OT? I don't think so

[Xairbusdriver]

60 years ago today, many of us weren't even born. Some us us were too young to realize what was happening. I sometimes wonder if we now understand...

Calgary Remembers
UK View
Normandy
French site
National D-Day Memorial

Jim C.

Actually, it was 59 years ago  

[RobW]

Jim, you make a great point. I wasn't born 60 years ago. But my dad served in WWII. (He was a tank gunner in Northern Africa.) When I was growing up he rarely talked about the war--and never joked or told "war stories" about it. (He tends to joke about a lot of things, so this was pretty noticeable to me.) It wasn't until I was in college taking a history course that involved some of the battles he was in that I really discussed it with him in detail--including , the times he was wounded, etc.   Since then he and I have had many discussions about  his service and those that he served with. It saddens me to think of how many in this country aren't aware of the sacrifice and heroism of those who served.

I spent the other evening helping my daughter prepare for a history final. As good as a student as she is, and as wonderful of a school that she attends, I was shocked at how little she'd been taught about WWII and the events leading up to it. I managed to do about a semester of history for her in about 2 hours of "chatting".

BTW, I'm hoping GaryS sees this thread. His dad also served in WWII and was part of the Normandy Invasion ("D-Day").

[Gary S]

Thanks for the thread Jim.

My Dad landed at the "Easy Red" sector of Omaha Beach the morning of June 6th 1944 at  7:30 am on the LCI 85 Landing Craft Infantry. He was a member of the U.S. Coast Guard and their ship was carrying the U.S. Army's Ist Infantry and Ist Infantry medics.

Of some 206 men on the ship 66 lived to tell their stories.

My Dad is 77 years old and I will be calling him today.
I owe my life to him and all the others that morning.

For more info on the LCI 85 and others:

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_normandy.html

[ejc]

Hi ABD,

Thanks for reminding us of the sacrifices made on our behalf by millions of our forebears.

I'm a Brit. Lived in S England (Kent) during WW2. 10 years old in 1939. Experienced  Battle of Britain. Planes crashed near us. A few bombs in our locality. Saw the first "Doodle Bugs" flying over. One or two V2 rockets exploded within a couple of miles. School lessons interrupted by many periods spent in air raid shelters.  Was frightened. (Not as traumatic as having been a serving soldier, sailor or airman, but on the other hand I was a junior, supposedly more impressionable than an adult).
Nevertheless managed (like many others) to get to university (post WW2) and graduate as Mechanical Engineer and subsequently to pursue sataisfying, varied and successful carreer. Still, at age 74, my work is valued (and used) by the company for which I worked full-time, until 2 years ago.
Today, when I read about people needing stress counselling after being in the vicinity of a terrorist attack, I ask how the many thousands of those affected by WW2 managed to get on with their lives after exposure to many traumatic experiences without, what I am inclined to regard as. "psychiatric spin".
Are we becoming soft in rhe West?
Now I start to become controversial. In the West we customarily attribute the end of WW2 as a victory for democracy. IMHO, we are in danger ot forgetting that many, many, more Russians died in that conflict than those from the Western Allies. Perhaps Hitler's greatest mistake was to attack the USSR instead of invading the UK.
For me it's clear that Germany and her allies lost WW2. Who won? Not the West alone.
I am eternally thankful that the dictatorial regime that then ruled Russia has not prevailed over the long term. But I try not to forget the enornous sacrifices made by ordinary Russian citizens, who continue to suffer today from the policies of their Communist leaders.

Sorry for verbose reply.

Peace

ejc

[MamaMoose]

Hi abd and other "oldtimers",

I am 70 so I remember Pearl Harbor (there was a hit song, "Do you remember Pearl Harbor); I knew about the holocaust when I was 11 (because one of my family members escaped from the Nazis and made his way to the U.S.A.); and of course I remember D-Day. I lived in DC as my dad was a medical officer in the Army. I had a big map and followed every battle I could get news about. I was fortunate in that respect because my parents got all the main DC newspapers (Post and Star).

Oh yes, I remeber D-Day and Iwo Jima and Tarawa and the Battle of the Bulge and Guadacanal and Tinian and the Enola Gay (B-29 that carried the A-bomb that hit Hiroshima) and Stalingrad and Midway and .......

I will never forget the kind of courage it took to storm Utah beach (and Gold, etc.). Every D-Day, I pause and reflect what our world would look like if we had not prevailed, if we had not men of quiet courage.

I know that schools cannot cover everything so old geezers like my self must convey what happened. And, I do so with my grandchildren (that I got when I married my wife, Jo). In fact, I introduced my oldest grandaughter (15) to The dairy of Anne Frank. She had a tough time with "man's inhumanity to man", but I believe in telling our children about the unvarnished truth about war and its consequences.

Thanks for reminding us all about those times and what they meant to the world.

MamaMoose

[LR827]

What a wonderful topic -- I'm so glad I checked it out.  It is sad that our children are not given the kind of education we had in the past.  

My father was too young for WWI and too old for WWII, but he joined anyway, and I was born at Pearl Harbor.  I do, of course, have some thoughts for ejc, who wrote a wonderful gift of his personal history:

QUOTE

Today, when I read about people needing stress counselling after being in the vicinity of a terrorist attack, I ask how the many thousands of those affected by WW2 managed to get on with their lives after exposure to many traumatic experiences without, what I am inclined to regard as. "psychiatric spin".

Much of the problem is in the pendulum-like excesses that the government accomplishes when they try to do anything for the people.  They virtually ignored seriously "shell-shocked" veterans of WWII, and then over-compensated for those with PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), after Viet Nam.  Needless to say, when there is a fistful of dollars extended out for the asking, it is hard to turn down.  When you have programs staffed with "experts" for certain kinds of diagnoses, they have a vested interest in making that diagnosis for as many people as they can.  Unfortunately, the most truly mentally disabled veterans are frequently not capable of jumping through all the bureaucratic hoops necessary to benefit from the government's largesse -- and often flee from those who would help them -- so that much of the resources fall to those who are most competent at manipulating the system, and least in need of compensation.

[snuffysbluff]

My dad was a BAR gunner in WW2 and was wounded at the battle of the bulge.
He never talked much about it either except to praise the other guys for their courage including the Brits and French. I'm glad we got him back from that hell...It was a close one.