I last posted my respects to the men - and women, as Bob Welch reminded us in American Nightingale - of D-Day 1944 on June 6, 2013, calling it Back Page News.
Not much on TV today. Biden did a fly-in, drive-in, at The Beach. He couldn’t figure out whether he was supposed to stand or sit when Gen. Milley was introduced. That will salve his conscience, such as he may still have, and give him some cover in his desire to castrate the American military and still get them to vote for him. Good luck with that. What a comment on our national conscience.
To us in America, raised on US-centric WW II history, this was the critical event of WW II in Europe. The beginning of the end, and maybe it was. But that gives short shrift to the Soviet Union's sacrifices. We don't like them anymore but back in the day they killed 9 out of 10 German soldiers lost in the war. Russia and its contemporaries remember them and honor them. Us, not so much.
We saw Nancy Reagan placing flowers on the grave of Gen. Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., (TRJr) in 1994 while President Reagan looked on. There is no more talk of major WWII celebrations in Normandy, or elsewhere, ever again. Their time has passed, although there are living survivors. Today, the living and dead veterans get little more than a nod. Anywhere. From anyone.
TRJr deserves a special mention here. Gassed and wounded at Soissons in 1918, he had to overcome strenuous resistance to be in the invasion at all. His commanding officer reluctantly OK'd it but thought he was sending him to his death. Oldest man in the invasion, second man off the lead boat in the first wave (give that some thought), only general to land with the first wave, only man to serve with his son on D-Day. Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day, one of only two sets of fathers and sons to win the Medal of Honor, along with Arthur and Douglas MacArthur.
As successive waves came ashore, he walked around under fire encouraging troops to move inland, and he personally led assaults against German positions, just as he did when he first came ashore. He was admirably portrayed by Henry Fonda in the movie The Longest Day. He is a man well worth remembering.
Here is his Medal of Honor citation:
For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France.
After 2 verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt's written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches.
He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice.
Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy.
Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties.
He thus contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France.
Only three other men won the Medal of Honor on D-Day, and one on June 7. Four of the five were awarded posthumously, including TRJr who died of a heart attack on July 12, 1944, the same day he was promoted to major general.
TRJr is seldom remembered any more, just like the rest of our D-Day and WW II veterans. But today is a good day to remember and thank him and them.
"If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten."
-- Rudyard Kipling
Achievements, not deaths, are the legacy of Normandy but it is death that dominates our thoughts of them today. For each recorded act of heroism and sacrifice and death there were hundreds more that went unobserved or are forgotten. Each of them died to keep us free. It is our shame that they appear to our children as roles in video games instead of stories of heroism and sacrifice that we teach them. Gentlemen and ladies of D-Day, thank you for giving my family and me our freedom and our future.
"We’ll start the war from right here!"
Teddy Roosevelt, Jr, upon learning that his unit had landed a mile from their designated beach on D-Day.
The anniversary of the invasion of Normandy was still a big event back in 1994, on the 50th. I remember the allied leaders meeting on the beaches, saluting the vets, promising everlasting gratitude for their sacrifices. Everlasting doesn't mean much these days. What's left to say and who is there to say it? Joe Biden?
Here's what they saw when the ramps dropped:
My friend Ray, gone now, went ashore on Omaha Beach the night before. He left a submarine in the English Channel, then he and his men rowed their rubber rafts ashore. He was a combat engineer, a lieutenant, and his mission was to clear assault paths between the maze of obstacles that the Germans had placed on the beaches in anticipation of the invasion. It wasn't his first time on Omaha Beach. He'd been there before, gathering sand samples.
Granted, it was too little and too late to do much but they did their best. When they were done, they dug in at the base of the cliffs of Pont du Hoc and waited, first for the shelling, then for the invasion. While he was at the base of the cliffs, he could look directly at the surf, and he could help men struggling ashore.
Then up the cliffs he went, becoming an infantry platoon leader for the next few weeks until he re-joined an engineer unit. He survived the invasion and the next 11 months of war but many of his men didn't. Here's a detail from a bronze at the National D-Day Memorial. It's what he did when he climbed the cliff. Take a good look. He's doing it for you.
When you look back at Omaha Beach from the Normandy American Cemetery, you get a glimpse of the task that the invading armies faced:
Looking another direction, you can see the price they paid:
Say something to someone about Normandy today. If you can find a D-Day vet, by all means thank him. They're hard to find, though, and they don't often make known what they did. But say something, to a neighbor maybe, or a friend. Make sure your kids know about it, about them, about worlds that ended and worlds that opened up that day. It's the least you can do. We can never repay what we owe them but we can tell their story, the story that my newspaper failed to tell.
They're eroding away, as all cliffs must, and the effort being made to restore them. The real story, of course, is of eroding memories, those of the participants and our own. When we stop remembering events of such colossal world import, who will restore us?
I can’t forget to mention Charles Schultz's immortal D-Day tribute, showing a photo of Ike exhorting his 101st Airborne troops on the afternoon of the 5th. They would jump, and die, in just a few hours. Snoopy is there, too, as everyman and representing all of us, geared up and looking at Ike. The simple caption:
June 6, 1944 - To Remember -
Thank you, Ray. Thank you to all who served and fought and suffered for me. I remember who gave my children their freedom.
* * * * *
Teach Your Children
by Graham Nash
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.
[Counter Melody To Above Verse:
Can you hear and do you care and
Cant you see we must be free to
Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.]
Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
I remember the first time I heard that song, in 1970 in Vietnam. It still affects me the same way. Click on it and listen.
HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY
A COMRADE IN ARMS
KNOWN BUT TO GOD
