D-Day

When I was growing up, many of us had grandfathers who landed--or were somehow involved. It was part of our living history. Today, sadly, that's no longer the case. If I remember correctly, my grandfather wasn't part of the initial invasion but did pass though there very soon after.

My grandfather, SSGT Albert Mullikin, D-Day +1

I was very lucky to get to know him as a child.

1944 D-Day. A great uncle was one of three from his group to survive Omaha Beach. He was not keen on the whole thing for the rest of his life. I helped him rewire his house in the early 80s. He gave me his A303 (M1903) he swiped from the US Army as payment. I still have it. It has scope rings in the wood like a sniper rifle of the period would have had. I didn't get his story. Just his rifle.

In other news...

On this day in 1918 Battle of Belleau Wood began. It was the first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I.

It was also the day we started bombing Laos in 1964 after two US jets were downed by ground fire.

73 years ago, 99 years ago, 52 years ago... always memorializing a war.

Interestingly enough... 1984 was published on this day in 1949.

This Day In History is a cool site

With every passing day, more and more of "The Greatest Generation" passes away, and for me, days like the anniversary of D-Day always bring me back to around 2003. Why, you might ask?

Back then, I was still in college, working toward a History degree. I had a WWII class, and our end-of-semester project was to seek out a WWII vet and interview them. My family knew two: One who fought in the Pacific Theater (including Guadalcanal) and wouldn't talk to anyone about it, and another who served in the European theater and was willing to sit down with me. Ollie was his name, and he was a friend of my parents who had remarried an octogenarian friend of my mother's, named Sophie. As great a guy as Ollie was, no one knew much about his service in WWII other than the fact that he was there.

So, soon after, I found myself at Ollie and Sophie's kitchen table, having coffee and interviewing him. We talked, and it turns out that he was stationed in England at a port near or in London. He was a welder, and helped fix ships that broke down from use or in battle. His main job was to fix damaged and cracked ship propellers. During the interview, he stopped and said something I'll never forget. "Why me? Why do you care what I did over there? I'm no hero. I never shot Nazis. I just fixed propellers". I then told him that he DID matter. If it wasn't for guys like him, Allied ships wouldn't have been able to do what they did. They couldn't carry troops, seek out and destroy battle cruisers and U-Boats, and shell the enemy. I told him two more words: "Thank you."

At that point, he started crying. No one had ever thanked him for what he did. I was the 1st one, in 2003, after nearly 60 years since he came back to the US, to thank him for his service. It's a moment I will never forget until the day I die.

After that, he opened up about all sorts of stuff: what it was like to be in London at the time, the types of ships he worked on and how messed up they would be, the workload and push to get stuff fixed before what ended up being D-Day, what it was like during the German V-1 "Buzz Bomb" attacks, and how he used the skills he learned in the service to get a job when he came home. He felt proud to have served, probably for the first time in his life.

A few months after the interview, Ollie passed away. Sophie told me at his wake that after the interview, his mood had changed from a typical "cynical old man pissed at the world" to a much happier, more optimistic guy. He was at peace with himself at the end.

If you have the ability to sit down and chat with someone of that age who served, I highly suggest it.

Bud Moore, yes THAT Bud Moore, is a local resident and was involved in D-Day. We have done some work for him and I used to see him around town from time to time.

My friend, Fred Joy, ex W0RSW (changed his call a few years ago to a W5) was there. He was radio operator on one of the landing ship things. Not the little ones, the medium sized ones, I think.

My grandfather was there, but rarely ever talked about it. The comments he did make were that the kids that were the most scarred in the transport to the beach were the first to die, and one of their platoon's jobs after it was over was to go through the dead Germans and look for rigged hand grenades. He also mentioned one other time about trying to dig a foxhole in seemingly solid rock while being shelled, but that was not D-Day. I found out later that their platoon also found one of the concentration camps.

At my previous job we did a bunch of video interviews of surviving vets for a project through the library of congress. It was extremely interesting. One in particular was a guy who was a ball turret gunner on a B24. They were shot down behind the lines and he and several other crew survived and were quickly captured by the Germans. When the Germans asked who was the captain, the captain raised his hand the Germans immediately shot him in the head. I couldn't imagine.

