What was your relative doing on D-Day?

[rickjump1 0]

My dad served in the 410th Bomb Group of the 9th Air Force. He was flying an A-20 Havoc out of Gosfield in Essex that day. I believe he got off late due to weather. His brother was serving in the 8th Air Force as a military policeman.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[MC208B 0]

My Mom was 9 and Dad 15 on D day, so they probably were just doing kids stuff then.Of course, kid stuff then was gathering up stuff for the war effort, scrap metal etc.

My Grandfather was a test pilot flying SBC-2 Helldiver dive bombers for Curtis A/C company in Ohio.

I'm the first one in my family to have served in a combat zone (Vietnam 72) since the civil war. Had relatives fighting then on both sides!

I hope that I'm the last one to serve in a combat zone in my family.

Don't take this the wrong way folks! I am very proud of the generations that sacrificed so much so we get to live the way we do FREE. They are all owed a debt that none of us can pay besides thanking them before they're gone.

[airtwardo 6]

My dad was 16...

And aboard a troop transport on his way
across the pond to lend a hand.

He'd gone through training at Ft. Knox and was supposed
to be a tank driver...he'd been driving a delivery truck since he
was 13.

When he got there...he was reassigned.

His 'new' job was to man a .30 cal machine gun mounted
on the back of the lead 'scout' jeep in a recon unit
(89th recon, 9th armor Div.)
who's patrols ( jeep...armored car...jeep, 100 yards separation )
were always miles ahead of the 'main body' armored division.

...Remember "Rat Patrol"?

He tells the story...being 'just a kid' it actually took him
a day or two to realize the reason for the reassignment.

...And just why that 'seat' happened to be empty!



He was one of the first to cross the Rhine into Germany...
Remember the movie, "Bridge at Remagon"?

And that famous sign...
"Cross the Rhine with dry feet, Courtesy 9th Armored Division"

He has an old B&W PIC that he took of that in his den.

I visited what's left of that bridge a few years ago.
...Strange feeling to walk the same ground!


....It took me some time to learn and gain the due respect.
I couldn't have filled those shoes at twice his age!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[jerry81 10]

Hmm, neither of my parents was born yet, however;

-my grand-uncle was probably hiding in the woods with his men. He was in Gonars until Italy capitulated in '43 and then rejoined the resistance (or National Liberation Army, as it was called)
-my grandfather had also been imprisoned in Gonars, but he joined the Italian partisans after Italy surrendered. Later he was captured by the Germans, so I'm not sure if he was still liberating parts of Italy in June '44 or already sitting in Dachau.
-my grandmother was supplying the resistance forces outside our occupied capital with medicines and information, getting past check points with fake IDs...by then, there was a reward on her head and it would have been much safer for her to leave the city, but I guess she felt she could do more if she stayed, because she always returned.

All three are gone now, but it would be really interesting to know if any of them was aware on that day what exactly was happening in Normandy...

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[pajarito 0]

My Granddad was an Infantry Platoon Sergeant who landed and fought at Utah Beach. He was later shot through the hip and temporarily paralyzed during the Battle of the Bulge. He healed up and months later was returned to his unit on the front line. He Earned a Purple Heart for being shot. Had received a battlefield commission and finished out the war as a 1st Lieutenant. He also was awarded a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for gallantry in action.

[crzjp20 0]

my grand father was storming the beaches or ohmah beach on d day. he made it through it and then went to the pacific where he saw action all over th place while island hopping.

came home made my dad then died about 17 years after the way, a hero in my book

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Fear is not a confession of weakness, it is an oportunity for courage.

[CornishChris 5]

My grandfather and grandmother were living in one of the few houses still standing in Coventry - my Grandad worked on Spitfires as he was too old for the 2nd World War.

My wife's Grandad was dropped into Normandy (his 1 off jump) as an army medic. his platoon was all over the place anxd they were dropped in the worng place - he eventually caught up with his platoon on Pegasus Bridge. His platoon later went on to liberate Belson and he was the first medic in there - something he will not discuss.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

[Ian84 0]

My grandad left ireland having joined the royal air force at the age of 16 using his older brothers birth certificate. I think he was still in basic training in 1944 though.

My great uncle was fighting with Italian partisans, i believe after he escaped from a train carrying POWs captured in North Africa, not sure of the exact dates and he died several years ago so I can only hear the story second hand

[wmw999 2,140]

My father was the XO on a floating drydock in the Pacific. As XO, he got notice of what was happening, and knew something was up across the world.
Of course, it wasn't over for him for awhile still.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Luv2Fall 0]

My deceased uncle was over there as a medic in the 101st Airborne Division.

[Michele 1]

My father was trudging through the dense undergrowth in Burma/China/India, making friends with snakes. He was learning all about foot rot, gangrene, soldiering in heat and wet with not enough food, dodging bullets and various other munitions while building roads and laying communication lines in between shooting back.

