Carlo
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As promised here's some photos. I had nothing old enough to participate but my best friend did and we took his GMC.
LOTS of people. TONS of jeeps.
LOTS of people. TONS of jeeps.
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Normandy 70th anniversary.
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Great pics. I envy, you being close enough to go. That is one stop I definitely intend to make when I go to Germany to visit my brother. May God bless all who fought and died during the day of days, and my eternal gratitude goes out to ALL the veterans of the USA, no matter when you served!!!!!!!!!
Carlo
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Sppedmon. I came here the first time 25 years ago and at that time there were still sights undesovered and helmets shells and other artifacts. I would see them and just leave them there for others to discover and enjoy. Today all those things have been picked clean and people are selling them every where. On every conner. T shirts. Military surplus clothing. Pop corn. Cotton candy. Just to commercial. We left the 'show' and stayed at one of the cemetery's for the rest of day. Remembering. Talking. Touching the thousands of crosses all perfectly lined up and just remembered what the people gave to us all that day.
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Yes, we remember D-Day.
And thank to all who invaded that day, and all who remembered today.
And thank to all who invaded that day, and all who remembered today.
Carlo
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Sun just went down and you can still see some of the dock that was floated in and sunk. Still there after 70 years and many storms.
Attachments
What is the story behind the picture of the paratrooper stuck in the steeple? That church looks a lot like one that was profiled on public television a while back. The show was about the 101st Airborne medic station in a village during D-day up through D-Day+3. Basically it boiled down to only a couple of medics in one group survived the air drop and had a makeshift medic station in the church. These two guys talked about how they treated both the Americans and Germans equally. All guns had to be left at the front door and they even treated several villagers. Can't remember the name of the show but it was on Iowa Public TV during Memorial day weekend.
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Google "John Steele" "Sainte Mere Eglise". He was a 82 ABN paratrooper that got, well, in that predicament on D-day. The town has hung that mannequin up there for every celebration for a long time, I know he was there when I saw him at the 40th.
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Didn't he die in the Sixties?
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Yup. (my reference to "he" meant the mannequin)
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Thanks for the information. Kind of an interesting story. So many of the stories of D-Day pertain to the storming of the beaches, but without the members of the 82nd and 101 airborne diving into the heart of enemy territory in the dead of night, we might have had a different outcome in World War 2.
Carlo
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There was a film about this event as the soldier trapped on the steeple, I think the actors name was Red Buttons, no?
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Yes, the actor RED BUTTONS portrayed the paratrooper John Steele in the movie THE LONGEST DAY. Here's the WIKI link on it.....
John Steele - Wikipedia
(scroll down to Film Portrayal)
Many of the links in the WIKI are worth chasing as well... LOtS of history to be learned.
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I started to read the article, and noticed...
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It was probably written by someone who thinks casualty = fatality.
Amer-team
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The trick when you go to an event such as this, is figure out where everyone is going and go some place else. I did several of the smaller memorial services.
At the Hemevez service, there was a contingent of US troops, German troops, and music from both Americans and Germans. 10 years ago, the honor guard for the original dedication of this monument, was a Reg. Army Major, our retired 1st Sgt., myself, my son, and 6 Belgians all in WW2 uniforms. Today it was well attended and remembered. The story behind this monument was that there were 7 Paratroopers of the 507th that were wounded, they were put in the local church, discovered by the Germans who took them out and shot them. A local farmer found and buried them until Graves registration came by. The Story was lost until about 13 years ago, when funds were raised to erect this monument. The local people are still very thankful for the sacrifice that so many Americans made for their country and freedom from the Germans.
I have pictures but got a new computer and am having issues downloading from the camera. Hopefully soon.
At the Hemevez service, there was a contingent of US troops, German troops, and music from both Americans and Germans. 10 years ago, the honor guard for the original dedication of this monument, was a Reg. Army Major, our retired 1st Sgt., myself, my son, and 6 Belgians all in WW2 uniforms. Today it was well attended and remembered. The story behind this monument was that there were 7 Paratroopers of the 507th that were wounded, they were put in the local church, discovered by the Germans who took them out and shot them. A local farmer found and buried them until Graves registration came by. The Story was lost until about 13 years ago, when funds were raised to erect this monument. The local people are still very thankful for the sacrifice that so many Americans made for their country and freedom from the Germans.
I have pictures but got a new computer and am having issues downloading from the camera. Hopefully soon.
Carlo
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The area is so rich in stories. I took several reference books to constantly check data of places I wanted to see but after 4 visits in all these years I think I have only scratched the surface. You can be driving down roads in all of Europe and off to the side you see a monument. When you stop and read the dates and the count of men who gave their life's it really hits home.
Amer-team
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Carlo, you are right. I stayed in Gite in Graignes. Right across the street is the remains of the church and monument dedicated to 50 paratroops of the 507th, 1 - RAAF, 30 townspeople that were killed by the Germans. The local priest was helping retrieve weapons and ammo to keep the troopers going. After the ceremony a person from the town, came up to an American Major and held out a piece of camo parachute. it had come from a trooper that had injured his shoulder during the jump and knocked on their door for help. Mother rushed him in and hid him and he survived the battle. the chute had the nomeclature markings and we were able to identify that it had been made in 1943 and inspected in 1944.