Let's all take the time to smoke a pipe and lift a glass in remembrance of June 6, 1944, the beginning of the end of the European Theater of World War II. A lot of good men died storming the beaches of Normandy 78 years ago.
@PappyJoe; Bless their memory and their sacrifice. My Fire Chief was at Omaha Beach and was awarded the Silver Star. He never would talk about the war.
My grandfather didn't land in Normandy. He fought in the Philippines in the Pacific. He never talked about his experiences with me, and I don't believe he spoke about it much to my mother or her brothers. When he had a stroke in the 90's, when he came to, he could only talk in Pilipino. That was the extent of his experience that I saw for many years. It wasn't until a few years ago, over a decade after he passed, that I learned one of his acts was written in a book. During an engagement with enemy forces, the squad he was in were pinned down, and their mortar launcher or bazooka wasn't firing (I forget which one, it's been a bit since I read the section). My grandfather was always a tinkerer, and he managed to get the weapon working again using the batteries of a flashlight. He ended up getting a patent for it. Based on this information, I can only imagine the kind of things he had seen in combat.
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Bless their memory and their sacrifice. My Fire Chief was at Omaha Beach and was awarded the Silver Star. He never would talk about the war.
Men have been in war have no need to talk about war.
I have found that to be true. Out of respect, I have never pushed the issue.
I miss that man every day.
God bless his memory and I thank him for his service.