the beach and look up at the bluff where the German gun placements are and imagine how anyone could get across that expanse of sand, the shingle, and then up the hill to knock out the enemy. It seems like a much larger expanse than Juno though Juno was no less heavily protected. On any of the beaches it looks like a long way to run today let alone having the beach protected by various defensive measures and bullets whizzing by you. Lots of young men grew up in a hell of a hurry on those beaches.
Yes, it's very sobering. I found Omaha to be even more thought provoking. You can stand on the beach and look up at the bluff where the German gun placements are and imagine how anyone could get across that expanse of sand, the shingle, and then up the hill to knock out the enemy. It seems like a much larger expanse than Juno though Juno was no less heavily protected. On any of the beaches it looks like a long way to run today let alone having the beach protected by various defensive measures and bullets whizzing by you. Lots of young men grew up in a hell of a hurry on those beaches.
I am actually a military history major and WW2 was my focus of study. I've seen hundreds of photos but it really is different to actually see the beach in person. I haven't been to Omaha but I sure would like to see it one day. What gets me about Juno is just how flat it is. There is literally zero cover. Those men would have been completely exposed coming off those boats.
Just a note, Eisenhower didn't feel all that certain about the D-Day invasion and wrote a letter of apology just in case they were repulsed.
I think back up letters and speeches are written all the time. If memory serves, there were speeches drawn up in case Armstrong and company couldn't get back from the moon.
Brave men though. I know I'd probably be pissing myself in the boat even before landing.
It's pretty amazing stuff. I have an old Reader's Digest set that came from my grandfather that is all stories from the war. Most of the second book is around the landings and it's hard to imagine. You can picture it in your mind and even know what some of those guys were feeling, but at the same time you still know that you're not doing it justice and not fully comprehending it.
Some of the guys talked about watching planes go overhead while they were crossing and it taking over hours for all of the aircraft to go overhead - with the sky full of them at every moment, or how some guys just went crazy when they hit the beach because they couldn't comprehend or process what was in front of them. Just basically lost their minds - one guy sat there skipping rocks into the ocean with everything going on around him. Just gone.
I've also heard that a lot of guys lost their religion from this event. Basically stemming from one of two thoughts - a person would never be exposed to this in a world in which God existed, and the other being along the lines that Hell was supposed to be the worst place imaginable, and many couldn't imagine anything worse than the landing - Hell in the biblical sense ceased to exist.
It's pretty amazing what a lot of these guys went through and how it defined the rest of their lives and who they were. The World Wars are extremely interesting to me and I find it sad that many people today have such little knowledge of them.
Visited Aucshwitz a few weeks ago. Knowing what was going on in Europe made the landings absolutely necessary to any country with a notion of decency towards mankind. The world owes all the men involved a debt that cannot be repaid.
Visited Aucshwitz a few weeks ago. Knowing what was going on in Europe made the landings absolutely necessary to any country with a notion of decency towards mankind. The world owes all the men involved a debt that cannot be repaid.
OT, did the Allies have confirmation of the death camps prior to the landings?
OT, did the Allies have confirmation of the death camps prior to the landings?
They were aware of their existance, Polish resistance had let them know what was going on to some degree, but there was an inability to understand the scale or enourmity of it. When it came time to decide whether to bomb the camps it was decided not to as prisoners would be killed and this was thought unacceptable.
Until we liberated the camps they were seen as 'just' concentration camps, not death factories.
I think back up letters and speeches are written all the time. If memory serves, there were speeches drawn up in case Armstrong and company couldn't get back from the moon.
Brave men though. I know I'd probably be pissing myself in the boat even before landing.
Off-topic post, sorry.
The moon disaster speech was called Forever Mankind, written by one of Nixon's speechwriters, William Safire.
Quote:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
June 6, 1944
