Folks Of Interest D-Day 6/6/44,Do we have any WWII veterans on here?

Our WWII veterans are leaving us quickly. My dad was one. He was lucky to have made it back. Just curious if there are any still kicking on the HAMB.
If so.............thank you.

 

Would't that be 1945?

 

^^^^^I saw my Dad for the first time in August of '45. He passed 12/28/1988.

 

Negative 3 windaguy, 6/6 1944 is the date.

 

It was 1944, that would make most of the survivors around 90+ years old. Not many of them left.
Dad's flight log, he flew on the 7th.
Thanks to all who made the sacrifice of going to war (this one and all the rest).

 

My dad is 96 and still kickin...WW2 B-17 Mechanic

 

Hey Larryt,
Dad was apparently a glider driver, wow. Did he land one in France? Those guys didn't get their due as did the more glamorous B17's, Mustangs, et al. Most of those Waco's (CG4A) were built here in Michigan and only 2/3 remain.
My hat is off for him.
Lou

 

Yep.....1944. My bad.

 

Lou, yes he flew into St Marie du Mont on 7/7/44. He was in a Horsa and not a Waco on that mission though.

 

My dad spent most of the war patrolling for U-Boats off the east coast. He would never say if he saw any action, but did mention a couple times that there were flights from his squadron that never came back. He ended the war on the west coast waiting for orders to report to a carrier for the invasion of Japan. The bombs were dropped before those orders came through.

Anyone who thinks Hell wouldn't be preferable to war needs to watch Saving Private Ryan. Even though most of these men and women who served are gone, please let us never forget what they did for our country, the world and for us today. -Dave

 

Today is my wedding anniversary. It was also my parents wedding anniversary. They are both gone now but they were married on 6/6/1942. Tonight I will drink a toast to my lovely bride, my parents, and to the brave men who landed on the beaches to assault Hitler's Fortress Europe.

Let us never forget the names Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold and Juno. I hope one day to visit Normandy to pay my respects to those who didn't return.

 

My father serve in the South Pacific in the Army Air Corp. loading munitions on the fighter planes. He's no longer with us, died in 1988. He did take me out to the track though and let me hang out with the guy's that ran the MG I have now.
Thank You to all who serve.

Pat

 

Larry T - Your Dad flew 2 glider Combat Missions!!!?

WOW - just WOW! As mentioned above, those guys never got the recognition they surely deserved

 

The "ancient ones", as my friend calls himself, are fast fading from life. Here's Jack's email he sent today..

Bill




"D-DAY 1944; I was working in the Darkroom in Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea on the other side of the world, it was just another day. We had been in the S.W. Pacific almost 2-1/2 years wondering if we would ever see that Golden Gate Bridge again. Then we got word of the Normandy Landings in France, HOPE was reborn. Maybe now if they ended it over there we would be get what we needed in the Pacific to end it over here. A month later in July they started the Rotation System, where the “oldtimers” over here would be sent home. My good Buddy Tack made the first list that month. There always seemed to be a shortage of Photo Lab Techs – I would wait 6 months before I finally was handed my Rotation Order Jan. 12, 1945. Thanx to a Merciful God and an ever vigilant Guardian Angel I sailed back under that Golden Gate Bridge Mar. 8, 1945 – 3 years, 1 month and 8 days after leaving.



6 June 1944, - assault on the beaches of Normandy by brave warriors - lest we should ever forget. The words below were penned by the most decorated soldier of WW II, Audie Murphy. He wrote this in 1968; the original title was Freedom Flies In Your Heart Like An Eagle.


DUSTY OLD HELMET


Dusty old helmet, rusty old gun

They sit in the corner and wait—

Two souvenirs of the Second World War

That have withstood the time, and the hate


Many times I’ve wanted to ask them—

And now that we’re here all alone,

Relics all three of a long ago war—

Where has freedom gone?


Mute witness to a time of much trouble,

Where kill or be killed was the law—

Were these implements used with high honor?

What was the glory they saw?


Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle

Let it soar with the winds high above

Among the spirits of soldiers now sleeping,

Guard it with care and with love.


I salute my old friends in the corner,

I agree with all they have said,

And if the moment of truth comes tomorrow,

I’ll be free, or by God, I’ll be dead


Audie Murphy

 

Thank you to all who served for my freedom

 

Hemiman 426, thank you for sharing with us the message from your friend and the words of Audie Murphy. -Dave

 

MERCY! THANK YOU! For putting that piece of history up for us all to read! I have read of Audie Murphy's actions in battle, never seen these beautiful words before!

 

I have watched Saving Pvt. Ryan several times, and I have read a bunch of individual accounts of soldiers who were in the first or second wave on D-Day. From what I understand, there were parts of Utah beach head that weren't quite as awful as the film tries to show, and other parts that were probably just about that bad. The first time I saw the movie, though, I was thinking that they could really only attempt to show a fraction of how bad Omaha beach was. The British landing beaches also ranged from pretty bad to unimaginably hellish.

 

As I read this I was setting on a beach and thought what hell it must have been to jump off a landing craft with 150 lb of crap on your back and a bunch of Germans blasting artillery at you Those men are the greatest generation of Americans and deserve the highest of respect from all and I would like to thank all who have served and who are serving for our freedom! God bless America we are going to need his blessing and some more men like that to get us through the crazy world going on around us!

 

My Dad is 90 and a WWII veteran/ARMY/South Pacific. I took him to a pancake breakfast for alumni of the "Freedom Flight" this morning. Amazing stories from vets! Today, June 6th is the anniversary of Normandy, as Hemiman 426 also stated. Never forget Normandy... if you love freedom, remember the sacrifices of these great warriors. They went where they were told to go; they did what they were told to do; as they do now, all in the name of Freedom, The Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Thank you veterans! I offer this recent, period correct, reenactment, that I created... "Kickin' On The Tarmac"...

 

Lost my dad in late 2013, age 96. He was a B24 mechanic in Africa and Italy.

 

A huge thanks to all that served and are currently serving. They are truly the ones that keep us free to live the lives we love.

 

Forgot to add a pic of my good friend Jack Heyn..

 

Jack and his future wife Jonnie.. Two of the nicest people I've been priviledged to know.

 

My Grandpa parachuted into Normandy late June 5th - he made it out and I have his 41 Ford mild hop up ( he owned it from new and customized it prior to and post WWII )
He's no longer here, but his spirit is with the 41.

 

41 what a nice thing to have of your father's. Good looking coupe. Great story there. -Dave

 

My dad flew P-38 Lightnings with 475th Fighter Group, 5th Army Air Corps in the pacific theater. He survived 33 missions in 1944. Living in a tent, hot and damp most of the time. Came home on a hospital ship. He had quite a few stories.
Lost him in 2003. Miss him every day. He would have liked the HAMB...

 

RuFFDaWG, glad to here your dad made it back. Had an aunt who worked at the Lockheed plant. I believe in the office and not the assembly line. She had a clear pendant with a gold P-38 suspended in it. I was fascinated by the P-38 growing up.
-Dave

 

Both my parents worked at Northrop Aircraft in Hawthorne,Ca. where they built the P-61 Black widow all weather night fighter, my mom always wore this plastic pendant with a flying wing embedded inside.
The flying wing was the fore runner of what we now call the "Stealth" aircraft.