D-Day has been one of my favorite days of the year for as long as I can remember.
The Greatest Generation accomplished one of the most unbelievable military victories in history.
The odds were stacked against them, facing certain death. The Allies had 160,000 troops, 5,000 ships, and 13,000 aircraft.
The Germans reinforced the beaches with massive weapons and artillery, despite numerous miscalculations and the absence of Erwin Rommel, which hindered their efforts.
But those brave men marched onto those boats, sailed through the channel, and faced gunfire head-on. Peter Donovan Crean Sr., vice president for education and access at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, said it best:
“They knew they were in the presence of history. Soldiers, sailors, Marines − they knew what they were doing was going to go down in history, which also meant they knew the danger involved.
“Guys who were 18, 19, 20 years old were faced with the possibility of their death, but they did it anyway.”
We owe them everything. Without their bravery, the Allies would not have won Europe.
The Allies had one chance to stop an evil the world hadn’t seen before.
They did it. They pulled it off. They conquered the Normandy beaches.
Our troops never expected recognition or praise. They didn’t want to be propped on a pedestal or treated like heroes.
To them, it was their duty to fight. They weren’t doing anything special.
Tolley Fletcher
USA Today spoke to Normandy veteran Tolley Fletcher, who was only 19 at the time. He is now 100 years old:
Tolley Fletcher, at the time a 19-year-old Navy gunner’s mate, remembered the rough seas and the treacherous landing troops at Utah Beach had to make in 3- to 4-foot waves, each carrying about 60 pounds of gear on their backs and descending on rope ladders from larger ships onto smaller landing crafts.
“I felt for those soldiers,” Fletcher, now 100 years old, told USA TODAY. “In my mind, that was the worst part, other than people getting hurt.”
Fletcher, who joined the Navy at 17 in late December 1941, said he and his shipmates were fortunate to be mostly out of the line of fire. “There was some shelling, not really a lot, and luckily we didn’t get hit.
“Maybe halfway in, we started seeing lots of bodies in the water,” said Fletcher, who now lives in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. “I was asked (later) what we did about it. We didn’t do anything about it − we had a job: to escort those troops to the beach.”
Fletcher told USA Today it makes him uncomfortable for people to consider him a hero:
Asked about his role in history, he said, “I really didn’t think about it then, and I don’t think about it now, though it’s been impressed upon me quite a bit.
“When I think about what I went through, and what all the Army and the other men who were mixed up in really tough situations, it makes me feel a little bit guilty.”
Mr. Fletcher, you are a hero. You helped save the world.
Wally Mattison
Wally Mattison, also 100, told his great-grandchild Taylor Burke of KOLO TV:
My great-grandfather, Wally Mattison, is 100 years old, and a World War II veteran who stormed Omaha Beach in the second wave on June 6, 1944. Many never made it home. One who did is still here to tell the story, 80 years later.
Wally remembers that morning like it was yesterday.
“We were waiting and resting. It was quiet as a mouse,” he told me. “Then something hit me in the back of the head. I looked and it was a German. He hit me and I hit him, then we both pulled out our revolvers and started shooting. With all that commotion, that was the end of the resting.”
He downplays it now, but the danger was very real. After the fight broke out, Wally climbed out of a tank trap, a deep ditch used to stop armored vehicles, to see what was happening. As he reached the top of the ladder, that’s when he was shot in the back.
“There was one time I could say I was really scared to death,” Wally said.
Mattison is humble like Fletcher: “I’m no war hero. I’m just a dumb Vermonter.”
I cannot embed the video, but you can watch it here: D-Day, 80 years later: A hero’s story close to home.
Richard Stewart
The Cincinnati Enquirer checked in with veteran Richard Stewart, who is now 104.
Stewart went to Normandy in 2024 to mark the 80th anniversary, where he received the French Legion of Honour from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Stewart told photographer Liz Dufour:
Stewart, a Lincoln Heights resident, is now 104. He remembers working in the field, inspecting a line when a bomb hit.
“The earth shook, as if an earthquake had hit us,” he told Dufour.
During the war, the U.S. military segregated African Americans from their White counterparts, and they were assigned noncombat roles. “They underestimated us,” he said.
Stewart’s unit served in France, Belgium and Germany until he was discharged Nov. 13, 1945.
As he reflects on his wartime experience, he said, “I’m so thankful. The Lord took us over and the Lord brought us back.
“And I’m still here.”
You can read the 2023 interview here: ‘I live one day at a time.’ WWII veteran Richard Stewart, 102, inspires all walks of life.
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The men who survived the forge of fire liberated Europe, then after the war went on to make breakthroughs in medicine, transportation, agriculture, electronics, etc. The current generation has had no such forge…
A day worth remembering. On this day in 1944, my father was in Rome, having endured North Africa, Sicily, and Monte Cassino. The only thing he ever “revealed” to me about the war was, “That Monte Cassino. THAT was rough!” Thanks, Dad! Rest in peace.
As an aside, I find it interesting that the top photo has a watermark from the Republic of Ireland Army, Oglaigh na-hÉireann.
My father also did the Italy route. He never talked about the war,
Another things I recall it the US army was not all volunteer. There was a draft. My father was one who was drafted. However, you would never know it was not all volunteer by the way they fought (as long as they had competent officers to lead them which was not always the case early on).
My Dad quit high school part way through Sr year to join the merchant marine. He was on several convoys the last 2 yrs of the war where 30% of the ships were sunk by Japanese subs. Later he was drafted for Korea. He asked how since he served in WWII. They told him that his service did not count because merchant marine did not count as combat because you could not shoot back. Once he got past the draft board the actual Army officers did recognize him as a vet and assigned him as a pistol instructor for OCS in Germany as they knew how many ships went down in the Pacific and said you should not have to do combat twice.
It is interesting to note that the increasingly leftist (collectivist/statist/authoritarian) cable channel Turner Classic Movies has NOT A SINGLE WWII movie today, much less anything commemorating D-Day. Ever since the original host (Robert Osborne) died, they have been moved politically to that side of the spectrum, and their programming shows it.
It used to be relatively politically-neutral but they are now blatantly anti-American in most of their programming. Today they are showing absolute tripe and hoping that no one will notice. Join me in sending them an e-mail to (pointlessly) protest their lack of commemoration of one of the greatest events in the history of human freedom and the destruction of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP, aka, “Nazi”)..
Truly the greatest generation – from the privations of the Depression to the hell of WWII, they put up with a lot and took it like men, not like the wimps that are all too common these days. They didn’t throw hissy fits about not being able to go into women’s bathrooms or beat women in sports. They stepped up and protected women & children.
While flying to Europe in June of 1994, I happened to be on the same plane as a number of vets who were traveling to Paris to be part of a memorial ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of D-Day. In a sense I’m glad most of them are gone now, in the same way I’m glad my parents and grandparents are no longer around – they’ve been spared seeing the mess this society is in, particularly the embarrassment of the Biden and Obama regimes. Those brave, grizzled vets sure as hell didn’t fight so trannies could flaunt their mental illness and make a mockery of women.
Those men on D-Day faced hell and gave it right back. Truly amazing that it was successful given what they faced.
they proved that men from several nations, fighting alonside one another as one force, determined and in a common cause, could defeat the odds, could defeat tyranny and despotism’s advance in europe
their courage, their sacrifice, their honor will never be diminished
Americans, Canadians, British, and some Poles. I;m not sure if any others were involved. The Canadians certainly pulled above their weight. They attacked 2 beaches to US’s 2 and Britain’s 1 as I recall.
the canadians were unsung heroes in the battle of britain–my father flew in europe and spoke a few times about their courage–everyone involved in the air war there, the americans, the raf, the poles, the volunteers from all over the empire were impressed with the canadians’ courage & toughness–they sustained nearly 30k casualties in the air war in europe–a helluva lot for a small (population) country
exceptional warriors they
They were, Unfortunately I suspect things have changed for them as they are far more progressive as a country as we are and seem to have very little push back. Shame.
Hitler had 4 years to prepare. But the allies secured 4 of the 5 beaches by noon. And, the other was secure by dark.
The Allies ran a highly effective deception campaign suggesting that landings would be elsewhere around Europe. Hitler didn’t believe every location but he still reinforced them just in case taking soldiers away from what were the actual landing sites. In some cases, even after the D-Day landings he still kept the reinforcements because he thought the real landings had yet to occur.
I said as much below too, Relevant article follows.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/pattons-role-in-d-day
*** BREAKING NEWS ***
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg has ruled that Allied forces must immediately withdraw from Normandy and return to their points of origin “as fast as the boats and planes can carry them”. The emergency injunction was issued in response to an appeal filed by lawyers representing H. Goering, A. Jodl, and A. Schicklgruber.
lets not let the bravery of those men be in vain
and allow the blmplo faction to continue to win
Give credit to someone else for this:
why is there:
pride MONTH
but only
Veterans DAY
I have said that repeatedly and it pisses me off that in my neighborhood the gays and their supporters have gay “flags” up, but at those houses, no USA flags…
Mi don’t want to know your sexual preference’s
Stop this crap
There is only ONE flag that should be flown, the American flag
Period !!!
There is only ONE flag that should be flown, the American flag
_________________________________________________________
we fly the stars and stripes 24/7 pretty much year round with the lone star below
every few months we’ll fly the southern cross or the star of david for a week or so as well
have never seen a pride flag flying anywhere within miles of us
in a related note/article
LI reports that a pro Israel conference in dallas tx was cancelled b/c of threats of ( I guess) violence by the people that adhere to the very agenda that these men defeated in ww2….commuinnstnazi thugs
call in the national guard and get that conference going
Dallas is very left, has huge Muslim population
And very militant black
Can’t stand the city
Left unstated in the article is the Allies did their own rope a dope. The convinced the Axis that they were going to attack elsewhere by building a nonexistent force around Patton. This caused the Germans to shift their troops and delayed bringing them back for the invasion.
The allies also dropped paratroopers behind the lines. I think they may also have used gliders to land paratroops.
There are a lot of great movies about WW2. The Longest Day is one about D-day. In the 80s a movie called the Big Red One was made with Luke Skywalker as one of the stars, It covered the battles of the First Division which included the D day invasion. No where as good as the Longest Day but still worth watching.
Luke Skywalker is as big a left wing nut job as there is
Honors to all that fought on this day in 1944. Particular honor today to Arthur Buschlin awarded a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross for his sacrifice
81 years ago.
Also on this date, in 1942 was the conclusion of the battle of Midway. The tide of war in the Pacific was turning on this June 6th. I pay honor to Doyle Barnes awarded a Navy Cross for his actions on this day.
What those men did was amazing. The sense of duty to our country will likely never be seen again. Like many, my father left college to join the Army Air Force. On August 6, 1945 while flying a mission over southern Japan, my father witnessed from the pilot’s seat of his B-24 the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. He told only the funny stories of war and took the ugly ones to his grave.
As to amusing stories, my FIL left high school to enlist in the Navy, serving the entire war in the Mediterranean and Pacific. When he finally got back he finished HS and commented on how he could barely fit in the desk.
My father was in Pattons 3 rd Army, as was my FIL
Always wondered if they ever met one from Wisconsin, one from Texas…
My dad was a MP and my FIL was a Ranger…
Both loved Patton to their dying breaths and were extremely proud to fight in the 3rd, follow Patton anywhere and everywhere and loved this Country…
May they both rest in peace….
All my uncles served in WW2, but one, he was too young, he served in Korea…
My brother in vietnam and my husband was in the Navy , was in medic class in San Diego… there were 100 medics in his graduating class.. his mother, whom often seemed to have a direct line to God, begged him to spare her son…
99 Navy men went to Vietnam, 1 stayed to work in the clinic
That o e was my future husband
My dad arrived later in 1944, part of an Engineer Combat Battallion as a dozer operator. First with the 3rd Army & later with the 7th of General Patch. They crossed the Rhine, and the Main, ending up at Dachau, Nuremberg, and Munich. If you see a pic of a dozer at Dachau digging the trenches to bury the bodies of those that didn’t survive, that’s him.
Three uncles also served, two were POW’s captured at Anzio. One was a Ranger & later escaped; the other was in for the duration & lost some 60 lbs. The third uncle was in an artillery battalion in the Ardennes, December of ’44. All survived, God blessed them.
Truly the greatest generation.
A few years ago, I and my wife went on a tour of Normandy and I walked to the sea at Omaha Beach and looked back up the cliff. The pictures don’t do it justice because standing there with no one shooting at me, I felt naked and so exposed because there was over a football length from me to the edge of the cliffs with zero places to hide or seek cover. Try to imagine running from one end of a football field to the other with hundreds of machine guns shooting at you plus the mortars and handgrenades! As an old military pilot, I have always wondered why the Army Air Force didn’t bomb the hell out of the beaches days before the invasion to create craters for the men to hide in. I’m sure the element of surprise came up but they could have bombed all of the four beaches plus Pas-de-Calis.
The old story of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” pales in comparrison to charging the cliffs on Omaha Beach.
My wife and I. doh!
The plan was for them to bomb before the invasion, but the weather was so bad they couldn’t take off
The decision was to go ahead as the Germans with more time , day or Two would of figured it out and reinforced their men
Thusly killing many many more young men and probably losing the ir battle, and maybe the war
They would probably have to use the A bomb to win at that point and God knows , maybe millions would have died
I had the privilege of meeting some my 1st Infantry Division brothers of WWII who went ashore on Omaha Beach. To a Man they were humble. All of them were just solid guys who tried to tell us, the GWOT Combat Vets, that we were just as pivotal. They couldn’t seem to get over the awe and respect we he held for them. A few broke free of the group and met us in a bar and swapped stories till we.got caught by their official minders. One of the highlights of my life was to sit and shoot the BS with a group of them and soak up their wisdom and perspectives on the military, warfare and life in general.