Vee, when I woke up this morning, I thought it appropriate to drink from the coffee cup you sent me. Here's a photo of it.

St Mere Eglise

Thankfully there are certain days in the American calendar that honors those who fought in WWII. The unfortunate side effect of the D-Day invasion being one of the most prominent is that all other d-days seem to have been forgotten by people today. So today I would like to not only honor those who charged the MG-42's and 88's of the Norman bluffs but also those who landed, fought, and sometimes fell on all d-days during the war. It is our good fortune that we have several of those men as regular contributors here. So here's to Joe of the 3rd (Nous Resterons Là!) and Roque of the 34th (Attack, Attack, Attack!) who were there a whole 20 months before most of those landing on those awful Normandy beaches (with the major exceptions of the Big Red One, 82nd Airborne, and Rangers.) As for the other WWII veterans we have in the forum, please don't take offense if I do not mention your name here. I know we have SgtLeo, Chucktoo, alkincer, and of course PapaArt to name a few - I just don't know your story as well.

So here's to all who got their feet wet (or jumped out of a perfectly good airplane toward people shooting at them) in invasions across the globe from 41-45. And one more special toast to the Marines and sailors at Inchon - that other invasion in the Forgotten War.

Well stated Capt. As you will see reiterated throughout the pages of this forum, I and may others always try to emphasize that there were dozens and dozens of D-Days in WWII. It's almost a slap in the face for the other veterans who were in Europe in 42, 43 and earlier in 44! What about D-Day - North Africa?? What about D-Day - Sicily?? What about D-Day Guadalcanal??

Too many people have the impression that America ARRIVED in Europe for the first time in June 44? Wow, that irks the hell out of me! No disrespect to the gallant men who landed that day and in the successive days (all war is hell), but men like my father's unit, had already fought for almost two years prior to that!

HOW ABOUT --- SALERNO---ANZIO--JUST DAYS AT THE BEACH.

ANZIO--JUST DAYS AT THE BEACH.

Oh come on! We know what it was really like at Anzio:

On a separate note - do you know what the Google Doodle is today? Noooo! Nothing about D-Day. It is about Diego Velázquez, a 17th century painter. Don't mean to take away anything from the accomplished painter, but I can think of plenty of other painters they don't do doodles for. They had to pick today to do that? Yeah it's his birthday, but his paintings would probably be in some Nazi vault if not for D-Day and other WWII offensives going on in the mid-40's.

Every June 6th my Dad would wait till we were all at the kitchen table for breakfast and intone: "D-Day the 6th of June". It was truly his prayer for those who'd been there.

Now I say it out loud every June 6th, but also on Sept 9th for Salerno, Jan 21 for Anzio, and Aug 15th for Southern France. As M1 said - there were dozens of "D Days" in WWII.

Many men lost there lives on those days, many men suffered.

ALL of them must be remembered & honored!

m2

Right now on The History Channel "Ten Days to D-Day" for those (like me) who are interested. It will be repeated in the afternoon. June 6th has always been a day to remember, but that doesn't take away from all the other D-Days of WWII, such as the places mentioned in above posts. I think because of the anticipation of the liberation of Europe and all the cooperation it involved this day will always receive more recognition than the others.

Dogdaddy

ps- I am deeply envious of Moose & Co. who are in Normandy today!

Here's an email from Capt John Fallon. It's like he read our minds on this post...

How interesting! I asked Google about D Day and all they can talk about is Normandy on June 6th. I then asked about D Day+ Africa+ 3rd Inf Div and they still came up with June 6th in Normandy My local paper says that today we celebrate the invasion of Europe so I guess you can forget about Italy, it is probably not in Europe.

36 Engineers are rugged......John Fallon II. Capt. USA Ret.

Here is a list of D-Days I put together for a paper I was working on. Let us not forget Dieppe on 19 August, 1942 (12 after the Guadalcanal landings) as well. It didn't get much worse than that.

One thing I just noticed - the Normandy landings weren't on the list because it was a comparison of the Overlord Landings and other landings in the Med and Pacific. Also, there may have been mistakes/omissions in the units in the consolidation process. Forgive me if your unit was left out! There just notes after all!

Just noticed another goof. Any serious student of WWII would know that Iwo Jima was part of the Bonin Islands and not the Ryukyu chain. I guess I hit Paste once too many.

It would be great to get a COMPLETE list of all WWII D-Days. Even if we have to keep adding and do it all ourselves.

From my friend Mari

Hi Marion,

Just a note to say hi and acknowledge all your "boys" on your end on this special day.

Love, Mari

Essayons

297th Combat Engineers WWII

"We clear the way!"

Ardennes • Central Europe • Normandy • Northern France • The Rhineland

From my friend Mari

 

Hi Marion,

Just a note to say hi and acknowledge all your "boys" on your end on this special day.

Love, Mari

 

Essayons

297th Combat Engineers WWII

"We clear the way!"

Ardennes • Central Europe • Normandy • Northern France • The Rhineland

I WAS GLAD TO SEE ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE "OTHER D-DAYS" OF WWII.

DON'T FORGET THE SICILY D-DAY, 10 JULY43. SEE ARTICLES ON THIS WEBSITE BY COLONEL STANLEY DZIUBAN ABOUT THE 39TH COMBAT ENGINEERS.

Every June 6th my Dad would wait till we were all at the kitchen table for breakfast and intone: "D-Day the 6th of June". It was truly his prayer for those who'd been there.

Now I say it out loud every June 6th, but also on Sept 9th for Salerno, Jan 21 for Anzio, and Aug 15th for Southern France. As M1 said - there were dozens of "D Days" in WWII.

Many men lost there lives on those days, many men suffered.

 

ALL of them must be remembered & honored!

 

m2

My father used to say that the only person that seemed to remember D-Day was Charles Schulz. Every year in his comic strip "Peanuts", he would mention the event.

I will say that My local newspaper, which is usually only good for housebreaking puppies and lining bird cages, actually had a nice article about a local man that took part in the invasion. I'm glad to see they took the space on the front page to commemorate the day.

God bless all of you that insured that I never had to learn German or live under a dictator.

Sent to me by Al Panebianco, 45th Inf Div:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation.

“My Fellow Americans:

“Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome , I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

“They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

“And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

“Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

“And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

“Thy will be done, Almighty God.

“Amen.â€