D-Day Remembered

[PegLeg45]

Here's a good sites for some D-Day history and information.


http://www.worldwar2history.info/D-Day/

http://www.army.mil/d-day/

http://www.dday.org/

http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/

[twyacht]

Thank you PegLeg. A totally different time, when an entire world said enough to a Nazi Regime. The Germans knew it was coming, and even training for D-Day, Exercise Tiger, killed several hundred soldiers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger

Exercise Tiger was the code name for two military exercises held in the United Kingdom during the Second World War:

    * The first, conducted in 1942, was an Army-level exercise by Commonwealth forces and the largest ever held in the UK up to then.
    * The second, in 1944, was a full-scale rehearsal for the D-Day invasion of Normandy and led to the deaths of more than 700 American troops as a result of both blunders by the Allied forces and enemy attack by German motor torpedo boats (E-boats).


Point being, is WE had to make this work, WE had to get a foothold to get to Berlin. Despite the casualties in training alone, Brave U.S Soldiers, Allied Forces, and common fisherman that piloted supplies in their own boats across the Channel, stayed the course, that led to another day:

V-E Day. May 1945.  V-J Day came 3 months later.

It had to be done, and "The Greatest Generation" carried it out. 

Too bad it's not taught in schools anymore, except in a brief passing in a watered down American History course.

Current generations could learn so much.

[m25operator]

Maybe current generations will, with you 2 guys, posting stuff like this, I surely hope so, you young people, here is the history of your country and great grand fathers and grand mothers, it is rich, and if your a slacker, it is because your grand parents suffered and strived " so their Son could be a farmer, and his son a lawyer, and his son a poet "  now it could go to " musician, slacker, burger king employee " I don't lump all young people in this wrap, but far too many are still living at home, at 25+. Waiting for their inheritance to make a few more miles, until, LIFE,  slaps them in the head and they realize, unless they contribute, they are DONE.

Great post!!!!!!!!!!! It just brings things more into perspective, a perspective, I don't really like.

Our parents ( if your 50 or older ) and grand parents, uncles and aunts, were the " Greatest Generation " our culture has been lacking ever since.

My favorite uncle, in the Navy at 14 years old, ( great grand momma lied he was 16 )  and at Pearl Harbor, he was in the shit, lost sight in 1 eye, but survived, and was back on duty rather quickly, did his tour, did not have a bad word to say, it was life.  He never talked about it to me about it until I was 38, 39 years old,  He died shortly after that, but I remember it all and felt proud that he would share.


In civilian life He had an awning company, and as a child I went with him to work, and saw all these big machine brakes for cutting metal, and machines for corrugating metal, as they did it all in house, He bought me Cokes from the 6 cent 6oz Coke machine, and those Cokes were the real deal, choke one of those cold bad boys  back and it brought tears to your eyes. It was nothing for him to drive from from Houston to Dallas to visit us, on a whim, 300 miles and a day trip, Mom would call us kids and say uncle Bill is here. And after lunch, drive back to Houston. I've only done it when I was drunk ( not proud ), but he one eyed it, every day of his life, less 14 for his whole life. I can't imagine driving 300 miles with 1 eye, but he did.

Late in life, He moved back to Alvord Texas, where my mother was born, and lived out his days, farming, never a harsh word,  was on the town council for a while, and let me on to some city politics, A stand up guy in every respect, He grew -a 16lb cantaloupe. He is buried in the Alvord cemetery, where a lot of my family is buried, going back a hundred years, that is where my burial plot is next to my mother, and my oldest sister and wife have plots as well, it is on a wind driven hill, but what will I care, when the time comes.

William Sorrels, USN.

I'm proud, but choking on this.  Thanks Guys, for giving me the opportunity to share this.

[WatchManUSA]

My humble appreciation and thanks goes to The Greatest Generation the World has ever known!

[PegLeg45]

Thank you for sharing that story, M25.


As a side note, I read somewhere that our nation is losing its WWII veterans at a rate of over a thousand a day..........stunning.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Thank you for sharing that story, M25.


As a side note, I read somewhere that our nation is losing its WWII veterans at a rate of over a thousand a day..........stunning.

If you enlisted at 18 in 1945, like the late Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo)  You are now about 82 years of age. Whats the average life expectancy for a man nowaday ?  75 ? 85 ? If you know a WWII  (or Korean or Vietnam war) Veteran, it is imperative that you encourage them to write, video, or tape their recollections before these historic moments are lost forever to revisionist history.

[Timothy]

I buried my father about 20 years ago, June 6, 1989.  While in town, we went through his stuff and I came across a scrapbook of his Naval career which dated from 1938 to 1948. The cover title was “USS Wasp CV-7”.  I didn’t think too much of the title then.  My brothers and I went through it one morning and recalled how we used to play with his medals when we were kids but couldn’t recall any stories from his time in service.

The scrapbook was handmade, leather bound and was most definitely something that he’d spend a lot of time on over the years. It had pictures, news clips, dates and names of hundreds of sailors, ports of call and all of the commands and ships that he was assigned to.  Of the ten years my father was in the service, he’d spent 8 solid years at sea!

I can only imagine the images that he’d seen, the experiences and the tragedy of the years between 1941 and 1945. He never said a word about it, even after his oldest son decided to enlist in 1971, his second son in 1973 and me in 1975. We did it because he had; I did because they all did, it was a simple decision.

I came across that scrapbook again recently and decided to set up a memorial for him on the Together We Served website. While doing the research of the dates and ships, I came across some startling information.

The USS Wasp, CV-7, was sunk on September 15, 1942. My father was reassigned in August 1942 and rotated off the ship. He was a Boiler Tech, Third Class. His chances of survival would have been slim to none.   

I wonder who would be typing this if history had been a little bit different?

In fond memory of BTC EJ Bevins 1938-1948

Purple Hearts (2)
Philippine Liberation Medal
Sea Service Deployment (5)
WWII Victory Medal

Thanks Dad!

[shooter32]

I buried my father about 20 years ago, June 7, 1989.  While in town, we went through his stuff and I came across a scrapbook of his Naval career which dated from 1938 to 1948. The cover title was “USS Wasp CV-7”.  I didn’t think too much of the title then.  My brothers and I went through it one morning and recalled how we used to play with his medals when we were kids but couldn’t recall any stories from his time in service.

The scrapbook was handmade, leather bound and was most definitely something that he’d spend a lot of time on over the years. It had pictures, news clips, dates and names of hundreds of sailors, ports of call and all of the commands and ships that he was assigned to.  Of the ten years my father was in the service, he’d spent 8 solid years at sea!

I can only imagine the images that he’d seen, the experiences and the tragedy of the years between 1941 and 1945. He never said a word about it, even after his oldest son decided to enlist in 1971, his second son in 1973 and me in 1975. We did it because he had; I did because they all did, it was a simple decision.

I came across that scrapbook again recently and decided to set up a memorial for him on the Together We Served website. While doing the research of the dates and ships, I came across some startling information.

The USS Wasp, CV-7, was sunk on September 15, 1942. My father was reassigned in August 1942 and rotated off the ship. He was a Boiler Tech, Third Class. His chances of survival would have been slim to none.  

I wonder who would be typing this if history had been a little bit different?

In fond memory of BTC EJ Bevins 1938-1948

Purple Hearts (2)
Philippine Liberation Medal
Sea Service Deployment (5)
WWII Victory Medal

Thanks Dad!


AWESOME!!!

[ericire12]

Any bets on how BHO will f**k this one up?!?!?

[tombogan03884]

" I came across that scrapbook again recently and decided to set up a memorial for him on the Together We Served website. While doing the research of the dates and ships, I came across some startling information."

Great post Tim, Thank you for sharing it with us. The sinking of the Wasp must have been VERY traumatic for your Father, leaving him struggling for years with the "survivors guilt" question of "Why me ?".