D-Day 75th Anniversary - Honoring Those Who Served

[BigNick]

The Gestapo nicknamed her "Artemis" (Greek goddess of the hunt) and considered her "the most dangerous of all Allied spies". She is reported to have killed 150 German soldiers and captured more then 500 while she sabotaged Nazi communications and transportation.

This is a great story, but how does a spy capture 500 enemy soldiers? Where does she put them? Perhaps they surrendered to her, but I presume she handed them over to the rest of the resistance, who probably didn't have lot of spare accommodation...

 

[HadEnuff]

My father-in-law was on an LST that was involved in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and the mainland of Italy. He was also on it on D-Day. His LST got hung up on a sand bar, along with about 50 others, as the tide was slightly miscalculated. As these LSTs sat motionless waiting for the tide to rise again, German gunners were picking them off like ducks on a pond. He said it would take no more than 3 shots for them to pinpoint their target, and everyone knew which LST would be next based on the first shot. They got about 20 before the Allies disabled the gun. He was among those who survived and were given the job of removing the remains from the destroyed LST.
He was a simple, kind man. A birdwatcher, a boy scout leader, a pretty decent athlete, and a great father to his two daughters.
He never spoke of this day until he was in his 60s, and stumbled upon an organization that reunited LST crewman. He found his old LST mates, those still alive. They convened from time to time.
Eventually he and his DW, and as many of his crew who could make it, along with many other crews, returned to Normandy. I think it was for the 40th anniversary of D-Day.
He found some inner peace from that, and it was only then that he'd tell us about that horrific day.
He passed not long ago.
He was one of the finest men I ever knew.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I remember in 1971 when my family took the tour around Pearl Harbor on a skiff, an interesting fact/observation that the sailor/tour guide said. At the time Pearl Harbor had many, many big fuel tanks up in the surrounding hills. Where the Japanese had failed, was to destroy the warships in the Harbor instead of the fuel tanks on the hill. Had they destroyed those, they could have picked off any incoming tankers from the mainland, and the fleet would have been useless.

The Japanese attack also did not inflict much damage to the repair facilities at Pearl Harbor, making it easier to repair the fleet afterwards.

 

[WestUniversity]

Thanks for the great stories, candrew. Truly someone to be very proud of.

Yes, fascinating. Reads like a novel...

 

[JoeWras]

My dad was injured in the Battle of the Bulge. No D-day for him, he was part of the waves after as part of the 99th Division which arrived in October.

Dad was in college -- on the Army's dime -- in engineering school. On D-day, he and his classmates knew there would be no school that fall. They knew where they would be.

 

[candrew]

This is a great story, but how does a spy capture 500 enemy soldiers? Where does she put them? Perhaps they surrendered to her, but I presume she handed them over to the rest of the resistance, who probably didn't have lot of spare accommodation...

I'm not certain that Virginia Hall captured 500 enemy soldiers or killed another 150 by her hands alone. Those figures are likely representative of covert operations that she was responsible for planning, directing and carrying out while working with the French Resistance.

 

[Eagle43]

Here's a great story of D-Day by a survivor of Omaha Beach, told by Sam Elliot:

A very moving story of heroism. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pjm-7]

For WWII vets not sharing what they went through was how they coped (or tried to cope) over the years. I knew dad had been at Pearl Harbor but never knew his role. It was only when he went back to the fiftith anniversary that he opened up about his duties. He was in the army and they were responsible for preparing the bodies for burial.

 

[kcowan]

Good Trump D-Day speech

 

[WestUniversity]

DW and I visited Normandy several years ago. We took one of the Overlord Tours that visited the invasion beaches and the cemetery. I would highly recommend Overlord Tours. The time that we were there it was at low tide. The day of the invasion it was also at low tide. Supposedly at high tide, the waters edge is basically at the cliffs of Omaha beach. At low tide however when we were there, by my guesstimate, the waters edge looked to be about 300 yards away from the base of the cliffs. Looking out across that vast empty beach it was easy to see how with the German gun emplacements on the cliffs, Omaha beach was basically a killing field, as is so plainly demonstrated by the crosses down the beach at the cemetery. Seeing Pointe Du Hoc it was inspiring to think that James Earl Rudder and his unit was able to scale the cliffs and take the point. Walking through the thousands of crosses at the cemetery it was so humbling to recognize the risks that those men were willing to take and the odds that were against them. Truly the “greatest generation”...

