| D-Day 20:01 - Jun 5 with 7218 views | hubble |
I'm sure like me, many of you have relatives who were involved in some way with D-Day.
My Uncle John was a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy, in command of Motor Launch ML 205 that landed on Juno beach on D-Day. Sadly he died four years ago, he would have been 101 this year. He was awarded the Legion D'honneur for his role. I feel very proud of him, and all those who served, to give us the freedom that we enjoy today.
Edit: I've just found an email from him where he explains his role more fully:
"I was on the bridge directing one of the columns towards its allocated beach. Our MLs were known as Directional Leaders as we had been fitted with very secret radars which could pin-point our position in the English Channel very precisely.
A couple of weeks after the landings I was ordered back to UK to begin extensive training for what was then a record distance for such small boats - over 8000 miles for the invasion of Rangoon, Burma then in the hands of the Japanese. We had to have extra fuel tanks bolted to the upper deck, which then had to removed when we got to the nearest Indian port not in the hands of the enemy."
[Post edited 5 Jun 20:37]
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| D-Day on 11:05 - Jun 6 with 2187 views | MrSheen |
| D-Day on 09:33 - Jun 6 by Konk |
We based ourselves in Bayeux and visited some of the D-Day sites a couple of years ago. The British and Commonwealth cemeteries in Bayeux and the British Normandy Memorial are immaculate, beautiful places, but heart-breaking to visit. Seeing the gravestones in the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mur and thinking that many of those young men may never have even left their own state before, and then died after a few hours/days of combat, thousands of miles from home whilst helping to liberate Western Europe, was incredibly moving, as was also the case at the Commonwealth cemetery.
The D-Day museum in Bayeux is well worth a visit if you find yourself in that part of the world, and highlights how brutal the battle was once Allied troops had made it off the beaches and were heading inland. Seeing the scale of the remains of the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches, really brings home the size of the operation, and what an amazing feat of engineering it was to be able to create a man-made harbour capable of allowing the disembarking of huge numbers of troops and vehicles. It’s quite mad to see families having a nice day out on what were the landing beaches, and then imagine the horrors of 6th June 1944.
I would really recommend visiting the cemeteries and museums in Normandy, if you haven’t been before. I found it a very sobering, upsetting experience, but came away with even more respect and gratitude for the bravery and sacrifice of all those who took part in the operation. I’ll raise a glass to them tonight.
BBC have a 3-part series, called 'D-Day: The Unheard Tapes', which is a powerful watch. It has actors lip-synching to recordings of soldiers and civilians who were there on D-Day.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zg8f/episodes/player. I wasn't sure about the whole lip-syncing thing, but it actually works well. [Post edited 6 Jun 9:39]
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We happened across a Chinese WW1 cemetery at Noyelles sur Mer in the Somme estuary (just off the motorway) with nearly 900 graves. Apparently thousands of Chinese workers took contracts to cross the world to work behind the lines in field kitchens, laundries, haulage and disinterring and reburying battlefield dead. Though a few were killed by hidden shells recovering bodies, most died of influenza in the last months of the war or straight after. A strange and tragic story, but an immaculately cared for place, as they always are.
Funnily enough, I spent an afternoon in Vichy on my recent trip. It’s a beautiful place, like a cross between Bath and Cheltenham, though there’s an enormous amount of renovation going on now. There’s a solemn monument to the deportees and resisters, but if there is any addressing of Le Maréchal and his supporters I didn’t see it. Easy to mock them with hindsight but they were probably thinking like 1870 France, keep quiet until the Germans go away and have a rematch in 40 years. They didn’t see Barbarossa, Pearl Harbor, Stalingrad and Auschwitz coming. |  | | |
| D-Day on 11:10 - Jun 6 with 2178 views | 1MoreBrightonR |
| D-Day on 09:33 - Jun 6 by Konk |
We based ourselves in Bayeux and visited some of the D-Day sites a couple of years ago. The British and Commonwealth cemeteries in Bayeux and the British Normandy Memorial are immaculate, beautiful places, but heart-breaking to visit. Seeing the gravestones in the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mur and thinking that many of those young men may never have even left their own state before, and then died after a few hours/days of combat, thousands of miles from home whilst helping to liberate Western Europe, was incredibly moving, as was also the case at the Commonwealth cemetery.