On the other side, one of my first jobs out of college had me working with a guy that was in training to be a kamakazi when the war ended. His views about what was happening in Japan at the time were also very interesting. I think he was like 14 at the time and basically told me every man, woman and child would have given their life for the emperor, and would have if we had to do a land invasion. An extremely nice and interesting guy. He ended up with an engineering degree working with NASA.

My Grandfather was one of the first men on Omaha. He should have been on the first boat, but a nearby mortar hit made the coastie swing the boat around in a complete 360 to avoid it and that let another boat hit the boat first. When they dropped the ramp, all the men inside got machine gunned.

The Coastie put their boat onto the boat sideways to avoid the same fate for my Grandfather and the other men aboard. He made it all the way to Paris without a scratch before my Great Grandfather died and they recalled him home

No family history here. Both of my grandfathers served in the South Pacific. What little I know of there stories can be saved for another day. Step-grandfather was Air Corp ground crew in south England. I don't know if he ever made it to the continent.

Time to see if any streaming has Saving Private Ryan.

In reply to Tony Sestito:

Great story. It's amazing a few words to someone can be a great encouragement.

My brother in law was flight engineer on the Navy version of the B-24 (PB4Y ?) and nose gunner. They dii mostly patrol duty but would harass some of the Japanese held islands.

My brother was ground crew for B-29s on Guam. He told how they slept with a Marine knife under their pillow as there still where a few Japs hiding out and would sneak in looking for food. I have that knife.

"Soldiers of the regiment: June 5, 1944 - D-DAY

"Today, and as you read this, you are en route to that great adventure for which you have trained for over two years.

"Tonight is the night of nights.

"Tomorrow throughout the whole of our homeland and the Allied world the bells will ring out the tidings that you have arrived, and the invasion for liberation has begun.

"The hopes and prayers of your dear ones accompany you, the confidence of your high commanders goes with you. The fears of the Germans are about to become a reality.

"Let us strike hard. When the going is tough, let us go harder. Imbued with faith in the rightness of our cause, and the power of our might, let us annihilate the enemy where found.

"May God be with each of you fine soldiers. By your actions let us justify His faith in us."

Colonel Robert Sink Regimental Commander, 506th P.I.R, 101st Airborne Division

No family members directly involved with D-Day but my Grandmother was in the army and Grandfather in navy during WW2.

Interesting page about D-Day:

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

Bud Moore:

http://performance.ford.com/series/stock-car-racing/news/articles/2015/07/bud-moore-keeps-busy-at-90--working-the-farm-with-a-hand-in-raci.html

I hope all of you have an opportunity to visit Normandy, and as many beaches as you can. The National grave on Omaha beach is something not to miss.

One location note- find a view of the beaches from the cliffs- it will put more of a perspective of how much the Germans had an advantage, and how much risk the soldiers were under.

Very moving.

When I was 12 or 13 I was on a hunting trip with a friend of my grandfather, Prince. He fought in Normandy and was telling a story of being pinned down in the hedgerows by a German tank for 10-15 minutes. The tank could not depress its guns enough to get them if they stayed up close to the hedge. 3 or 4 German soldiers got right in with them and they all were hiding from the tank. The tank was eventually taken out and the men behind the hedge all survived. I asked Prince what happened to the german soldiers? His reply stunned my young mind, " We killed them".

My Grandfather was a Marine, so was in the Pacific theater. He didn't talk about it either...I found out he was a Marine when he was buried in uniform.

My work brings me into daily contact with our nations veterans. As I move through the hospital I always give any of the (rapidly decreasing number) of WW2 and Korea vets to share their story.

As a vet myself they often open up and it's interesting to here their tales, usually well worn gems that they have taken out and retold so often they are nicely polished. But on rare occasions some will reveal a piece of history that has been hidden for decades.

My grandfather didn't enlist until toward the end of the war. He lost most his hearing in one ear from a grenade in boot camp, but due to his experience working for the USPS he ended up in Japan right after occupation, helping to get mail service established. I went through my grandparents' trunk recently and found a bunch of photos and a few souvenirs from his time there. My favorite is a manufactures tag from a Japanese plane, with a picture of him standing next to it, nose/prop on the ground & tail in the air. Somewhere I also have his Japanese translation book.

He had two brothers, one I believe was in the Navy, but not sure about the other. However going through the trunk I found a Nazi patch, so I'm guessing one of his brothers must have been in Europe at some point.

My wife's grandfather left us 3 years ago. He was in north Africa, landed a few days after June 6, and was later wounded at the Bulge. Like most, he didn't talk about it much, though he did have a diary of sorts from his unit that he shared with me once. Came home to a long career working for the local gas company, and was able to enjoy almost 30 years of retirement. 3 daughters, 6 grandkids, and a bunch of great-grandkids, including my two. He was sharp all the way until the end. He was just an outstanding guy, smart, kind, and funny. We miss him every day, but he lived a great life, which is all any of us can ask.

My Dads father landed in Normandy a week after the invasion, he was in the 4th ID in a cannon company. My Dad was a Chaplain in the Army and we lived in Germany for 4 years, during that time my Grandparents came and stayed with us for a month in the summer and we traveled around a lot. One cool this was we had lunch in a Gasthaus that my Grandpa spent his 21st birthday in during the war. He never really talked much about his time over there to me until I came back from Basic Training.

My Moms dad landed in north Africa and ended the war in Austria. He was a high wire repairman so was not up close to the fighting and he was always happy to share stories with us kids.

I miss the two of them a lot still and really wish my children could have met them.

My grandfather (full German descent) enlisted in the Navy during WW2, but was sent to the Japanese theatre. He never told me about his time at sea but would occasionally let slip a few details before catching himself. I later found out he had a boat shot out from under him on his way to Japan (Amongst other things). I'd love to pick his brain now, unfortunately he died in the early nineties when I was in the 7th grade.

There were a couple times where we'd be on a boat, like a ferry across the sound, and I'd catch him staring off into the distance... (I answered the sea's call many years after that because of the feeling of these moments)

D-day:

Alfa Driver said it already: The strategist in me says that what was done was impossible, no matter how many bodies you threw at it...

Truly an amazing example of perseverance in the face of impossible odds.

My mother's father was Army stationed in the Philippines before the war. He was left behind after the withdrawal, MIA. I understand he managed to hide out for those years. I wish I knew more, but he passed when I was 9.

Father's father was Navy, enlisted dec 8. Naval aviation ground crew, PBY5 I think. I don't know what islands he was on, but he did see hand to hand combat involving a knife kill. That knife is still in the family. He was also involved in killing an officer, and berking his way across the islands with the native girls. I have his two photo albums from the war I need to scan. Pictures range from happy posd shots on base and topless island girls to charred enemy bodies.

Actor Charles Durning hit the beach on D-Day. Yogi Berra was there on a rocket launching boat 300 yards off the beach. James Doohan of Star Trek fame, hit Juno Beach. Henry Fonda was on a destroyer providing support fire. JD Salinger landed at Utah Beach.

Father's father was a young man in Gary Indiana when Pearl Harbor occurred. The next day he and about a dozen of his friends went to Chicago to enlist in the Navy. The line being long and Grand Dad being bored/impatient to "get on with it", he went for a walk to stretch his legs. A few blocks away was the Coast Guard recruiting station, virtually empty. Grand Dad decided that serving his country was the important thing so he went in and signed up. They sent him to Cape Cod where he spent a year hiking up and down a beach looking out for German infiltrators. Then he scored a bearth aboard an old WW1 4 stacker destroyer that they pulled out of mothballs to use for coastal defense. Late in the war they depth charged and sunk a U-boat a few miles of the coast of Chatham.

**side note, he also met Grandma on the Cape and they had 5 kids one of whom was my Dad. Glad Gramps decided against the Navy

Jerry From LA wrote: Henry Fonda was on a destroyer providing support fire.

yeah, that still chokes me up...