Just a reminder to take a moment and think about the brave men who 65 years ago made the landing at Normandy and began the chain of events that ended the evil of the Nazi regime.
I watched the ceremony from France. It was nice to see Canada represented with the other major leaders. Canada's contributions to WWII and Normandy are often overlooked due to the British influence and it was nice to see.
I will give the Devil his due, Obama made a great speech and good on him to recognize the sacrifices of Russia who made the impossible possible in terms of ending WWII.
I also got chills when the U.S. Airforce fly by featured the missing man formation.
If you pray, then take a minute and pray for the men that fell that day. If you don't pray take a moment and thank these men for their bravery.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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Living in Ottawa, I've had the opportunity to go by the War Museum and thank some veterans in person. Many vets volunteer there and are willing to tell their stories. I think it is a two way street. Many are lonely seniors now looking for someone to talk to, and it was great to learn about what happened from people that were actually there. Though I have wondered what it must be like for someone to recount the atrocities each and every day to a different group of strangers. I would think that would be its own kind of hell.
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Living in Ottawa, I've had the opportunity to go by the War Museum and thank some veterans in person. Many vets volunteer there and are willing to tell their stories. I think it is a two way street. Many are lonely seniors now looking for someone to talk to, and it was great to learn about what happened from people that were actually there. Though I have wondered what it must be like for someone to recount the atrocities each and every day to a different group of strangers. I would think that would be its own kind of hell.
Good for you.
Lots of the guys would never talk about it.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Living in Ottawa, I've had the opportunity to go by the War Museum and thank some veterans in person. Many vets volunteer there and are willing to tell their stories. I think it is a two way street. Many are lonely seniors now looking for someone to talk to, and it was great to learn about what happened from people that were actually there. Though I have wondered what it must be like for someone to recount the atrocities each and every day to a different group of strangers. I would think that would be its own kind of hell.
That's awesome of you, not a lot of people would do that.
I just got back from Europe myself. The last place I visited was the Normandy beaches, only missed the anniversary by a couple days. While we were visiting Omaha beach they were setting up for the big ceremony and some fighters flew in real low. I'm guessing they were practicing the formation or something for the ceremony.
There is something unreal about visiting those beaches and walking through the cemeteries. It was an incredibly moving experience for me.
I've said it before, but my recent trip instilled in me even further that there is no group of people we owe more to than those who fought, and continue to fight and die for the type of freedoms we take for granted every day.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HPLovecraft
I am beginning to question the moral character of those who cheer for Vancouver.
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Whenever I think about the D-Day invasions I'm amazed. At the end of the day, it wasn't some new superweapon, or the mass bombardment of the Navy, or the bombing by the U.S. air force or British Air Force that made that day. Those things to a degree all failed to accomplish their goal. It was the bravery and determination of the Infantry. It was the corporals and sergeants and warrants who pulled and pushed their men forward. It was the officers who showed tremendous leadership from the front. It was the privates who crawled through glass like beachfront, past hideous traps built to funnel them into pre defined killing zones who destroyed pill boxes and machine gun nests one by one by one. It was the medics who tried to save lives as bullets cracked over their heads.
It was the tankers who got ashore who engaged and silenced guns that were ripping some 18 or 19 or 20 year old kid from Calgary or Regina or Vancouver or Montreal or some tiny farm or small town we never heard from apart one by one.
Except for the inshore invasion by the U.S. Marines in Korea an event like this has never ever happened again, and we as civilized beings hope that the sacrifices made by these kids never has to happen in this way again.
Cutting through 4 foot swells on a rainy day in a small leaky boat with a mass of other soldiers waiting for that front ramp right in front of you drop while bullets and rounds impact on it inches from your nose, knowing that its possible that you or the guy in front of, behind you to the left or the right might not be around in the next few seconds must have defined terror, but somehow they believed it was neccessary and they didn't freeze. They believed that they were fighting the forces of evil and darkness, and in this case they were right.
To the most successful invasion force on that day, we see their numbers shrinking year by year, but we need to continue to remember this even after all of them are gone.
As one vet was quoted as saying today "We'll keep coming back as long as we can"
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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To the most successful invasion force on that day, we see their numbers shrinking year by year, but we need to continue to remember this even after all of them are gone.
I feel it's a little late to be posting this, but the above quote really reminded me of this song and how much I love it, and how we should be thanking and honouring our veterans more often than every November 11th.
Me being German its still such a great experience and understanding that this was the root of some wack job. When I attended school here in the United states and they talked about WW2 and the invasion they have never spoke of the canadian troops that fought on the side of liberty!
It amazes me to this day that mainly the american forces get all the credit.
I had family that fought for the germans in ww2 and I have spoke to some of them before they passed. most of them told me that they had no choice to fight. They were forced to either fight for something they didn't belive in or get shot on site. most of our early folks that moved to the states in the late 30's to milwaukee or buffalo areas.
I came to the united states in 1989. I have been back to Berlin to see the wall and cried in public to what the fact of war has done to humans.
I love history more love of ww2 I find that war so amazing the courage of the men to liberate countries and germany themselfs from the nazi's.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the men and women that helped the war effort.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
Americans are awesome at rewriting history to suit themselves. The important note is not what Americans think of the contributions of others, but what the French and the Belgians think of the contributions of others, and they've always had a much more realistic view of the world's contributions to their liberty.
More than a decade ago, there was a smallish, older man who worked in the mailroom of our company downtown . . . . . . you didn't really notice him as he wound his way through offices and cubicles . . . . . but knew him at least enough to say hi. He had a hobbling gait that distinguished him.
You'd never think he was once a Canadian soldier who went ashore on D-Day. But he was.
Thanks to him for his service.
Cowperson
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Dear Lord, help me to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. - Anonymous
65th Anniversary of D-Day