The D-Day museum in Bayeux is well worth a visit if you find yourself in that part of the world, and highlights how brutal the battle was once Allied troops had made it off the beaches and were heading inland. Seeing the scale of the remains of the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches, really brings home the size of the operation, and what an amazing feat of engineering it was to be able to create a man-made harbour capable of allowing the disembarking of huge numbers of troops and vehicles. It’s quite mad to see families having a nice day out on what were the landing beaches, and then imagine the horrors of 6th June 1944.
I would really recommend visiting the cemeteries and museums in Normandy, if you haven’t been before. I found it a very sobering, upsetting experience, but came away with even more respect and gratitude for the bravery and sacrifice of all those who took part in the operation. I’ll raise a glass to them tonight.
BBC have a 3-part series, called 'D-Day: The Unheard Tapes', which is a powerful watch. It has actors lip-synching to recordings of soldiers and civilians who were there on D-Day.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zg8f/episodes/player. I wasn't sure about the whole lip-syncing thing, but it actually works well. [Post edited 6 Jun 9:39]
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Second this. Parents have a house in Normandy, and it's an amazing area regardless of the history. H/ave done the beaches around Arromanches quite a few times and it's so emotional, and i am not even close to a military history buff.
The US cemetery up above the cliffs is quite striking and obviously the big tourist draw, but i have to say both the British and German ones are equally moving. The scale of the German one near Bayeax is unbelievable....up to 4 bodies per grave in some cases too. Some very young men in all of them too. |  | | |
| D-Day on 11:36 - Jun 6 with 2090 views | dannyblue |
My Grandad was with the Americans in signals and landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on the second or third day, going through France, Luxemburg, and occupying Germany with Patton. I only met him once. He had some good milo minderbinder like stories about running around Europe to procure alcohol, including bribing Senegalese sentries, and co-opting engineers to dismantle and move entire 'requisitioned' bottling plants to make good use of a source of Luxemburg brandy...with some infidelities along the way. Returning to St Louis on Christmas day 1945 to live with his new young wife (my grandmother) and his mother-in-law (my great grandmother) was very difficult...there was trouble. They were divorced when my Gran was pregnant with my mum, but she never told him. He ended up going back to Europe with the army in 1947, and served in Korea too, ending up a major. My mum found him and wrote him a 'you don't know who I am, but...' letter in 1994. [Post edited 6 Jun 11:49]
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| D-Day on 12:12 - Jun 6 with 2015 views | CFW |
The news last night was very emotional, what those poor men went through was god awful. It was made worse for me as my 98 year old mum passed away a couple of weeks ago and yesterday was her funeral. I made reference in my short tribute to her that people of her generation had awful childhoods being evacuated at a young age, apart from their parents and brothers or sisters then joining the army etc.
We owe these hero's big time - total love and respect to all of our older generation. | | | |
| D-Day on 12:45 - Jun 6 with 1971 views | rbee |
| D-Day on 23:12 - Jun 5 by loftboy |
Was difficult to watch the news tonight without wiping my eyes, seeing those brave men recount that day as if it was yesterday, what they witnessed is almost unfathomable to those of us too young to have seen active service. |
It always gets me as well listening to these men talking about their experiences.
It is rare for the older veterans to give graphic details of their experiences on the battlefields they keep it to themselves which to me is another form of bravery shown by these men.
The BBC documentary about the Falkland War, Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story, really is a no holds barred programme revealing the true horrors of war and the everlasting impact of those involved. I recommend it but be prepared. |  | | |
| D-Day on 12:55 - Jun 6 with 1942 views | slmrstid |
I've got family who served in the military in the world wars, but not any who was in D-Day. My wife's grandad however, who died when she was quite young so obviously never known to me, went over in the third wave on D-Day itself.
