D-Day Vet, 101 Heads to France, 80th Anniv June 6: Jake Larson Survived 6 Battles, Incl The Bulge

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Thu May 30, 2024, 07:51 PM - Edit history (2)

- Jake Larson, WWII Hero and TicTok Star. Jake joined the National Guard at age 15. He was 5' 10, 120 lbs. (CBS Minnesota, 2023).
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'At 101, D-Day US veteran heads to France for 80th anniversary,' Reuters, May 28, 2024. -Ed.
- World War Two U.S. Army veteran Jake Larson is 101 years old and a survivor of D-Day, history’s largest amphibious invasion on June 6, 1944, and he is heading to France for the 80th anniversary to honor the brothers-in-arms who did not make it home. At home in Martinez, Calif, alongside photos and mementos from his years in the National Guard and the U.S. Army, Larson can recall every moment from the day he landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and calls himself "the last man."

During the landing on Omaha Beach, Larson carried 74 pounds (34 kg) of gear in his pack, the waves rocked the landing crafts up and down four feet (1.2 meters) at times, the Germans fired 14-inch (35.5-cm) shells overhead and small arms from the dunes. “I walked in over that minefield, where so many were killed. Not only from the mines, but from the small arms fire. And they're all up there above. Those guys there, those there are the ones that deserve recognition. I'm here to make sure that happens. I honor those guys,” he told Reuters in May.

🇺🇸 Larson, who goes by the name “Papa Jake,” is among a dwindling number of World War Two veterans who will return this June to mark the anniversary of the allied invasion when more than 150,000 allied soldiers invaded France to drive out Nazi Germany's forces led by Hitler.

- Larson wears a black jacket inscribed with "WWII Survivor" & the 6 battles in Europe he survived including the Battle of the Bulge - Invasion of Normandy/Operation Overlord, Battle of St. Lo, Battle of Falaise Gap, Battle for Paris, Battle of Luxembourg and the Battle of the Bulge. Born in Minn., Larson joined the National Guard at 15 before the Guard was called up at the start of World War 2.. More, Vid.
https://www.reuters.com/world/101-d-day-us-veteran-heads-france-80th-anniversary-2024-05-29/

- On D-Day, Jake Larson survived Omaha Beach's deadliest sector. (27 mins, 2 days ago, American Veterans Center). - Comments, click YouTube icon in the video. - Larson: "Being a farm boy, we were brought up with guns..." "I got by without a scratch"...

https://www.tiktok.com/@wcconews/video/7373661268923911470
- CBS News, May 27, 2024. Jake Larson @Papa Jake is one of Minnesota's last living World War II veterans. Papa Jake says he lied about his age to join the National Guard at 15, was involved in the top secret planning of the D-Day invasion, and ultimately survived storming Omaha Beach. Papa Jake is one of 3 Minn.- born veterans we'll meet next week. 🇺🇸 WCCO’s John Lauritsen is traveling to Normandy for the 80th Anniv. of D-Day on June 6, 2024.

[SheilaAnn]

1. God bless you Sir..n/t

[usaf-vet]

2. I stand and salute you for your amazing ordeal. Thank you. My dad was USN RM3 in a jungle radio station on....

.... Amazon River. Intercepting German U-boat communications, helping to protect troops and supply vessels while we were fighting in North Africa.

[appalachiablue]

3. D-DAY, Normandy Landings, Northern France, June 6, 1944 🇫🇷

(Wiki). Normandy landings, Part of Operation Overlord and the Western Front of World War II

Operation Overlord, (Battle of Normandy)

The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it is the largest seaborne invasion in history.

The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on the day selected for D-Day was not ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and time of day, that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable.

Adolf Hitler placed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an invasion. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower in command of Allied forces. - The invasion began shortly after midnight on the morning of June the 6th with extensive aerial and naval bombardment as well as an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops. The early morning aerial assault was soon followed by Allied amphibious landings on the coast of France ca. 06:30 AM.

The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled using specialised tanks...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings