Old Time Radio Programs, Complete Broadcast Day, D Day, June 06 1944 > https://archive.org/details/Complete...6_Part_001.mp3
jtk
[OP]
Contributor
Old Time Radio Programs, Complete Broadcast Day, D Day, June 06 1944 > https://archive.org/details/Complete...6_Part_001.mp3
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
It's extremely sad that there was nothing mentioned about the anniversary of this historical event on the news. This event changed the world as we know it. They are doing their best to erase history.
My Dad always told me "Can't Never Could".
SWE
Contributor
Dad had a friend who went in on D+1, 76 years ago today. He fought across Europe for 6 months and then was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. He, like so many others, never would tell me the whole story. He'd only say "It was just a little tank Fred."
"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.”
Contributor
Thanks ,Jim. Might have slipped by me. They knew what was being asked, and did it anyway.
Contributor
My uncle served in WWII and was wounded. He didn't talk about it but after I served in Vietnam he began to tell me stories about his service and how he was wounded.Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly
He was in the signal corps and was wounded by shrapnel when an 88 hit a tree near him as he was running wire for communications. I think it was in late 1944, as the Allies began their final push into Germany.
I suspect the reason there isn't a lot of news about D-Day is that there haven't been any real celebrations because of the virus. And this is not a "round year" like 75 years, or 80 years, 100 years, etc.
[Side note: Remember that only a small percentage of soldiers served in combat, maybe 10%. The rest were in support of the "tip of the spear". An example of this was General John C. H. Lee who was in charge of supply in Europe. After D-Day, when the Allies had captured Paris, Eisenhower gave orders that support personnel were to stay out of Paris - that Paris was to be used for R&R by front line troops. However, Lee moved his entire operation into Paris - and took over the major (first class) hotels. They lived like kings for the rest of the war.
There are other stories of some of these people routing railroad cars full of supplies to a side track so that black marketeers could rob it. The supply people got paid by the black marketeers. Eventually, Eisenhower ordered that supply trains were to be guarded by combat veterans who were not hesitant to shoot black marketeers. They had seen rear area soldiers with cold weather gear while they froze (without gear) in the mud in winter.]
Mike
[Here's a section of Wikipedia's entry on Lee:
In August, Com Z Headquarters moved from the UK to a camp at Valognes in France.[57] Although Eisenhower had expressed a desire that headquarters not be located in Paris, on 1 September Lee decided to move Com Z headquarters there.[58] This involved the movement of 8,000 officers and 21,000 enlisted men from the UK and Valognes, and took two weeks to accomplish at a time when there were severe supply shortages.[59] Eventually, Com Z occupied 167 hotels in Paris, the Seine Base Section headquarters occupied 129 more, and SHAEF occupied another 25.[60] Lee established his own official residence in the Hotel George V. The front of the building was kept clear for his own vehicle.[61] He justified the move to Paris on the grounds that Paris was the hub of France's road, rail and inland waterway communications networks. The logic was conceded, but the use of scarce fuel and transport resources at a critical time caused embarrassment.[57][59]
[Similar things happened in Vietnam. There were E-8 sergeants who were in charge of a major PX who wouldn't leave Vietnam. They were in a safe area (such as Saigon) and they were making money hand over fist selling goods to the black market. They kept extending their tours in Vietnam. There were things you could buy from black market people on Hai Ba Trung (could be the wrong street - it's been 50 years) that you couldn't get from army supply. Women had blankets that they spread out on the sidewalk and laid out their goods. The police (called the white mice) would go to the end ot the street (in a vehicle) and start driving slowly up the street. The gals (and it was almost all women) would grab their blankets by the four corners and retreat to an alley. After the white mice finished their drive and could report that they saw no black market, the women would come back and lay out their goods again.]
[The other big thing was money. Rich Vietnamese needed to get their money out of country but transfers of piasters (Vietnamese money) was tightly controlled. But where there's a will, there's a way and I can tell that story if anyone is interested.]
