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Remembering D-Day


teufelhunde.ret
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teufelhunde.ret

"You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely....The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

(Quote from a speech delivered while giving the D-Day order on June 6, 1944.)

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Today 64 years ago, two of my friends were fighting for their lives at Omaha Beach.

One was a Ranger, the other an Assault Engineer.

Both survived the ordeal ....... a lot of them didn't.

 

Remember !

 

OmahaBeach.jpg

Omaha Beach today

 

Erwin

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Ah, Erwin, nice picture. It's hard to believe something so peaceful and serene looking could have at one point, been chaotic and devastating, where many men lost their lives...

 

- Jeff

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A DAY TO REMEMBER - D-Day - the 6th of June 1944

 

......and to recall the Allied Might in the form of the men who stormed these beaches.......and the many that gave their lives for our freedoms and the freedom of the European continent.

Semper Fi....Bobgee

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This is where many of them were laid to rest..Coleville sur Mer cemetary overlooking Omaha beach....

post-401-1212754924.jpg

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Well Jeff, to be honest .... eventhough I didn't experience combat, I get an eery feeling when walking on Omaha Beach.

And I wouldn't lay down and sunbath like so many tourist do there.

It just doesn't feel right.

Maybe I read to many of those horror stories (because that's what they are) from former GIs.

 

Erwin

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A little perspective on the immensity of the sacrifice at Omaha as well as at the other beach heads.

s_Normandy__Omaha_Beach__American_Cemetary___.jpg

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IMPERIAL QUEST
A little perspective on the immensity of the sacrifice at Omaha as well as at the other beach heads.

 

 

That is a lot of broken hearts and unfulfilled dreams...

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The following appeared in the Houston Chronicle today. On 6 June they had bearly a mention of D-Day 64 years ago.

Bobgee

 

D-Day helmet keeps memory alive

Artifact found in France returned to U.S. soldier's family, and elicits awe, admiration

 

By PATRICIA C. MCCARTER

Newhouse News Service

 

MERIDIANVILLE, ALA. — The soldier's son can't help but wonder if what was in the package from France would have made his father talk.

 

Nothing else did.

 

"You couldn't drag anything out of him," Mike Adcock said about his father, Elbert. "And Mom wouldn't talk about it either. Much of what he did in World War II is a mystery to his five children."

 

But maybe being reunited with his old helmet would've prompted Elbert Adcock to talk about being a glider rider on D-Day.

 

Maybe he would've shared details of the horrible afternoon six weeks into the Normandy invasion when a mortar shell fell at the feet of the 22-year-old private and blew off the bottom part of his left leg.

 

Maybe he would've even talked about the nightmares that woke up the whole house.

 

Or maybe not.

 

The soldier has been gone since 2001, so there's no way to know how he would have responded to having his helmet liner — recently discovered on the shelf of a garden shed in France — mailed to him by an appreciative Frenchman.

 

"He probably would've just said something like, 'It didn't help me much then, and I guess it won't help me much now,'" the son said.

 

Adcock, 44, said the helmet liner was rediscovered by Alain Carbonnel, who lives near Saint-Lo, a village almost destroyed in the war. He recently moved into his father-in-law's home and found the liner while exploring the property. Apparently, the father-in-law found it not long after the fighting in France and put it in the shed as a keepsake.

 

The soldier's name and serial number were written on the Army green liner, and Carbonnel tried via the Internet to find the owner. The language barrier and limited resources prevented success, so he contacted the Department of Veteran Affairs in Washington to accomplish what he could not.

 

"There were a lot of Adcocks in World War II," the son said. "And all of my father's military records were destroyed in a fire (at the National Personnel Records Center) in St. Louis in 1973."

 

But a diligent veterans affairs worker, Deborah Vandover, wouldn't give up. She finally — and sadly — came across Adcock's 2001 obituary. Because one of Adcock's daughters, Vanessa Levan, had an unusual last name, she tracked her down and called her.

 

And she called Mike.

 

Suddenly, the part of their father's life that had been kept a virtual secret from them was tangible. And it reminded them of what an amazing man he was.

 

Even though their father was still having operations two decades after he was wounded, they never heard him complain about it. He mastered his prosthetic limb, and he continued to hunt, fish and work in the garden until he died at age 78.

 

When Mike's young son — far too young to have even a whiff of a memory of the man who wore the helmet — asks about the package from France, Mike is only too glad to tell the story. He just wishes he knew more to share.

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Well, I love before and after pictures, so when I visited Normandy with mine and my British buddy's families, I couldn't refuse! Here is me ca.1999 at Utah in the same place as guy #2 in one very familiar photo.....

 

-Ski

 

70x215.jpg

post-3043-1212894008.jpg

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And finally....

 

Another one of Point Du Hoc.... Again, not perfect, but it gives you a good idea what it looks like now...

 

-Ski

post-3043-1212899357.jpg

post-3043-1212899365.jpg

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Now those are some really neat B&A photos Teamski! thumbsup.gif I think everyone loves those types of photos. :)

 

- Jeff

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teufelhund

Some more pictures from Omaha Beach as it was seen by A Co 116th Reg 29th USDI

 

 

 

2eq5ndd.jpg

 

Pointe du HOC (and not HOE as often encountered)

2wrdtt1.jpg

n63swy.jpg

 

Teufelhund

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teufelhund
Some more pictures from Omaha Beach as it was seen by A Co 116th Reg 29th USDI

2eq5ndd.jpg

 

Pointe du HOC (and not HOE as often encountered)

2wrdtt1.jpg

n63swy.jpg

 

Teufelhund

 

 

1= Pointe du Hoc

2= Omaha- Vierville

3= pointe du Hoc

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