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Post by gillyp on Jun 6, 2024 9:18:28 GMT
The 80th Anniversary was marked yesterday in England and is currently being marked in France by veterans and leaders. The surviving vets are in their late 90s and 100s. Yesterday’s coverage and today’s is incredibly moving and there have been lots of tears from those watching. King Charles is currently addressing those assembled and President Biden will be speaking later today.
Will we ever learn?
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
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wellway
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 6, 2024 9:39:11 GMT
Will we ever learn?
Not much learning on show around the world at the moment.
The white outfits of the ladies are poignant, rousing rendition of the French anthem. There are a number of anthems I like and it includes the French one.
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Post by melanell on Jun 6, 2024 11:20:37 GMT
80 years. My gosh. When I was a child it all felt so close and sometimes I wonder if it feels as real to kids learning about it today as the number of people alive when it happened dwindle to such low numbers. I grew up often hearing "during the War" this or that happened, or even people just adding onto a fact...this happened--that was before the war, or that happened--that was after the war. Not to mention how many times we had assemblies or went to events where people spoke about their experiences during those years.
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Post by Bridget in MD on Jun 6, 2024 11:48:04 GMT
I would like to ask a sincere question... Do the countries on the "other side" (ie, Germany) of D-Day also take part in a rememberance?
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Post by gar on Jun 6, 2024 12:24:51 GMT
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Post by gar on Jun 6, 2024 12:27:18 GMT
gillyp - I fear we have not learned sadly 😕 The coverage is so moving…those old gentlemen just bring a tear to my eye every time. So brave, so humble, their lives forever shaped by what they saw and did.
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Post by Bridget in MD on Jun 6, 2024 12:29:47 GMT
THank you gar!!!! Maybe sueg will chime in too.... when we were in Germany last fall, we were able to visit Dachau, and what was interesting was that they talked about how many of the towns people had NO idea (supposedly) what was happening there, and it is not something they really want to talk about (understandable). So I didn't know if the rest of the country(ies) also really just didn't want to discuss the war either.... |
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Post by gillyp on Jun 6, 2024 12:49:15 GMT
80 years. My gosh. When I was a child it all felt so close and sometimes I wonder if it feels as real to kids learning about it today as the number of people alive when it happened dwindle to such low numbers. I grew up often hearing "during the War" this or that happened, or even people just adding onto a fact...this happened--that was before the war, or that happened--that was after the war. Not to mention how many times we had assemblies or went to events where people spoke about their experiences during those years. This was pretty much how my childhood was, with mother and older relatives always referring to what happened during, and also before and after the war. Two of my siblings were born in the war years. My parents and grandparents lived through both World Wars and my grandfather and his 5 brothers were all in the army in WWI. Those wars featured large in their lives. Same on my husband's side. His father was shot in Italy at Monte Cassino in WWII but survived. |
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Post by gillyp on Jun 6, 2024 12:57:44 GMT
I was coming with the exact same article.  I don't know if there are any representatives from Germany at today's remembrance. There have been in previous years. |
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wellway
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 6, 2024 13:23:08 GMT
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Post by shamrock on Jun 6, 2024 13:57:50 GMT
This time of year always makes me think of my grandfather who was killed shortly after D Day. He is buried at Normandy but I don’t know what he did or if he was part of D Day. Wish I could find information. My grandmother was originally told he was MIA and then later KIA. She never talked about that time. My mother was 6 months old so never knew details either.
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Post by gillyp on Jun 6, 2024 14:12:13 GMT
wellway, Thank you for that, I didn't know. What a co-incidence to have both our fathers in law in that battle. We visited the monastery there a few years back. It was beautiful and peaceful but sadly we could only stay a short while as they were closing.