There's a story passed down in the family that he did tell, one of the few things he ever said about it, where he was in a farmhouse checking for German soliders, looked out of a window and found a German soldier staring right back at him. Rather than trying to shoot each other, both just nodded and went their separate ways. A moment of humanity.
He then spent his post war life working as a painter and decorator I think. Such a strange juxtaposition to fighting in a war but of course they were all normal people who'd work normal jobs.
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, as Brendan Foster likes to tell us every time the Great North Run comes about. |  | | |
| D-Day on 15:40 - Jun 6 with 1821 views | QPRSteve |
| D-Day on 23:41 - Jun 5 by lightwaterhoop |
No serious person called them the D day dodgers how could they when the landings at Salerno took place months before D day.People didn't know that D day was going to happen.My Dad like your Uncle was in the army in Italy during WW11 he told me that before he landed some British troops refused to go because they would have to serve under
the American General,Mark Clark, and this was against their regulations.This soured their reputation at the time and did lead to accusations in the press but it didn't last for long when the Allied forces started pushing the Germans back.
Your Uncle like all those Allied soldiers leaves a great legacy. [Post edited 5 Jun 23:45]
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Don't blame them. Clarke was a cûnt and cost British lives by disobeying orders. | | | |
| D-Day on 16:05 - Jun 6 with 1792 views | hantssi |
| D-Day on 15:40 - Jun 6 by QPRSteve |
Don't blame them. Clarke was a cûnt and cost British lives by disobeying orders. |
Everything I’ve read about him says an egomaniac.
Went for Rome for his own glory rather than cut off the retreating Germans which would have saved countless Allied (and German) lives.
His glory was very short lived though as D Day started 2 days later! | | | |
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| D-Day on 16:30 - Jun 6 with 1748 views | derbyhoop |
I never had any family who served as my father came over from neutral Ireland in 1944. But the respectful commemorations from this week make me want to find out more.
Next time we go Caen-Portsmouth, we're inclined to go up a day early and spend time at the UK monument. I have been to a German cemetery near Laon in Northern France. Hundreds of black crosses was very moving.
All the events should remind us that, although the bulk of the fighting was done by British, American and Canadian forces, Poles, French and others also contributed.
French Resistance did a lot of work to disrupt German defences. Not far from us is Oradour-sur-Glane where the SS killed 642, just after D-Day, as a reprisal for resistant activity. |  |
| "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky |
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| D-Day on 19:32 - Jun 6 with 1651 views | Rebalhoop |
My uncle was in the Para’s,taking out one of the guns overlooking one of the beaches,he survived that day,only to be killed 2 days before the end of the war.my dad still has a letter he sent home to his mum,saying “thank god it’s nearly over,can’t wait to take you and dad out for a pint “ | | | |
| D-Day on 07:40 - Jun 7 with 1494 views | Malintabuk |
Being in East Kent and Ramsgate we were involved heavily during the war... First Dunkirk and then coal mining
Mu mums brother Bill though a reserved occupation in the mines joined up "to do his bit" and was captured taken the bridges in Holland..
Like a lot of his generation he never talked about his time in the war. At his funeral one of the older lads who knew him told us that when he was captured they forced matched then from Holland to Poland.... and those who couldn't make it was left on the road to basically die
Him and his mate apparently carried their friend for 2 days until the lad behind him tapped Bill on the shoulder and said I think he is gone mate... and they still carried him for another day....
