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Thread: D-Day: 75 years

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Perry Hilbert Jr View Post
    The young ones of today would never even have tried.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence View Post
    Mr. Hilbert, you should think before posting something like that. Plenty of young men today would and have demonstrated their personal courage on a hundred battlefields around the world.

    You may not read about them the same way you read about the men who landed on Omaha Beach, but that is a reflection of current politics, not a reflection on those who have served under fire over the last two decades.
    Right on, Nicholas.
    Heroism lives in every generation, country, ethnic group, religion, gender and so on.
    The D-Day anniversary is a day to remember a certain special group of heroes.
    But heroism is all around us all the time and as others have pointed out, every generation of military, including the current one, deserves the gratitude and respect of all.

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Perry Hilbert Jr View Post
    The young ones of today would never even have tried.
    This old one of today wouldn't want to try either.

    My Dad was late to the party but still went to Europe on the Uncle Sam Plan. He was in the Armored 3rd, driving a tank for Patton.

    The only stories we heard involved stealing a jeep to go into town, trading fuel with the farmers for some fresh eggs and maybe a chicken and antics like that. He did say that in training they were told the tank was bullet proof. It was a vile lie. They were also told the American machine guns were better than the German machine guns. He said that was a lie too.

    My Mom's youngest brother was a Marine somewhere in the Pacific. Her middle brother was on the Bergall when it was hit by a shell and opened a hole in the pressure hull. Her oldest brother was on a light cruiser when it was hit by a kamikaze. That they all made it home was by pure miracle.

    It was years after my father passed away I was told he was in some "nasty scrapes", as describe by someone that been through some horrible battles. When Dad was alive didn't want his children to know about the bad stuff that happened. Respecting his wishes I haven't pursued it.

    Edit: I just spent the last weekend at a paralypics, competing with and against a lot of disabled veterans. Our armed forces have a lot of heroes today whether we recognize it or not.

    -Tom
    Last edited by Tom Stenzel; 06-06-2019 at 4:35 PM.

  3. #18
    Kudos Nicholas. Todays military has been at continuous war since 9/11. Many have seen from 3 to as many a 10 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I served a single 13 month tour as a Marine grunt in Vietnam. I'm not sure that I could serve the multiple tours of today's men and women and still maintain my sanity. These folks too deserve our utmost respect and gratitude and are by no means any less strong and noble than our forefathers.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  4. #19
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    Many of today's young not only take on the challenge of being in the military they have made many sacrifices for our country.

    My father, brothers, nephews and son have been in various branches of the military and some still are. My son is in Korea and last I heard, one of my nephews is in Germany.

    Please do not sell the millennial generation short just because of the ones at the mall with their pants hanging low.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  5. #20
    Never forget that the United States has the largest ALL VOLUNTEER army in the world. Most of the guys in WWII were volunteers, either on their own, or at the direction of their local draft board. Very few shrugged their call to duty. My dad was put out of the Army (he fell in a mess hall and broke his leg,) so his youngest brother could be drafted. Dad was 32, married with four children when he was drafted. FIL never made into service as his job (bus driver) was considered to be "war critical." Wife's aunt served in England during the war. All sacrificed, some more than others. Thanks to all who served. Sometimes I remind some of our French friends, that if it wasn't for the GI's, they would be speaking German, instead of French.

  6. #21
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    Lets not forget that for the "UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand" WWII commenced on September 1st 1939.
    Last edited by Stewie Simpson; 06-06-2019 at 9:50 PM.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stewie Simpson View Post
    Lets not forget that for the "UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand" WWII commenced on September 1st 1939.
    We can never forget our allies. My father was a crewmember aboard a LCI in the South Pacific. One of the few war stories he told was of landing Aussie troops on a island in the South Pacific. No one country won WW-II.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  8. #23
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    I teach a lot of veterans using their GI Bill benefits. Some share their stories, some are very quiet, but all deserve our thanks and gratitude for answering the call to serve.

  9. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Stewie Simpson View Post
    Lets not forget that for the "UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand" WWII commenced on September 1st 1939.
    We remember Stewie. The Commonwealth fought long, hard and proudly.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  10. #25
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    I saw this story on TV this morning getting ready for work.
    People like this is the reason we won the war.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  11. #26
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    I have known a large number of combat veterans from my Dad's friends to my own. The one constant that I have observed is that they never expect to receive praise for their service but a sincere thank you is always appreciated and when you show them just a little respect it goes a very long way.

  12. #27
    I see Perry's comment not as insult, just recognition of the horrible task. Lots of young guys have thought
    of such wars as a chance to travel and meet women. Lot of people in my family met their mates through
    war travel. D Day survivors heard the dying calling for their moms. Every year D Day is a kind of sad
    marvel.

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald View Post
    We can never forget our allies. My father was a crewmember aboard a LCI in the South Pacific. One of the few war stories he told was of landing Aussie troops on a island in the South Pacific. No one country won WW-II.
    That's absolutely true. The one country that never gets talked about here in the United States is the Soviet Union. It was the Soviet Union that defeated the Germans (the US defeated the Japanese). The Soviet Union lost somewhere between 20 and 25 million soldiers and civilians KILLED during WWII, about 13% of their population. By comparison, the United States lost less than 500,000 soldiers and civilians killed during the war, significantly less than 1% of our population.

    The Soviet Union destroyed close to 200 German divisions on the eastern front.

    If not for the destruction of all those German divisions, the invasion on D-Day might not have succeeded. It was the Eastern Front that defeated the Germans, not D-Day. But what D-Day did was keep the Soviet Union out of Western Europe - which was very important.

    Mike

    [The US supplied the Soviet Union with much of the material required for them to wage war (almost 18 million tons). But it was the citizens of the Soviet Union who did the fighting and dying.]

    [Another point: The Soviet Union was a backward country (from an industrial point of view) prior to WWII. WWII made them a powerful country.]
    Last edited by Mike Henderson; 06-07-2019 at 9:54 AM.
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  14. #29
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    My father was drafted into the Canadian army as was my uncle. Leaving a new wife like so many others, in order to go to England to support his company, and face the German bombing raids along with the rest of the population.
    Uncle Jack was a master cabinetmaker, so naturally he fixed up the Hurricanes (J for Jake) and had to endure outside temperatures because there were hard stands, not heated hangers.
    Dad was 32 when drafted - and you all are right. The soldiers of today for whichever country are dedicated. Patriotic, giving and idealistic: it’s when they get home, disabled, shocked, many of them permanently marred mentally and physically that they are seen as useless.
    “My” war was Vietnam, and the number of my friends and relatives who went over both from Canada and the United States and the treatment they got when returning was exactly what I was told 4F stay at homers did to our WWII vets.
    Young enough to remember doing it;
    Old enough to wish I could do it again.

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Henderson View Post
    That's absolutely true. The one country that never gets talked about here in the United States is the Soviet Union. It was the Soviet Union that defeated the Germans (the US defeated the Japanese). The Soviet Union lost somewhere between 20 and 25 million soldiers and civilians KILLED during WWII, about 13% of their population. By comparison, the United States lost less than 500,000 soldiers and civilians killed during the war, significantly less than 1% of our population.

    The Soviet Union destroyed approximately 200 German divisions on the eastern front.

    If not for the destruction of all those German divisions, the invasion on D-Day might not have succeeded. It was the Eastern Front that defeated the Germans, not D-Day. But what D-Day did was keep the Soviet Union out of Western Europe - which was very important.

    Mike

    [The US supplied the Soviet Union with much of the material required for them to wage war (almost 18 million tons). But it was the citizens of the Soviet Union who did the fighting and dying.]

    [Another point: The Soviet Union was a backward country (from an industrial point of view) prior to WWII. WWII made them a powerful country.]
    I’ve listened to Dan Carlin’s Ghosts of the Ostfront, it’s very eye-opening.

    My grandfather landed in France three days after D-Day. I’ll never forget the phone call I had with him where he detailed a few episodes of his war experience. I called him to ask questions for my forth grade history paper on WWII, got a lot more information than I had expected.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

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