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Post by gillyp on Jun 6, 2024 14:16:21 GMT
This time of year always makes me think of my grandfather who was killed shortly after D Day. He is buried at Normandy but I don’t know what he did or if he was part of D Day. Wish I could find information. My grandmother was originally told he was MIA and then later KIA. She never talked about that time. My mother was 6 months old so never knew details either. Have you tried searching the Commonwealth War Graves Commission? www.cwgc.org/ Or was he American? I can't find a link to their War Cemeteries right now but there are many cemeteries that I would expect to be searchable online. |
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wellway
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 6, 2024 14:23:49 GMT
This time of year always makes me think of my grandfather who was killed shortly after D Day. He is buried at Normandy but I don’t know what he did or if he was part of D Day. Wish I could find information. My grandmother was originally told he was MIA and then later KIA. She never talked about that time. My mother was 6 months old so never knew details either. When we visited the American cemetery in Normandy they had an office where military personnel helped visitors find their relative. Maybe an email could start your journey to locate him. www.abmc.gov/normandy |
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Post by ntsf on Jun 6, 2024 14:50:32 GMT
ancestry.com has free access this weekend to military records. I would try there. you might have to try in several places and in several ways. military records were burned up at some point.. I know I ended up having more info about dh's grandfather than the records in the archives. but he was in the military pre ww1.
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sueg
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Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
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Post by sueg on Jun 6, 2024 15:30:15 GMT
Bridget in MD - as far as I know, Germany doesn't commemorate D-Day. I would be surprised if they do - I don't think many countries commemorate wars they lost. There are very few war memorials here for anything to do with WWII, some for WWI, but overall it is something that isn't visible at all. There is one Military Museum, in Ingolstadt, which mainly focuses on earlier military stuff. You are not going to see WWII tanks and weapons in many places here. I really don't know if our Chancellor, or anyone representing him, travelled to France for the events yesterday. Between our state in the middle of a flood emergency and spending all morning at the university hospital outpatient clinic, I wasn't keeping up with a lot else. I also don't actually watch a lot of German news programs, as they are all in German (obviously). I do read newspapers online, but haven't over the past few days, as the flood info has been so distressing. As to the what the German people knew about the concentration camps - the worst of the camps, like Auschwitz, where the gas chambers were, were not in Germany. They were also situated well outside of towns. Even Dachau, which today has houses and the like right nearby, was situated in farmland outside the town when it was built in the late 30s.
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Post by melanieg on Jun 6, 2024 16:30:15 GMT
I watched part of the Canadian one this morning. Prince William stopped to talk to all of the veterans there, shook hands and then addressed everyone.
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Post by Linda on Jun 6, 2024 16:42:42 GMT
My dad went over on D-Day - landed on Sword.  |
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snyder
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Posts: 4,351 
Location: Colorado
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Post by snyder on Jun 6, 2024 16:48:53 GMT
My dad flew a mission on D-Day.
On the 50th anniversay, our local newspaper solicited and printed stories from WWII vets. This one was from my dad.
The war was horrific.
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sueg
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Post by sueg on Jun 6, 2024 17:09:30 GMT
I have just seen footage of today’s ceremony at Omaha Beach and the German chancellor was present.
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Post by Basket1lady on Jun 6, 2024 18:24:40 GMT
I think the most humbling experience of my life was standing on the Gold beach in Arromance sur Bain and looking up at the cliffs and realizing what those men faced coming ashore. The US museum at Omaha is extensive and you can walk through some of the concrete bunkers that the Germans occupied.
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Post by AngieandSnoopy on Jun 6, 2024 18:27:21 GMT
My father was in the Navy in WWII. He was on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. I know they stopped in England and Africa. I have pictures he took and some coins from England. His 98th birthday would have been 3 weeks ago but he died of MS complications the month after I turned 8. The only thing I know is that a torpedo apparently did not hit the ship but rocked it and he fell out of his bunk when it happened. Don't know why that was the only story my mother told me. I don't even know how much she was told, she hadn't met him until about 7 years after the war. I wish I knew more. I don't think he ever set foot in France. The thing is, he wouldn't have known his great-grandmother was of French descent and we would have had very distant relatives there. His grandmother died at a young age and even his mother didn't know about her ancestors on that side of the family.
