"Let that soak in."

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Doug Dunbar ✔ @cbs11doug
I took this photo of Sgt Major Robert Blatnik 5 years ago. This was the stretch of Omaha beach in Normandy where he came ashore on #DDay. He commanded 901 men. Head count 24 hours later and about 500 yards inland, they had 387. 500 yards. Let that soak in. #neverforget

6,676
9:49 AM - Jun 6, 2019

[dchill]

1. It is still soaking in...

And those guys have been my ultimate heroes for my entire adult life.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. For me as well...

Two of my Uncles went ashore at Omaha, but in 2 different units. Uncle Bill drove a Higgins boat up to the beach, and caught shrapnel in his butt (superficial). Uncle Paul was Infantry, but emerged unscathed. They met up 2 weeks later in a town in France. My Dad was part of an anti-aircraft battery who came ashore with his unit about 3 weeks later.

All have passed.

[dchill]

5. My dad got drafted right around D-Day...

But he was at Bastogne.

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Dad was in the Battle of the Bulge, but on the south flank w/ XX Corps

He missed the horrors of Bastogne.

[JudyM]

22. My dad was in the Bsttle of the Bulge, too. Not sure where!

All heroes.

[Blue_playwright]

12. My uncle was in the brig on D-day

Went ashore a day or so later. Not sure whether to find that funny, grateful because it meant he survived, or sad - because his alcoholism kept him from greatness his entire life.

[panader0]

20. Two of uncles as well. Not sure which beach.

My dad was flying missions over Italy at the time.
Both uncles survived unscathed, but one later lost his leg at
the Battle of the Bulge. Both had grown up on a dairy farm in
northern NY. Both Hal and Lou were assigned to milk cows that
had gotten too full of milk because they were abandoned.

[appalachiablue]

26. Dad was AAA too, 7th Army & trained on Swedish Bofurs guns Mom said.

He went to England in Dec. 1944, trained there and then shipped to France, Omaha Beach in Feb.-March 1945. Although he missed the Bulge, he caught it in combat in the Rhineland campaign, attacked by German 88s crossing a border and took over for his commander. At the liberation of Dachau, received a Bronze star and stayed over in the Army of Occupation. Wish I knew more, but am grateful for this much. Visiting Normandy was one of the best travel experiences I've ever had.

Thanks for this post on an amazing hero and survivor, just incredible.

[certainot]

34. my dad signed up marines on his birthday as soon as he could but it ended before he saw combat

[demmiblue]

3. So very powerful.

[misanthrope]

4. More than one man per yard

A literal meat grinder

[patphil]

7. I was thinking the same thing.

Real Estate was pretty expensive on Omaha Beach.
The cost was in blood and lives and human misery.
When will humanity ever learn that the cost of war is way too high.

Patrick Phillips

[Delphinus]

17. Your last sentence ...

Sadly, I do not know if we will ever learn.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

28. And WHAT did that RNC Romney Bimbo say ?

Her words made me physically-ill.

[erronis]

21. As long as those armchair warriors call the shots, never. Other people's children dying - that's ok.

As always, the ones that want war and battle and bloodshed in the streets
are the ones that have never experienced it themselves.
They would not let their daughters and sons
be treated as cannon fodder.

Better for the uneducated, poor, desperate folk that would otherwise be a drain on their system.

[yardwork]

8. Thank you for posting.

[FuzzyRabbit]

9. I have no words.

I cannot imagine what those young men experienced.

[Dem2theMax]

10. .

[Cozmo]

11. God Bless those brave young boys

Who became adults in just one day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart ~ You were the Greatest Generation

[Duppers]

13. Those poor men.

My dad came ashore in the second wave Infantry. He was lucky.

If you can, please visit The D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. It was a most moving experience for me.

https://www.dday.org/

[appalachiablue]

27. Thanks for mentioning Bedford, I know of and need to see it.

[Duppers]

31. I promise, after you see,

... and experience the big pool with its statues and the water and sound effects, you will be moved. I had no expectations before going but was moved to tears, partially, I think, because of what my father had faced was made more chillingly clear to me.

