"Today " Topic

Just as I was about to get a second cup of coffee, it hit me:
By the time I crawled out of my comfy bed this morning, 72 years ago,hundreds of (mostly young) men had already died storming a foreign shore.

Gives one pause,to say the least…

Yes it does.

Yes, I put my flag out this morning. I'm sure everyone in my neighborhood who drives by (and actually notices it) will wonder why I've displayed it.

Jim

Colors posted here as well.

HEROS!!! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!
Those and many others like them should never be forgotten !!
NEVER!!
Thanks Vince.

Regards
Russ Dunaway

Russ,

Amen, brother! Haven't watched the news today, hope they do something besides wall-to-wall Trump and Clinton bashing!!

Russ and pz-- Yes,for the last number of years,it was a semi-annual refrain from my mother: "Did they even mention D-Day?" ""Did they even mention Pearl Harbor?"

I don't want to be that "These young whipper-snappers" guy, but--

A few years ago,when my mother passed out and struck her head badly,the rescue squad insisted she be flown all the way to the trauma center in Fairfax. A long drive,worry,and fatigue,combined to make for a rather surreal exchange with the Very Young Nurse who wanted to take her medical history at 2AM:

HvS: "Gosh,she's 91 years old--how far back do you want to go? I mean,she graduated from college on D-Day".

VYN: "Oh yeah? What's that?"

HvS: "…Um,you know,World WarTwo?"

VYN: "Oh. Oh,yeah,Hawaii,right?"

HvS: "…uhhh,close enough…".

Well, anyway. I often think of how this "fun" song from 1942 grew poignant,when a lot of guys,(including my mother's,from the 29th),didn't "come marching home":

youtu.be/e2iSaFW9HUk

Hear, Hear – raising glass in salute!

I was watching a memorial video to Major Dick Winters the other day. A humble man and a hero but he'd be the first to say that the heroes are the ones who are still over there….

RIP

Vince – for some reason I just can't
Picture you as a "whipper-snapper" ??
By the way, what did you ever do with those russian missiles?
Has to be one of the funnist stories I have ever heard!!!

Regards
Russ Dunaway

Russ--I meant, one of those old "You kids get off my lawn,an go learn sumpin'!" guys.

Wow,you still remember that? Actually, it was some bombs from a MIG I had, the guy wanted too much for the missiles.
I sold them to an ordnance collector(yes there are such people--and we think our lead collections are heavy!).Maybe that's the story you're referring to?

The "funny" part for me,was unloading them. When I bought them,three of us hadn't been able to lift them--ended up using a front-loader. The collector said,no problem," I'll just stack up these pallets even with your tailgate, hook up this chain,and we can slide 'em right out".

So we stacked up the pallets,hooked up the chain,slid 'em right out,and--KARRUNCH!! The pallets were now a pile of splinters, and the bomb was on the ground.

I felt bad about the pallets,but the guy's main concern was getting the bombs stowed away in his storage building before his wife got home(sound familiar?).

(BTW,these were inert,practice bombs--at least I think they were--I heard some hair-raising stories back in those days!)

I guess everything worked out for him OK,since he called me a year later asking if I had a line on a 16-inch Naval shell, the Holy Grail for an ordnance collector. Seems someone in California had one for "only" $1,700 USD--but you had to pay shipping, of course,and it wouldn't be by UPS.
But I was out of the ordnance business by then--the shocks on my truck couldn't take any more such abuse.

I wonder if he ever got one. I asked him at the time what he would do if he ever had to move.

"I can't. They'll have to bury me out there in the back yard".

I think about that sometimes,when I contemplate the lead pile…

Thank Dad. And all the other who were there, also.
Peter

My dad always said he was part of the deception plan. They sent him and his crew on leave! Still they had spent the previous month dropping bombs on tank depots, railway yards etc. He was my hero.

That's the story Vince! Totally funny -- right out of stand up, but real !!!
now back to the point of the post..
My dad was not at Normandy, In the pacific with the Marines -- When I was a kid- up in the attic was a chest, we were never allowed to get in that without him present -- I was always mesmerized by the Japanese flag --as my father was from the school --'we never speak of these things" we never got the story. All the things in that box are still in that chest in the home place in Iowa.

regards
Russ Dunaway

Reminds me of this. Ever seen it?

youtu.be/ZOeGUQlIBDk

And,you remind me that those guys weren't militaristic war lovers,either; they just wanted to get it over with,go home,and forget about it. They weren't interested in Hollywood heroics,either--what they wanted to hear (and see)most,was this sort of thing:

youtu.be/tN223IGxUBQ

That's what made them feel better about being gone!

I think there are a lot of the "chests" like that around. Probably getting fewer and fewer as the Kids sell them for the $$$$$$$ ??? Hope not. Me and my nine brothers decided it needed to stay right where it had been put? We are all old now so someday ????
regards
Russ Dunaway

My father landed on Omaha in the second wave as a medic. Only time he spoke of his experience was when we watched The Longest Day once and during the scene with Robert Mitchem getting the men off the beach he said, 'I was 50 yards away from him (the real life General) when he said that'. Every day I think about what was sacrificed by those men on that day and the many who fought and died before it and after. My dad is as you could probably tell is my personal hero. He served in the First Division from April 1942 to the end of the war in Europe. Was in the landing at Oran, Sicily and Normandy and all through the advance across Europe. He stood in the ranks when Patton gave his apology for striking a soldier. Said everyone hated the man but would follow him to hell and back. A world of memories and experiences lost forever for good or bad. The fight was that bad. They all are.
Greg