 

[candrew]

DW and I visited Normandy several years ago. We took one of the Overlord Tours that visited the invasion beaches and the cemetery. I would highly recommend Overlord Tours. The time that we were there it was at low tide. The day of the invasion it was also at low tide. Supposedly at high tide, the waters edge is basically at the cliffs of Omaha beach. At low tide however when we were there, by my guesstimate, the waters edge looked to be about 300 yards away from the base of the cliffs. Looking out across that vast empty beach it was easy to see how with the German gun emplacements on the cliffs, Omaha beach was basically a killing field, as is so plainly demonstrated by the crosses down the beach at the cemetery. Seeing Pointe Du Hoc it was inspiring to think that James Earl Rudder and his unit was able to scale the cliffs and take the point. Walking through the thousands of crosses at the cemetery it was so humbling to recognize the risks that those men were willing to take and the odds that were against them. Truly the “greatest generation”...

I recall an interview some years ago with historian Stephen Ambrose. The discussion was about those cliffs and the Rangers who were tasked to scale them using only ropes. IIRC, Ambrose stated that his research indicated that of the 260 Rangers who attempted reach the top, only 60 were ultimately successful. The other 200 were either wounded or killed.

 

[Sunset]

It's also fitting to remember the Battle of Midway at this time of year. Fought 4-7 June 1942, it saw the destruction of 4 large Japanese fleet carriers (of the 7 they had) and 2 large cruisers. The carrier Yorktown was sunk, but the US had gained the upper hand in the Pacific and could go on the offensive. Some call this the turning point of the Pacific, some would reserve that label for Guadalcanal, but there's no doubt that, less than 6 months after Pearl Harbor, it was a crucial victory for the allies.

My Dad volunteered to go overseas and fight the war like many folks did. However when he was in the Army they must do some tests to see how to get the best use out of a person. Soon the Intelligence service showed up and pulled Dad out of the Army.
Turns out knowing 7 languages including Japanese was a rare skill.
So he joined the code breakers, to uncover/monitor what the Japanese were doing.
He kept quiet about it as everyone was sworn to secrecy.

One of the gov't buildings used to intercept and decode radio signals is still used for the same type of work today. It just looks like an ordinary gov't office building but you need a pass to get in.

 

[aja8888]

Good Trump D-Day speech

Very well done.

 

[candrew]

Both of my grandfathers served in the army during WWII, neither stormed the beaches on D day. My great uncle was a combat engineer whose job was to kill Nazis by blowing up pill boxes with satchel charges. He was a complete badass.

Your great uncle was a badass all right, not to mention having a bit of good luck sprinkled in! Those satchel charges had to either be placed against the structure, or in the case of those pill boxes, slung into the box's opening by hand and detonated with a pull igniter. No doubt that was done under a hail of relentless enemy fire. I can't imagine.....

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

What is interesting about the Battle of Midway is that originally the Japanese navy had planned to lure our Pacific fleet into a trap, inflict a death blow on the U.S. navy and occupy the islands in and around Midway. It was the work of American cryptographers that intercepted Japanese radio signals and deciphered their code thus enabling them to learn the date and location of the ambush. That knowledge in turn allowed the U.S. fleet to lay an ambush of their own for the Japanese navy and take them completely by surprise. Without the advance knowledge that those cryptographers provided in breaking the Japanese code the outcome at Midway may have been very different.

Yesterday I watched a couple of documentaries on this. Cool story.

Another perspective

 

[CoolRich59]

I remember in 1971 when my family took the tour around Pearl Harbor on a skiff, an interesting fact/observation that the sailor/tour guide said. At the time Pearl Harbor had many, many big fuel tanks up in the surrounding hills. Where the Japanese had failed, was to destroy the warships in the Harbor instead of the fuel tanks on the hill. Had they destroyed those, they could have picked off any incoming tankers from the mainland, and the fleet would have been useless.

Yes. The Japanese also failed to target the dry docks. This enabled the Navy to repair ships that had been damaged and get them back in action - sometimes in just a few weeks. This was a huge strategic advantage for the U.S.

 

[Scribbles]

Henri Laussucq

Good morning, I found the post D-Day 75th Anniversary Honoring those who served. A friend I work with, Francois, who originally is from France. His Great Grandfather Henri Laussucq has been a question mark for Francois for many years. I am helping him to gather information. I have read your post, I am hoping maybe you have more information that I will be able to pass on to Francois. If you do, please if you will help me add to the story.

Thank you.