Warbird Information Exchange

Well I wasn't born yet, but my dad was flying his P-51 as follows; June 2, Top Cover To Rowen, June 4, Escort To Ault, June 6, Glider Escort To Beach Head, & June 7, Dive Bombing Airel. Looks like he was a busy fellow. I give my thanks to all those that gave so much!

Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

Must have been something to look down and see all those ships....

Lynn

I wasn't around for another 25 years but I did have conversations as a kid with my late Uncle Walter about it. He landed on D+1 and was a Sherman tank commander. I asked him what he saw and he just said mop up, then it was their turn to drive inland. I prodded and said what kind of activities were going on the beach. He swallowed hard and said "I wasn't old enough to hear that yet". I think I thought I saw a tear. Never saw that before. He would take a deep breath and change the subject slightly and say "We drove from Normandy to the Czech border with Patton and finished the Jerry's off." Always ended with "Lost a lot of good guys."

Well...since the invasion didn't start until about 0630 local time in France, it was only 0130 in Arlington, VA and I would have been sound asleep. In a few hours, I'd have to get up to go to school. (Miss Carpenter's 3rd grade at Robert E. Lee Elementary.) We heard about it on the radio and it was all we could talk about at school.
And my thanks to "The Greatest Generation". Of which my father was one.

Mudge the geezer

ps. Mrs. Mudge and I will be visiting the D-Day beaches in 25 days.

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Land of the free because of the brave

Heck, my parents weren't even born yet. But God Bless all who took part and thank you.

...then I died and was reincarnated......and there is a time lag between your reincarnations...I know for a fact!

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EVERYTHING that CAN fly should be ALLOWED to FLY!
IWO JIMA'S best narative..."GOD ISN'T HERE"
http://www.amazon.com/God-Isnt-Here-Ame ... 0976154706


P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget.

My cousin John Manwell died October 24, 1944 five months after landing at D-Day near Antwerp in the Netherlands. He served in the Lincoln and Wellington Regiment RCIC. He is buried in the Bergen Op Zoom Cemetary 39m Km NW of Antwerp.
I had two other cousins who died during WWII the others being Jack Mulligan RCAF a mid upper gunner on a 75 RNZAF Stirling and James Skeldon USN who was aboard the USS Swordfish when she was depth charged off Okinawa.

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“Try to fly in the middle of the air. The edges are filled with mountains and oceans and rocks and it’s much harder to fly there.”

I'd like to think I would have been one of them if I had been around that morning, either getting off one of the boats or if you were one of the lucky ones to be flying overhead as cover. And I think I'd have been scared, more than brave.
These days we have wars or other issues that most don't agree with and leaders who are often not decent enough to follow. I think it was different then, there are some things worth risking your life for, and there was almost unanimous opinion that this was one of those times. No one had to invent the threat of Hitler or the Japanese.
I'll be thinking about those guys today, so many of them were the ages of my Sons. I wonder if it will be just another day to many here who weren't born then.
There is a Dylan song "With God On Our Side". It is an ironic or sarcastic title, that points out how we often claim God is on our side while doing some evil. But, maybe if there is a God, and maybe if He ever backs one side in any war, He did this time. I don't know how religious I am,probably somewhere in the middle, but maybe some higher power helped us that day with the weather break.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Thanks for your comments Bill. Indeed a lot of brave men died on this day 64 years ago.
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

I had two uncles involved in the invasion, one went ashore later on D-Day and the other a couple of days later. I think of them in those landing craft often.

I think of the beach at Omaha and the foothills that lay beyond. This was the last sight that so many talented and brave men saw. May they all rest in eternal peace and know that they have our complete gratitude for their sacrifice.

Jiggers...I know you've seen the beaches from both the allied view and the German view. After having seen both also, I am amazed that there weren't more allied casualties. There is absolutely no cover on Omaha and the Germans had an incredible kill zone. I can't look at it without tearing up a bit.

Mudge

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Land of the free because of the brave

My Pop was only 7 years and one week old so I wouldn't even become a glint in his eye for another 18 years. He was probably running around with a P-38 model making motor noises totally oblivious to why all the adults were gathered around the radio with very stern looks across their faces.

I envy you, your trip in 25 days Mudge. There are two places I will see before I die: the beachheads and cemetery at Normandy and Pearl Harbor. There are many other places made important from that period in world history but few come as close to giving us a glimpse of the cost of our freedom as these two places do.

John

One day I met 3 Veterans of the Normandy Invasion, all pumping gas at the same time at the same gasoline station. I ask one old fellow if he was a Vet. He Replied yep, Normandy First Wave, Another old guy at an adjacent pump spoke up Normandy 7:20 a.m., and a 3rd, said "Normady, Right Behind you". they all went off for coffee at the nearby Waffle House, I had an appointment I had to go to, and missed the reunion. I often however visit the grave yard on the military installation near where I live, and sometimes, I walk through the garden of stone, and read the names of the of the warriors. below their names, most of the stones read; World War Two, Korea, or World War Two, Korea, Vietnam I have missed visiting Normandy several times. I am sure that it would me to show my emotions at the site where many of "My" brothers in arms fell, or was brought to following an encounter with the enemy. People living in America, and former oppressed/occupied countrys now-a-days, are too busy to slow down and take the time to relfect on where they were gifted with their freedom, which came from the Sailor, the Soldier, and the Airman. They forgot that the cost of their freedom is Buried in the Ground.

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

My dad said that that I'll never see fireworks to match June 6th at night.

He, a 16 year old, was standing with some shipmates on the deck of his liberty ship off Utah watching the show at night when something big exploded overhead. Several of them died and he wasn't scratched. To me this helps explain a lot of the screwiness-anger out of nowhere at the drop of a hat, always wound up real tight, etc., etc.-that was the hallmark of his life. I think that for him, the war ended in the 80's on the day he died. I cut anyone who has seen combat anywhere, anytime a whole lot of slack. May they all find peace.

A few years ago, I visited a huge gun emplacement in the countryside way behind Utah beach and have wondered if that shell came from there.