I wish I knew more but at this point, I'd never be able to find any of the men in his pictures, don't know names and most or all of them would be gone by this point.
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Post by Linda on Jun 6, 2024 19:31:57 GMT
If you're ever in Virginia, I highly recommend the National D-Day Memorial. We stumbled upon on a road a while back and it was ...well worth the visit. www.dday.org/ |
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Post by mellyw on Jun 6, 2024 19:40:36 GMT
I think the most humbling experience of my life was standing on the Gold beach in Arromance sur Bain and looking up at the cliffs and realizing what those men faced coming ashore. The US museum at Omaha is extensive and you can walk through some of the concrete bunkers that the Germans occupied. I’d say the same, close second and third was visiting Nagasaki and Pearl Harbor. I went with my Uncle’s letter describing just a little of what he saw. He was a medic at D-Day, and a conscious objector at that so he carried no weapons. It’s the only written account we have, my Mom said he would never talk about but remembers the screams of nightmares waking everyone up. |
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Post by Basket1lady on Jun 6, 2024 21:04:32 GMT
I think the most humbling experience of my life was standing on the Gold beach in Arromance sur Bain and looking up at the cliffs and realizing what those men faced coming ashore. The US museum at Omaha is extensive and you can walk through some of the concrete bunkers that the Germans occupied. I’d say the same, close second and third was visiting Nagasaki and Pearl Harbor. I went with my Uncle’s letter describing just a little of what he saw. He was a medic at D-Day, and a conscious objector at that so he carried no weapons. It’s the only written account we have, my Mom said he would never talk about but remembers the screams of nightmares waking everyone up. How lucky you are to have that accounting. DH never talks about his time in Afghanistan, but it’s there. I would imagine that being on that beach was 1,000 times worse. |
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jun 6, 2024 22:03:32 GMT
This time of year always makes me think of my grandfather who was killed shortly after D Day. He is buried at Normandy but I don’t know what he did or if he was part of D Day. Wish I could find information. My grandmother was originally told he was MIA and then later KIA. She never talked about that time. My mother was 6 months old so never knew details either. There's lots of info available through public veterans records - my aunt's father was also buried in Normandy and I was able to find a summary of his death and internment. If you'd like help dm me. |
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Post by ntsf on Jun 6, 2024 22:39:20 GMT
If you ever visit San Francisco, you can visit the pompanito submarine (served in the pacific). and the Jeremiah OBrien merchant marine ship --it was at D Day. on the 50th anniversary of d day, it was the only ship present that original day to make it back for the celebration. there was a great series of articles in SF Chronicle about the trip from sf to france and back, I heard the captain speak.. esp about the cheering and welcome as they took the ship up the river. he said the small village residents all came out--they all remembered this significant invasion.
D Day should always be remembered as the great action it was.. and the great sacrifice.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Jun 7, 2024 2:29:43 GMT
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Post by jennyap on Jun 7, 2024 8:44:59 GMT
80 years. My gosh. When I was a child it all felt so close and sometimes I wonder if it feels as real to kids learning about it today as the number of people alive when it happened dwindle to such low numbers. I grew up often hearing "during the War" this or that happened, or even people just adding onto a fact...this happened--that was before the war, or that happened--that was after the war. Not to mention how many times we had assemblies or went to events where people spoke about their experiences during those years. This was pretty much how my childhood was, with mother and older relatives always referring to what happened during, and also before and after the war. Two of my siblings were born in the war years. My parents and grandparents lived through both World Wars and my grandfather and his 5 brothers were all in the army in WWI. Those wars featured large in their lives. Same on my husband's side. His father was shot in Italy at Monte Cassino in WWII but survived. wellway , Thank you for that, I didn't know. What a co-incidence to have both our fathers in law in that battle. We visited the monastery there a few years back. It was beautiful and peaceful but sadly we could only stay a short while as they were closing. Gosh, my father-in-law was also there! |
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Post by gillyp on Jun 7, 2024 9:46:57 GMT
Gosh, my father-in-law was also there!  |
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