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 06-07-2020 at 7:30 PM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Contributor
There is a film of Eisenhower telling the men what they had to do. One of those brutally honest things.
Contributor
Hi Steve, who are “they”?
History is still taught, there’s more of it every year.
I don’t know if my dad was there or not, he was overseas at the correct time however would never talk about where he was or when, or any part he took aside from saying it was the worst years of his life.
All my friends parents are gone as well, as are all my parents siblings. I have my parents wedding photograph, dad in his Air Force uniform, my God, he was just a kid........Rod.
Contributor
My grandfather fought from D-day+3 (arrived three days after D-day) until VE day, then was moved to the philippines to prepare for an invasion of Japan. He never spoke much about it to family members until I called him to interview him for a fourth grade project where my class assignment was to interview a veteran about their war experience. This sort of formal interview brought out a lot about his experience.
He was a mortarman serving in the 86th Infantry (Blackhawks) so he carried 80lbs of kit on his 120lb frame. With enough prodding he spoke of 'knocking out' a Wehrmacht mortar position and eliminating light sharpshooter resistance in specific.
I can only imagine what the men of D-day must of felt knowing they were up against one hell of a foe. Gigantic concrete bunkers that lined the beach packed with men firing MG34's and hurling grenades along with obstacles on the beach and falling artillery. It just seems so impossible, and yet they did it.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Contributor
Those of us old enough to have had parents or close relatives who fought in WWII have an interest in such things. I don't see younger people have much interest in what is ancient history to them. You cant get most younger people to appreciate history, or even read a book these days. I know people in their 30s for whom Saving Private Ryan is just a Matt Damon and Tom Hanks movie.
Contributor
That hasn’t been my experience. I’ve seen a resurgence in conversation around wwi, the interwar years and wwii amongst people my age (30’s). Imo most of this stuff is simply much too interesting to bury in the archives of ancient history.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Contributor
If you want to read about some horrible combat, read about some of the battles on the Eastern Front. The Russians didn't clear mine fields - they forced conscripts to cross the mine fields so that more experienced soldiers could follow. The Soviet Union lost at least 25 million soldiers and civilians (killed, not casualties), about 13% of their population. The US lost about 400,000 killed, about 0.3% of our population.
It was the Soviet Union who was really responsible for the defeat of Germany.
Mike
[We supplied them with equipment, arms and ammunition but they did the fighting and dying.]
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 06-08-2020 at 7:58 PM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Contributor
That matches what I understand too, Mike.
"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.”
Contributor
Thank you, Mike. It’s already a point of interest for me. The eastern front alone would have made for the largest war in the history of mankind up until that point.
Ill certainly argue the point that without the US’ industrial capacity Russia probably would have succumb to the Wehrmacht’s advance.
BTW, that note about the minefields is pretty well contested. My understanding is that they often did not clear the minefields becuase they expected the losses created by attempted to clear them would likely be even higher then simply pushing forward as if they weren’t there at all. Given the intensity of the contact between those two forces I can see where they might apply that logic.
That said, I have doubts that other militaries would suffer the damage to morale caused by such an approach.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Contributor
I will never understand the soviet worship that has become such a fad in recent years. Is it a good thing that Stalin murdered his own people on an industrial scale? Are we supposed to be grateful that the soviets fought in their own country for their own lives?
Yes the Communists killed lots of Nazis. Beyond that they have nothing in common with the men who landed at Normandy.
They hated us and tried to destroy us right up until the moment Hitler attacked them, and they went right back to hating us and trying to destroy us the moment Germany collapsed.
Contributor
Sure they did. Knowing that doesnt change the historical fact that they took out a lot of other badguys. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", for a while.
Be assured there's no soviet worship here. But it's been my experience that to understand the modern world (and the cold war) you need all the information - not just the part that that supports a patriotic viewpoint.
YMMV
Fred
"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.”
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote