Today is the anniversary of when D Day was supposed to happen.

[Lionel Mandrake]

The invasion of Nazi-occupied France in 1944 was originally scheduled for June 5 but had to be postponed because of bad weather. The weather forecast for the following day was not quite as bad, so Ike decided that June 6 would be D Day.

[Kali]

1. I didn't know that.

but I bet my oldest son does. we have enough differences in our interests that he is fun to have conversations with.

[malthaussen]

2. And just as you were posting I was saying to myself "everybody knows that."

Ah, the bubbles we live in.

-- Mal

[elleng]

3. Yup!

Such engaging movies help me NOT to forget.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/06/03/best-d-day-movies/9900817/

[CBGLuthier]

9. I wish they had included Samuel Fuller's excellent The Big Red One

I like Where Eeagles Dare enough but calling it a D-Day movie is a stretch. Fuller's D Day sequence may not have been as realistic as Spielberg's but I imagine Spielberg spent more money on that one sequence than Fuller did in his entire career.

The scene with Mark Hamill and Lee Marvin at the concentration camp is one of the greatest scenes in any war movie ever.

[Lionel Mandrake]

12. There are also some good books about D Day.

D-Day, June 6, 1944: the climatic battle of World War II by Stephen E Ambrose

Overlord: D-Day and the battle for Normandy by Max Hastings

These two books are written from different points of view. Ambrose is American. Hastings is British. Ambrose is most impressed by the performance of the Allies, Hastings by that of the Germans.

IMHO Hastings is the better historian. Ambrose is too parochial, as is shown by his title. Calling D-Day "the climatic battle of World War II" is ridiculous when compared to the battles fought by Soviet forces, especially the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk. A more reasonable claim would be that D-Day was the climactic battle on the Western Front.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. And it was a close thing, even so, my dear Lionel Mandrake!

The weather was just barely good enough for the invasion to happen.

We lucked out!

[Lionel Mandrake]

5. Yes, the weather was still bad on June 6, but ...

Ike knew what the Germans didn't know, namely, that the weather would improve slightly. That's because the Allies had information from ships in the Atlantic Ocean, while Germany had no such information.

[rug]

6. How did it turn out?

[Kennah]

8. CNN reports too close to call

[pinboy3niner]

16. Bazinga!

[DFW]

10. Karl Rove disputes that the Allies took Omaha Beach

He insisted on going back over the aerial photos and consulting with the Wehrmacht high command before conceding.

His own pollsters assured him the invasion would come at Calais, and he is reluctant to call them wrong.

[Lionel Mandrake]

13. The Germans claimed they were never defeated.

Oh wait, that was in the previous world war.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. Some things never change.

When is summer supposed to start??!! I'm sick of Siberian air.

[antiquie]

11. Come to Southern California

but bring your own water.

Saturday 06/06
77° | 58°

Sunday 06/07
87° | 63°

Monday 06/08
90° | 65°

Tuesday 06/09
88° | 65°

Wednesday 06/10
83° | 62°

Thursday 06/11
79° | 61°

Friday 06/12
80° | 62°

Saturday 06/13
80° | 62°

[pinboy3niner]

14. It's 84° right now in Antelope Valley (North L.A. County)

[antiquie]

15. It would be nice to have this weather thru Autumn.