Yep a different generation a wonderful generation | | | |
| D-Day on 13:30 - Jun 9 with 1244 views | GosportHoops |
Complete respect for the bravery shown but we defeated the wrong enemy. |  | | |
| D-Day on 13:36 - Jun 9 with 1234 views | kensalriser |
| D-Day on 13:30 - Jun 9 by GosportHoops |
Complete respect for the bravery shown but we defeated the wrong enemy. |
There's always one Nazi sympathiser taking a shit in the corner. |  |
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| D-Day on 13:53 - Jun 9 with 1192 views | GosportHoops |
| D-Day on 13:36 - Jun 9 by kensalriser |
There's always one Nazi sympathiser taking a shit in the corner. |
I'm not a nazi although a nazi is no different to a commie bast**d stood up talking s**t usually in the middle of the room! I'm in no corner either, there's plenty of people who'd agree with my point, including lots who were there! | | | |
| D-Day on 14:09 - Jun 9 with 1161 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| D-Day on 13:53 - Jun 9 by GosportHoops |
I'm not a nazi although a nazi is no different to a commie bast**d stood up talking s**t usually in the middle of the room! I'm in no corner either, there's plenty of people who'd agree with my point, including lots who were there! |
When you say ‘plenty who were there agree with me’ do you mean Rommel and the SS? |  | | |
| D-Day on 14:18 - Jun 9 with 1149 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| D-Day on 13:53 - Jun 9 by GosportHoops |
I'm not a nazi although a nazi is no different to a commie bast**d stood up talking s**t usually in the middle of the room! I'm in no corner either, there's plenty of people who'd agree with my point, including lots who were there! |
Wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. Saying this sort of thing is disrespectful to the dead and every single person that served in that war.
We did defeat the Soviet Union, without a single shot being fired.
I'd say the right enemy was fought at the right time. | | | |
| D-Day on 14:58 - Jun 9 with 1091 views | GosportHoops |
| D-Day on 14:18 - Jun 9 by Wilkinswatercarrier |
Wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. Saying this sort of thing is disrespectful to the dead and every single person that served in that war.
We did defeat the Soviet Union, without a single shot being fired.
I'd say the right enemy was fought at the right time. |
I believe the people who fought and died deserve nothing other than respect, gratitude, love I also think the that it isn't as clear cut as us good man them bad!! WW2 was a disgusting affair on so many levels, what the Germans done what we done the biggest positive is the valour and bravery of the men fighting, that is without question, what they were fighting for is another story. But I'll clarify the men who answered the call stirred by love of country are the best of the best and they shall see the lords face | | | |
| D-Day on 15:02 - Jun 9 with 1082 views | GosportHoops |
| D-Day on 14:09 - Jun 9 by BazzaInTheLoft |
When you say ‘plenty who were there agree with me’ do you mean Rommel and the SS? |
George S. Patton might be someone to look at! | | | |
| D-Day on 15:47 - Jun 9 with 1039 views | Northernr |
Honestly, I relax on having political threads for the summer and within three weeks we’re at Hitler wasn’t all that bad after all. |  | | |
| D-Day on 16:19 - Jun 9 with 987 views | Esox_Lucius |
| D-Day on 13:36 - Jun 9 by kensalriser |
There's always one Nazi sympathiser taking a shit in the corner. |
There's one heading up Reform and gathering votes. WTF is going on there? |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| D-Day on 16:44 - Jun 9 with 936 views | Discodroids |
There very well may be a good reason to drag this thread down into a shitpit and stain it's soul with Bitternes then going on to bismerch those posters who have generously graced us all on here with their most precious memories, with their tatty political point scoring...
... But i'm fu cked 7 ways from sunday if i know what it is.
this gaff is unhinged sometimes. Proper Frankie fraser in his rampton rompersuit straightjacket, unhinged.
Bewildering.
[Post edited 9 Jun 16:54]
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| The Duke Of New York. A-Number One.
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| D-Day on 17:06 - Jun 9 with 879 views | GaryBannister86 |
| D-Day on 16:44 - Jun 9 by Discodroids |
There very well may be a good reason to drag this thread down into a shitpit and stain it's soul with Bitternes then going on to bismerch those posters who have generously graced us all on here with their most precious memories, with their tatty political point scoring...
... But i'm fu cked 7 ways from sunday if i know what it is.
this gaff is unhinged sometimes. Proper Frankie fraser in his rampton rompersuit straightjacket, unhinged.
Bewildering.
[Post edited 9 Jun 16:54]
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Amen to every single word of that, sir. |  | | |
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