Operation Overlord

[FNG]

At this time 81 years ago, approximately 160,000 Allied men and boys were wondering if they would live through the next 24 hours. Over 4,400 of them would not. Amazingly, a few are still alive today; I wonder what they think of America and the UK now.

[buff2.0]

Better chance the ones in the UK are disgusted.  I would love for a few in the US to live until our 250th birthday next year.  Truly the Greatest Generation.

[Cerdo]

A salute to the memory of those brave soldiers today.  The American ideal and freedoms that they sacrificed for are alive and well as the country and culture continues to adapt. 
I knew many men of that generation and I can assure anyone that most would look at today, having seen the worst of humanity - shrug and give a sigh of relief that we're still here, fighting amongst ourselves.

Freedom moves over more of the planet than it ever has in human history and even the most idiotic of opinions, as frequently seen, results in eye rolls far more than the prison time and public scorn it would have earned generations before.

D Day Salute.

[egregious]

Better chance the ones in the UK are disgusted.  I would love for a few in the US to live until our 250th birthday next year.  Truly the Greatest Generation.

A few will.  I wonder what they would have thought about it if you told them they would back then.  That would be like a kid today living to 2108.  That seems like a LONG time from now.

[buff2.0]

Personally, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane would have sounded more appealing than storming Omaha. Then again, hindsight helps.

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[Hogfan58]

Wife and I went over to Normandy in late April and it was a very sobering experience. Seeing how long and flat the beaches are, how high the bluffs are, how thick the hedgerows are...it had to be hell. To see the beauty and peacefulness of the American Cemetery, and how the French people honor the sacrifices of ALL the Allied soldiers. Not just today, but every day. You go down these little roads to a little village and it's named for a soldier who died there. There is a banner with a picture of them. Yesterday, French schoolchildren went to the American Cemetery and placed an American and French flag on every grave marker. Americans make fun of the French for many things, but they remember what the Allies did and they are eternally grateful and it is passed along generation to generation.     

[Cornhogio]

Wife and I went over to Normandy in late April and it was a very sobering experience. Seeing how long and flat the beaches are, how high the bluffs are, how thick the hedgerows are...it had to be hell. To see the beauty and peacefulness of the American Cemetery, and how the French people honor the sacrifices of ALL the Allied soldiers. Not just today, but every day. You go down these little roads to a little village and it's named for a soldier who died there. There is a banner with a picture of them. Yesterday, French schoolchildren went to the American Cemetery and placed an American and French flag on every grave marker. Americans make fun of the French for many things, but they remember what the Allies did and they are eternally grateful and it is passed along generation to generation.     

I've come to take the view that the French were our original friends, all the way back to the 18th century.  Had they not done so, who knows how the Revolutionary War might have ended. 

[buff2.0]

This guy's remains have been identified and are being returned home.

KIA on D-Day on Omaha. US Army, C Company, 37th Engineer Combat Battalion.

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[DRYANKNPULL]

This guy's remains have been identified and are being returned home.

KIA on D-Day on Omaha. US Army, C Company, 37th Engineer Combat Battalion.

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I heard about that recently. If I was his relative, I would want him to be in the Normandy cemetery.