This morning, June 6, 1944

[melm00se]

began the greatest seaborne invasion of all time.

D-day timeline

what your parents or grandparents heard as the invasion progressed.

[pipi_k]

1. Thanks for posting this...

My grandfather was at Utah Beach that day

[rurallib]

2. My late Father-in-law was part of that invasion

That is all I know because that is all he would say.
He survived but never spoke of the war except for his R&R on Iceland which he loved.

[mrmpa]

3. My great Uncle landed at Normandy on this date...........

Last edited Wed Jun 6, 2012, 08:38 PM - Edit history (1)

he was killed 2 months later (end of August) at Brest, France. He was buried in France and in 1947, his brother had his body moved back to the US and reburied here.

If he were here today, he would be 112 years old. Not 112, but 102 he was born in 1910 and died in 1944. He was not married and had no children. He was one of 12 children. He had 2 brothers who also served in WWII, along with 2 nephews. He had 2 brothers who served in WWI and they died in the late 1920's from lung problems from being gassed in Europe.

2 of these brothers were born in Poland and served in the US Army, there is a reason I fly the Polish flag on Memorial Day along with the US Flag. I also fly the Irish flag in honor of my Grandfather who served in WWI and my Dad who served in Korea, and was in the Marines for almost 15 years.

[Swede]

4. My dad went in a few days later. Uncle Tony went in on the first day.

Uncle Frank was fighting in Italy and Uncle Bob was in a bomber with the RCAF.

[Kaleva]

5. Time flies. I remember WWII vets being in their 40's.

[Hayabusa]

6. My grandfather was there

That's all I really know about his time in Normandy as he didn't really like to talk about it much. I know that, even though he was a cook, he frequently had to go to the front in order to deliver meals to those who couldn't make it back to camp.

[oneshooter]

7. There were two invasions of France by the Allies.

The second was "Operation Dragoon" this was planned to relieve the pressure on the Normandy beachhead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dragoon

I have a Uncle I never met who is still in France.
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/rh.php

There is a veteran of both invasions here in Texas.
http://www.bb35library.usstexasbb35.com/index.html

Oneshooter

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. Here is last year's d-day thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9706311

[Logical]

9. My father, 2nd wave of troops on the beach! Miss you dad! n-t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. There even were Germans who participated in the invasion

The British had organized several commando units that hit Sword Beach including separate Dutch and French commando units. There was a commando unit of German Jews, who had fled Germany as young boys or been sent away by their parents to England and who volunteered. I believe their specialty was in infiltration and demolitions. Imagine the surprise of Wehrmacht soldiers finding dozens of German-speaking soldiers on the other side.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. K&R! Thanks so much for posting this!

I've been thinking about this all day, but heard little about it anywhere. It's much too important to forget! Wish I could ask my grandmother about it, but it's so cool to know what she must have heard...

[TheMightyFavog]

12. Don Cherry was paying tribute to the Canadian D-Day landings on Coaches Corner tonight...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. Did he mention the earlier raid at Dieppe?

A lot of Canadians participated, and a lot of Canadians didn't survive the day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_Raid