[appalachiablue]

32. Always heard good things about it & wasn't it mentioned in

Ken Burns 'The War' series, maybe? I also think the national WWII memorial in DC is awesome especially walking around the plaza with the fountains and US state columns and all. Wish my dad could have seen that when he visited DC but they took years to finally build it and it was too late.

The Normandy beaches and sites are so moving. This year's anniversary really struck me perhaps because I read there likely won't be another, since vets are in well into their 90s and ceremonies are typically held every 5 years, so..

[Duppers]

33. ...

I know.

[GulfCoast66]

29. I sincerely hope you have visited the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.

If you watch the film in the museum there it will shock you.

The wife and I visited it with a friend and his family who has been my closest friend for 40 years. Had never seen him cry or even emotional. I did that day.

[Volaris]

14. What have we let ourselves become?

We SKATED on that achievement for nearly a hundred years, and with few exceptions, stopped striving for the same kind of Greatness in other endevors.

I honor what this man did; and I honor what was lost for the sake of that honor.

And and still and yet, my pResident is Donald Goddamn Trump.

Sigh...on this day, I wish nothing but Peace, and Long Life for those who would lay down those lives for the rest of us.. and at the order of a fucking madman at that, if he requested it of them.



Hail Mary, full of Grace, (GOD I HOPE) the Lord is with me...

[raccoon]

41. I feel the same. Its an insult to those young men's memory to have a dumpster fire

presidency like Trump's.

[sprinkleeninow]

15. "May Their Memory Be Eternal." 😢 🕯

[democrank]

16. .

[Scurrilous]

18. K&R

[mountain grammy]

19. No words...

[bdamomma]

23. What a moving picture.

so sad, those men sacrificed everything, the survivors still remember.

We should remember their valor and braveness.

[VOX]

24. And they were "citizen soldiers," plucked from everyday lives, and dropped down into hell.

In a brief time previously, and half a world away, they were high-school and college students, gas-station attendants, hardware salesmen, teachers, factory workers, delivery-van drivers, typesetters, drugstore managers, athletic coaches, grocers.

They put their lives on the line, too many paying the ultimate price, so the world would be free of genuine tyranny.

There is no way to adequately thank them. Words are insufficient, yet they’re all we have. To all the men and women who endured in grim, harsh battles overseas, or who labored unceasingly on the “home front,” you have my enduring gratitude.

[pansypoo53219]

25. i met a man who was at the bulge. 6'8" + a machine gunner + he made it home.

[lunasun]

30. Let us all vow never allow such evil to grow tohave such power that causes such massive death again

Squash it always before it is strong enough to have such a deadly impact on not only on all those that the evil wished to exterminate or conquer, but all who came to their aid and fought against it

Not only all the death but the pain lingering physically and mentally for those who survived
All can never forget . Teach future generations this history as sad as it is to pass on

[Initech]

35. +10000000000000000000000000000

Which is why I will never support Nazis, Neo Nazis, white nationalists, white supremacists or any of the sort. They are a cancer on this planet and if left untouched they can and will cause the kind of death and destruction seen in the holocaust again. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Fuck them.

[czarjak]

36. Trump said he'd fight 'em on the beaches...

(If it wasn't raining)

[SunSeeker]

37. Brutal.

[Achilleaze]

38. Salute

[DeminPennswoods]

39. Few years ago, talked to a VA

staffer who said the WWII vets were the nicest vets the staffer treated, always said that some other vet "needed something more than" they did and downplayed what they did. Otoh, the staffer said the VietNam vets were generally full of (understandable) grievance and the Gulf War/Iraq vets felt entitled.

[rsdsharp]

40. I certainly honor the Sgt Major's service, but 901 men would be battalion size in WWII (400-1000)

and would typically be commanded by a Lt. Colonel. Maybe he was battalion top kick, but he wasn't in command. It is remotely possible that he commanded a platoon (16-50 men, usually commanded by a 1st Lt.), but not a battalion.

[calimary]

42. Never forget. Not Ever.

[cilla4progress]

43. I was fortunate to go there last Fall.

Hallowed is an understatement.

Such waste. War is so stupid! Doesn't diminish their bravery and loyalty.

Violence is no way to solve disputes.

History will judge us harshly, I'm afraid.

[Blue Owl]

44. It'll never fully soak in...