June 6th.

[Grebo]

Not sure if this link will work...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2649518/D-Day-veteran-honours-war-dead-70th-anniversary-celebrations-begin.html

Good article.
I wasn't even born & it chokes me up.

Personally I think we all need reminding.

Suzi

[byhammerandhand]

As a follow on, Pres. Roosevelt's speech announcing D-Day to the US public with this prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt - June 6, 1944

[JuneC]

I was especially touched by the story of the man in the old-folks home in the UK that went missing.  He turned up on the beach at Normandy.  They had told him he couldn't attend.  Guess he showed them!  Gotta admire his spunk.

June

[Mojo]

I read an article today about a 90 year old who was with the 101st airborne and originally parachuted behind enemy lines at Normandy.

By Gosh he did it again and relived his jump by parachuting again into the same area he originally jumped. here is the story:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/06/93-year-old-vet-parachutes-in/10065375/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28USATODAY+-+News+Top+Stories%29

God bless these brave men and may he hold all of their souls close.

Chris

[bobbin]

It really was quite an invasion.  And that was a wonderful link, Grebo. President Roosevelt's prayer is a reminder that on June 6, 1944 no one listening knew if the action would be successful or not. 

I had 3 uncles who served in the Army.  My father was in the Navy.  My FIL was a pilot (B27, I think), completed his missions over German and stayed in London to get married.  My MIL was a teacher in London and told us about the Blitz and running for the Tube at all hours.  All are gone now. 

And Normandy is a beautiful place, the waves of graves in the cemeteries is very powerful.  Being able to "see" the number of dead makes an impact. 

[PDQ]

We commemorated D-Day last week with a Red Arrow display over our town. It was a glorious day and a fitting tribute to all the brave men and woman who took part. Lymington and the surrounding area (the New Forest) played a big part in the operation.

Taken from Wikipedia:
"Lymington was known as USAAF Station AAF-551 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. It's USAAF Station Code was "LY".

50th Fighter Group

RAF Lymington saw the arrival of the USAAF 50th Fighter Group on 5 April 1944, the group arriving from Orlando AAF, Florida. The 50th had the following operational squadrons:

10th Fighter Squadron (T5)

81st Fighter Squadron (2N)

313th Fighter Squadron (W3)

The 50th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 84th Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. It flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. The group ended operations at Giebelstadt, Germany in May 1945, and returned to the United States in August. I"



Here is some footage of the day. It was bloody amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIeUmtotjpQ

[Mike]

thanks for sharing pdq quite the show of respect

[Darren Henry]

well done! Every bit the show our RCAF "Snowbirds" are famous for. Thanks for sharing!