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WaPo sportswriter's Grandfather’s Secret D-Day Journal


Beau Vine

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Thanks for posting. I don't know now where I read or heard it but it was said in regards to WWII veterans and I'm paraphrasing here... "the real heroes are the ones who came home and went on to live normal lives". Those guys and gals are the reason that folks their age are called the greatest generation. Common men doing uncommon things.

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Just awesome all the way around. A lot of WWII legit heroes have passed away after decades of living next to neighbors that are clueless to their service. A lot of incredible untold acts of heroism and etc have been taken to the grave. The old breed indeed.

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13 hours ago, squib said:

I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. I only wonder if I could have answered the call. Thanks to Bill Sr., my grandfather and many others, I will likely never know the answer. 

If you know you have to do it, you do it. It also helps when you know you're not just doing it because you're told to, but because you're truly protecting your friends/family/and country from tyranny. 

As we come upon the 75th anniversary of the last truly justified American war give thought to those who are and have been fighting the non ending 17+ and counting years American war as they do not have this luxury. It is a big reason they are so scarred, so emotionally distraught and in need of all of our aid. They, unfortunately, have to do it just because they're told to even though deep down every one of them knows it is unjustified. That's a burden no human should have to bear. 

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Next Wednesday at 8:00PM (that'd be 0200 in England), just remember that the largest invasion force ever amassed were climbing onto boats and pushing out for a journey into the very teeth of hell.  Thank God our Generals were able to deceive the Nazis so thoroughly into thinking we were going to attack at Calais.  Operation Bodyguard was as big a key to the Allied victory as the invasion itself.  

https://www.history.com/news/fooling-hitler-the-elaborate-ruse-behind-d-day

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13 hours ago, El Diablo said:

Thanks for posting. I don't know now where I read or heard it but it was said in regards to WWII veterans and I'm paraphrasing here... "the real heroes are the ones who came home and went on to live normal lives". Those guys and gals are the reason that folks their age are called the greatest generation. Common men doing uncommon things.

The Greatest Generation. Yup.

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That was really a good read. It's topical, not just because of next week, but I was talking to a friend at the AAA the other day and she needed to know where I was born, and I told her that I was born at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery. To which she responded that she was born while her father, a Marine, was fighting against the Tet Offensive.

I've often wondered how many kids were born during wars that their fathers never returned home from fighting?

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1 hour ago, PittsburghTiger said:

That was really a good read. It's topical, not just because of next week, but I was talking to a friend at the AAA the other day and she needed to know where I was born, and I told her that I was born at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery. To which she responded that she was born while her father, a Marine, was fighting against the Tet Offensive.

I've often wondered how many kids were born during wars that their fathers never returned home from fighting?

Or like the guy in the story who was just hoping to go home in one piece and came home to a wife who'd got knocked up by some other dude.

War is hell on the home front too.

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4 minutes ago, Spoosner said:

Great post.  Is nobody going to talk about Ruthie's inability to keep her legs closed?  WTF?

Yeah, that part was pretty fucked up. I just don't think I could forgive that. Perhaps she feared he was dead and she got taken advantage of by some 4F asshole? Still can't condone it. 

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Consider this wrt our greatest generation:  they fought along side brits and Canadians in the west, and the ussr was on the eastern front. 

The USA had about 400,000 military deaths out of a total population of around 140 million. 

The UK had almost 400,000 military deaths out of a total population of around 49 million. Plus many many more civilian deaths that pushed the total dead to 450,000. They lost 1% of their population, broadly rounding.  Not to mention their loss of infrastructure.

the Soviet numbers are around 10 million soldiers, over 20 million overall, out of a 170 million population.  These numbers are provided by the kremlin so their accuracy is debatable, but they took a huge hit over there with their “enough ants can kill anything” strategy.

as steep a price as the US paid, they paid even more dearly.

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Sandman said:

Yeah, that part was pretty fucked up. I just don't think I could forgive that. Perhaps she feared he was dead and she got taken advantage of by some 4F asshole? Still can't condone it. 

The US military has a long history with prostitutes wherever they've been. I've seen estimates that 80 percent of single GI's and 50 percent of married GI's engaged with whores in Europe during WWII. People wanna fuck during good times and bad. The military turns a blind eye to it for the most part, their biggest concern has always been with STDs. 

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20 hours ago, El Diablo said:

The US military has a long history with prostitutes wherever they've been. I've seen estimates that 80 percent of single GI's and 50 percent of married GI's engaged with whores in Europe during WWII. People wanna fuck during good times and bad. The military turns a blind eye to it for the most part, their biggest concern has always been with STDs. 

You're 100% right, no doubt. But I would apply the same standard to the men. If I had been the wife and the guy had come back from a few years at war with a baby that he fathered, that's a no from me, dawg. And I get it, a LOT of those guys probably thought they weren't gonna make it back, so might as well get some foreign poontang.  Just one of the many reasons I'm glad I've never been in that situation.

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That was really a good read. It's topical, not just because of next week, but I was talking to a friend at the AAA the other day and she needed to know where I was born, and I told her that I was born at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery. To which she responded that she was born while her father, a Marine, was fighting against the Tet Offensive.
I've often wondered how many kids were born during wars that their fathers never returned home from fighting?


A lot of soldiers left Amerasian children in Vietnam and Thailand when they either died or finished their tour.
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On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:03 PM, BurntEyes said:

 

I have and probably always will wonder what kind of soldier I would have made in combat. A small part of me would like to have found out.

 

I used to wonder the same thing, but as I get older and a little more honest with myself, I realize I would probably have been a lot closer to this guy:

Image result for coward in saving private ryan

 

than this guy:

Image result for audie murphy

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