Remembering D-Day

On this day in 1944, the Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord or D-Day, was launched.  D-Day marked the beginning of the Allied invasion of western Europe during World War II. Below is a Navy team in training:

They landed on Utah Beach. Blogger's late father is first row center -- the skipper.

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Remembering D-Day

On this day in 1944, the Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord or D-Day, was launched.  D-Day marked the beginning of the Allied invasion of western Europe during World War II. Below is a Navy team in training:

They landed on Utah Beach. Blogger's late father is first row center -- the skipper.

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D-Day 1944 : 77th Anniversary tribute

Here’s my annual tribute to our troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy 77 years ago, (photos taken by my late father who skippered one of the LCTs onto Utah Beach):

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A salute to our military

Here a few fading photographs taken on this blogger's father's Brownie Box. He was the skipper of LCT 2454 that delivered troops and equipment onto Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. Today marks the 75th anniversary. 

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Why we remember D-Day

Photo credit: Real Clear Defense

Lots of reports on commemorations of D Day this week. Here's a succinct report by Emma Watkins and Alexandra Marotta in a column for The Daily Signal:

If the invasion of Normandy had been unsuccessful that day, Europe might have remained under Nazi control, and our world might look much different today. That battle was the tipping point needed to liberate Europe.

The American troops who fought in D-Day were not fighting to liberate their own land. They fought to preserve the free world.

Most of those troops probably didn’t wake up that morning anticipating that their sacrifice would change the world. They got up knowing only that they had work to do.

That’s a valuable lesson for a generation that often sees going to work as an obligation, rather than an opportunity to effect change.

Some 6,603 American troops were killed, wounded, or missing in action in the Normandy invasion. They fought for a cause that was larger than simply securing the beaches. That sacrifice is often taken for granted today. It is essential that we do not let the significance of what was achieved on D-Day be forgotten.

Read the rest here. Recently discovered color photographs of D-Day (see above photograph) and the Liberation of Paris are here. 

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Remembering D-Day

June 6, 2018 marks the 74th anniversary of the Normandy invasion.

These four photos were taken on a Brownie Box camera by the skipper of LCT 2454 - my late father. Photos 3 and 4 were taken on June 6, 1944. 

LCT(A) 2454 "successfully beached on Tare Green Sector and each disgorged their three tanks while under fire. The vessels escaped unscathed" (source here) but this LCT was seriously damaged, had to be towed, and was subsequently scuttled. Tare Green Sector was a designated landing area on Utah Beach.

 Skipper and crew.

 D-Day H-Hour - when the aerial attacks began.

LCT 2454 preparing to land.

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D-Day : 73 years ago today

Today is the 73^rd anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. These photographs were taken with an old Brownie Box camera by the skipper of the first LCT to successfully deliver troops and equipment onto Utah Beach that morning. The grainy smoke-filled image was taken at H-Hour.

 Cleveland Tea Party salutes our veterans, past and present.

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71st anniversary of D-Day

Photo credit: Conservative Treehouse

Today marks the 71^st anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of the Normandy beaches. ConservativeTreehouse has the video of Pres. Reagan’s commemorative speech delivered on the 40th anniversary. 

A previously undiscovered German bunker was discovered on Juno Beach only two days ago. That report is here. 

My late father was the skipper of LCT (Landing Craft Tank) number 2454, which landed troops and equipment on Utah Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. 

A salute to all those who served to turn the tide against the Nazis.

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