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Sunday, June 6, 2010

D-Day

On June 6th, 1944, the most massive invasion ever to occur took place on the beaches of Normandy. On a visit to Greenwood Cemetery on Memorial Day, Pat & husband Steve spotted the headstone of Bose Kelley, Jr and noted that he died on D-Day.
Indeed he did. Bose Kelley, Jr. was in the 82nd Airborne, 507th Parachute Infantry and was one of 1,465 Americans killed on that day.
Take a moment to watch the video about the 507th. Please pause today to honor an American hero.

H/T to And So it Goes in Shreveport

12 comments:

  1. Great video, Jim! My Granddaddy, and all of his brother-in-laws went into Shreveport to sign up the day after Pearl Harbor.

    They all enlisted in The Navy, and served in the Pacific. Only one great-uncle (the only one still living) did not. He was too young, but begged his Momma (a widow) to let him go anyway. She said, "no," and he was left to be "the man of the house" while his brothers went away to war.

    He continued to beg, and Granny Laura finally signed some permission papers to let him go serve, too. I think he was 17 when she finally gave in.

    MEN! MEN! MEN THEY WERE! I had no family to serve in Europe as far as I know, but have always been fascinated by the stories...tales of heroism, etc. at the invasion of Normandy.

    I know you've seen the info about all of the now famous actors that were on the beach that day.

    I often wonder how many of our current brave fellows will one day be Hollywood "stars." Probably not many. I doubt the bulk of the Hollyweirdos would hire them to fetch sammiches.

    God bless them one and all. It musta' been hell.

    BTW, as you know, I went to Ft. Benning for #3's Army graduation. They have a very impressive "historical" area...probably the same barracks, chapel, offices, that the guys in this video occupied before heading off to "do or die." There is also a fabulous US Infantry Museum there. It's all VERY moving.

    Thank God for those men.

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  2. My mother's younger brother signed up, was an army medic in the Pacific. He is still alive, too, 89 years old, married his 3rd wife last year. The first two both passed away.
    My father was almost 40 at the beginning of WWI and had 4 kids already. His older brother, however, fought in WWI in France. My oldest brother was on a ship on his way to Korea when the truce was announced, he was there for a year.
    The WWII generation was indeed our greatest generation. I'm not especially a big 'movie' person, but I believe that Saving Private Ryan is one of the best about the invasion and aftermath.

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  3. I have an uncle who is still alive who fought at Iwo Jima, an aunt still alive served in the nursing corps as a dietitian in Australia and 2 of their first cousins, one who has died that also served in the pacific and just happened to run into each other by accident on a street in one of the cities over in that area. My aunt was not part of that meeting. I had a sunday school teacher that served in the Pacific, he told how God watched over him in a couple instances. One during a storm in the area, he got up the following morning and the tent of the man next to him was squished by a tree and the soldier in it was dead. On another occasion he and another soldier were side by side in the jungle and the sniper chose to shoot the other guy. There was another deacon in my church who was a scout and told of crossing a field in Europe when the Germans opened fire. He dropped to the ground and laid there for hours while a firefight raged over his head. I take my hat off to those who fought to keep us free both yesterday and today.

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  4. My father-in-law (who passed away in 1987) was in the Coast Guard. They supplied some of the landing craft for the Phillipines invasion and then patrolled various areas. He told us of a river that was red with blood. These guys saw things and did things that we can only imagine.

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  5. Thankfully while I was in the service I didn't have to see action. I saw a PBS show a while back where I think it was the landing crafts were made in south louisiana from a design for one of the boats they use down there. I don't think it was the PT boats, I am perty sure it was the landing craft. They were rebuilding a boat. I will have to look it up again. My aunt tells about taking a train from here to New York state for processing and training and then train to San Diego onto a boat to Australia. She said it was a 2 week trip because they had to zig zag. Said it was only a couple days return when the threat was gone. She was the head dietition at Shumpart till she retired about 10 years ago. my sister followed her as a dietition and was head dietition at Doctors for many years until they closed. she had and still has influence in our family.

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  6. Darrell, it was the "Higgins Boat."

    Wickedpidea has an article on Higgins if you want to look at it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Higgins

    Oh man! Growing up around so many beloved relatives that served in that war (and their wives, Mommas, etc. that were left behind to survive without them), I could probably write an encyclopedia full of their stories.

    But, it would be even more boring than the Encyclopedia.

    Fabulous folks...ONE AND ALL! I've just got a couple of kinfolk left that remember those times very well. It's always a treat to listen as they tell their stories.

    In fact, it's about the only time I can keep MY mouth shut. In awe.

    Dangit, Jim! You gotta get some shorter word verifications: "makbouthilt" (?)

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  7. That's it Andy! As soon as I saw Higgins it rang a bell. Thanks. I agree with Andy, what is this verification word? tuxaoco? Texas Cocoa?

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  8. Don't blame me, blame the Gooble.

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  9. Darrell, I remember a story in The Times year ago about some former German POWS visiting Ruston. They could not believe how well treated they were. One of them told a story about trying to escape (they were bound by their oath to try), said he got down the road and a deputy sheriff spotted him, took him for a hamburger and returned him to the camp.

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  10. Jim, I remember my Grandmother telling me about seeing the trains pass through Shreveport carrying all those blonde-haired German POWs.

    I haven't fished up any facts on it, but I believe that many of them were granted permission to stay in the US after the war. I'll have to look into it.

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  11. When I was in the Air Force stationed in Germany, I went to visit a friend in the Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden. There was a German gentleman working at the hospital, and I struck up a conversation with him. He told me he was a medic in the German army, and he was captured by the Americans and interred at Ruston. He told me it was because of the good treatment he received that he chose to work for the Americans after the war.

    After getting out of the Air Force I went into the Army Reserve and spent several two weeks of annual training at Ft Chaffee near Ft Smith, Arkansas. There is a house and remnants of an old amphitheater built out of indigenous rock from German POW labor on Ft Chaffee.

    I haven't been to the Ruston site, but I understand there may be a building or two still standing there.

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