Folks Of Interest 6 JUNE

Today the day when thousands of young men storm the beaches of Normandy, many not to return. Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord, during World War II, the Allied invasion of western Europe, which was launched on June 6, 1944 (the most celebrated D-Day of the war), with the simultaneous landing of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France.
I meet a old guy more than a few years ago who was in the first wave, in fact he was the first off the boat. He was a mechanical sort of a guy and this was is plan for the Normandy Invasion. He figure that he would got down the cargo net and get into the landing craft first. Move toward the back of the boat and face the rear bulkhead, he figure that would be the safest place to start out with. Well with the waves and the two boats bouncing around and all of the yelling and screaming from the troops, he was the first into the landing craft and move towards the rear bulkhead, from there he was facing that bulkhead. After the launch started moving ahead he felt a lot of hot air on his neck, he turn around only to find everyone was looking forward and at him. He was at the wrong end of the landing craft. As they approach the beach he could hear the enemy rounds striking the ramp, which was in 10 to 15 minutes was to drop down letting the soldiers storm the beach. He figure his time was up, the ramp drop down, the soldiers next to him was hit right away in the chest and the guy on the other side, trip and fell into the ramp sliding down into the water. He walk right off the landing craft and continue to walk up the beach into the German firing points without getting hit. He walk past the Germans waiting to get hit but never met the wrong end of a death bullet. He walk most of that day past Germans gun positions, German supply points, motor pools and administration points. At the end of the day, he walk onto a farm where the farmer and his wife feed him supper and told him to relax and wait for his comrades to show up. The wife of the farmer told him that she would take care of his head . He was hit in the head, the bullet enter the helmet, cracking his skull but not killing him. He was in a daze the whole day and there was not much blood. He was awarded the Silver Star and was written up as to be the soldier to gain the most distant from the shore, on the first day. Later, from reports from other soldiers, that he was struck running off of the landing craft, but just keep on going.
He was a "car guy" that never had time to build a hot rod but always able to order a pretty hot car for the day.

 

Thank you for sharing. Quite a story.
The bravery of those men both amaze and inspire us all. God bless them.

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Thank you for remembering this day. Way too many don't remember this day, one of the greatest days in American history.

 

Remarkable. Great story. Thank GOD for men like him .

 

My Dad was There!

 

God bless all of those young soldiers.

 

Those young boys had balls of steel!!

However, there is one rotten lying bastard SOB that is taking advantage of the sacrifice those guys made. He'll get his due when he shows up at the gates of Hell. This guy:



Many years ago, my wife and I were conned by an old wrinkle who told a very convincing story about Normandy. My wife, kids and me were riding the train back home to Kansas City from St Louis, where we had taken the kids for a visit to the zoo, museums, etc. The old bastard Solomon Harris was on the train, and told a very convincing story which, rather than repeat I'll just include the text from a newspaper article. He told the same story as below, just buried his wife, Normandy invasion, no money, blah blah. We actually took the son of a bitch home with us and let him spend the night. I even gave the guy a ride to a good hitchhiking spot the next morning, and gave him some cash. Later investigation revealed that he was indeed a con man. I am including a link to a newspaper article the guy carried with him in order to corroborate his made-up story. He fooled a reporter at The Daily Nebraskan into writing an article about him. Check it out at:

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/savin...cle_949bf2a8-b3e1-5521-beeb-7c7d7500a9fc.html

And here's another story from four years earlier:

It seemed appropriate that fate helped the Richland County Patriots and Lt. Col. Solomon Harris cross paths Sunday afternoon on the weekend of our nation's independence.

A rained-out tournament game led to the Patriots' early departure from Scobey and the chance meeting with Harris.

Harris told the tale of how he was hitchhiking his way back to Tacotor, Ill., after burying his wife in Forts, Wash. With compassion, the Richland ballplayers gave Harris a ride to Sidney's Moose Park.

That's a nice human interest story in itself, but this story proved much more dynamic.

At Moose Park, Harris had the tale to tell about how he was involved in the Invasion of Normandy. He also continued his story about returning to Illinois after burying his wife in Washington.

The goodness of eastern Montana people then came through. The Sidney Baseball Commission, VFW Post #4099 and fans from Sidney and Glendive watching the Babe Ruth games all chipped in to help provide safe passage home for Harris.

Problem is Harris has apparently told this story before - many times.

A story on the Web site www.ewav.com by Scott Christensen is entitled "Seeing an Old Man Cry…To Con Anyone He Can." The story describes Harris.

That Web Site reads, "After chatting with some people in the Rapid City, S.D., hostel for awhile we moved onto the topic of the odd people we've met. First they told me about a tiny little woman who stole clearly labeled coffee cups stockpiling them in her bags. Then they moved onto their latest odd person.

Them: "What was his name…Soloman…Soloman Harris."

Me: "Solmon Harris!!! Holly —-! I met him in Virginia Beach."

Turns out that old ——- tells the same sob story to everyone he meets in hostels. "My wife died 11 days ago. I'm traveling back home after burying her in West Virginia. I have shrapnel in my spine…"

"He's good too. Most everyone buys into it right away. It's that damn newspaper article he carries around to prove the veteran story. I don't know how much truth, if any, is in the article but it's the thing that convinces you he's real.

"Once he whips that out, he tells you a sob story about how his wife recently died and how he's waiting for a friend to wire him money or send a check and how he was on the beaches during the invasion of Normandy and how his son died in Vietnam and on and on. You feel bad for him so you offer him food and assorted help and he takes it all.

"Be around him long enough and he starts to demand things. When you question him he falls back on the old con-man standard - a fake heart attack. "Oooo…I have a pain in my chest…no…no…I don't need to go to the doctor. I'll be OK if I just sit down. Could I get some tea?" Five minutes later he's zipping around with nary a care.

"I wasn't around him a long time so he couldn't get me for anything aside from my attention and some spare change.

"However, he was in Rapid City, S.D., for a week and he squeezed all he could out of those nice trusting people."

Harris headed for Glendive after Sunday's games.

Richland County Sheriff Brad Baisch said he doesn't think Harris is breaking the law.

"It's just like anybody else that's looking for a hand-out, but he has a story that goes with it," Baisch said.

The story Harris told area residents on Sunday included the following information:

Harris said "Saving Private Ryan," a movie depicting the rescue of a private during World War II, has a special meaning to him as he directly received the orders from Dwight D. Eisenhower to save Ryan. Eleven men died in this mission with only two men coming out alive, Ryan and a corporal.

Harris also told of his involvement in the June 6, 1944 Invasion of Normandy.

"We were the first wave of the invasion, and I can still remember the water as being blood red. I lost 96 percent of my men in the first 10-15 minutes of that battle," Harris said.

Orders from the airborne commander, Lt. Darby, stated that the group of men in the first wave were "expendable" and a second and third wave would follow.

"We were just young boys. We didn't really know what life was all about," Harris said. "We just knew we had a job to do. That's what we were trained for, death before dishonor."

Seeing what they believed was a true patriot and veteran in their sights, eastern Montanans did the honorable thing - they tried to help.

Although the donations didn't go to a good cause this time, the spirit of giving should still be admired.

 

Thanks to those brave & patriotic souls we still speak English instead of German!!

 

I thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for liberating Europe from the Nazi Terror. Let´s tell the story to our oncoming generations and may they learn this lessonand listen. Today the World would be an aweful place had it not been for the brave soldiers that gave their lifes for our freedom. Let´s not let that happen again. Being a German I feel responsible for what has happenend . That can´t be denied and I really get angry when I read or hear somebody trying to relevate the Nazi crimes. I think our main goal today should be to keep lunatics out of Government, no matter what. We only need to look back 80 years to see what we all could lose.

 

Thanks, man.

 

I try to pay homage with a truly grateful heart at all times to those miraculous young men, (thousands just out of high school), and of course all of them no matter what age they were. I do my best when seeing them with their WW II vet hat or what ever identifies them as such, to approach them and express my thanks for saving this nation and for being so willing to risk their lives. My mother had (2) brothers in the fray, one in Europe (Germany wounded), one in South Pacific Navy, and I remember like yesterday the day(s) that they returned home.
The saddest part of it all is that as time goes on this day is remembered less and less by the ungrateful and bastardy media. Not one word on this mornings new cast did I see and it was mentioned in the comics only in the liberal asshole Seattle Times.
Who was it said something like "forget the history and relive it in the future"?

Larry M.
USAF Vet.
1958-1962

God has a special place in heaven for all men and women who were casualties of that war.