One of his favorite stories to tell is about the time he and several other people were being transported from somewhere to elsewhere, when the plane he was on took some fire. They all put on their parachutes, and prepared to jump...but the pilot was able to handle it, turn around and make it safely down. He says that while he was willing to jump, he thought that the people in front of him would need to be pushed out...and he was willing to help them, too.

At some point, he made it to Nanking.

He doesn't talk much about it, but when he does, there is a look of fatigue, of great sadness, and of despair. There is also, underlying that, a pride and deep respect which crosses his face than as in no other time.

I can only imagine what he, and other veterans saw, understood, felt, smelt, breathed, and thought as they experienced the horrendous tragedy that is war; the sacrifices they made were not just their lives, but their innocence, their youth, their naivety. And in the face of pure evil and destruction, bloomed hope, faith, respect, pride, and grace for an entire generation.

Thank you, to all who fought in the past, who are fighting now, and who will fight in the future.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[kallend 1,640]

My sister was 10 years old, and watched an endless stream of planes fly over the house from dusk to dawn. They lived in the south of England and knew the invasion was on before any announcements were made.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[dustin19d 0]

My Grandpa was somewhere in the Pacific on a Destroyer. He pased away several months ago.

[Scratch 0]

My Great uncle was sitting on his butt in an Italian POW camp. He was taken prisoner at Tobruk in 42.
Interesting man that one. He made it through WW1 and WW2. Died at the ripe age of 89.

My father was 16 and in the merchant marine. So he was probably bobbing around on the Atlantic somewhere. If not he was in a bar or a brothel.

My sisters father-in-law was a bomb aimer flying Halifaxes at the time.

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Grampa Joe was digging black stuff from deep under the ground in Lothian.
Grampa Fergie was building ships on the Clyde.

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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[mikkey 0]

My dad was in the resistance in Denmark blowing up railway lines to interrupt German troop and Iron ore transports between Norway and Germany.

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When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

[Tonto 1]

My paternal Grandfather was in an Italian POW camp after being captured at Tobruk. His POW troopship had been torpedo'd in the Med by the allies on the way from Tripoli, I think, or some port on the North African coast. 9 had survived of 1500 men and crew on board - and he was always a bit "strange" after that. He died in a car crash after a night on the town the evening he got home in 1946.

My Maternal Grandfather was a Captain in the Cape Highlanders, somewhere in North Africa at the time. He'd also served in WW1. He died of a stroke in the early 1970's.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[crutch 0]

My father and grand-parents were in a civilian POW camp outside of Manila. They were to be capitulated later in the year. When my dad got back to the states, he was darfted within a month (this after 3 yeras in a POW camp). My grandmother had to get hold of Ike's wife (my grand-parents and them had played a lot of bridge together when he was stationed in the Phillipines in the mid-thirties) to get my father a somewhat easy assignment (ended up in the Army Air Corps) so he could finish regaining his strength back.

blue skies,

art

[chuckbrown 0]

One great uncle was sitting in a Japanese POW camp in the Phillipines (he survived the Bataan Death March). Another great uncle was dodging kamikazes on board an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. My paternal grandfather was going through basic training on D-Day. Unfortunately, he was later assigned as an infantryman in Patton's army. He was KIA in Germany on March 8, 1945. He was 24 years old.

[crapflinger2000 1]

My dad was 8 years old hanging out in Latvia.

My Grandpa was somewhere slugging it out with the Russkies on the eastern front.

Thank goodness for the Brits or I would either never have been born or at best speaking Russian right now.

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?

[markd_nscr986 0]

Uncle Homer was an MP.He made the beach landing later that day.He described it as a "real mess" the first couple of days....Uncle Sonny was in the USN he was a gunners mate on "armed" merchant marine ships making the North Atlantic transit.....

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Tank commander, going ashore at Omaha...I think. I'd have to check w/ my dad. My grandfather doesn't talk about The War at all. At least, not about his experience.
-C.

[cyric77 0]

My grandfather was among the U.S. troops storming the beaches of Normandy. I know that he was shot a couple of times in the legs during the taking of Utah beach. I believe that after that, he was sent back to the U.S. due to the severity of his wounds. My grandfather's little brother (my great uncle) was a bomber pilot, who was shot down somewhere in Germany, he was classified as MIA, and to this day it is believed that he was killed in action. Not much else is known about what exactly happened to him, and were he was shot down. My grandmother didn't know all of details.

[DrunkMonkey 0]

My Grandfather was working in a factory, making B-17 parts. He was not drafted because he was the sole supporter of his mom and siblings, his father having passed away before the war.

[freeflying 0]

My grandfather fought in WWI in the Italian army-- he never spoke about the war just said that he was always hungry and was always cold as he fought near the last few years. I think he wwas from the era where they just didn't talk about the death and destruction that they saw.

Soon after he and my grandmother came to the US and became citizens --so that they could have a better life for their family as there was little left after WWI. They never saw any of their family until about 40 years later when they took their first trip back to Europe.

He was too old to fight in WWII for America and my father was only about 3 years old so he had to wait until Vietnam.