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nyjetsfan14
06-06-2009, 08:28 AM
Many have forgotten or don't care. Maybe a few of us can tell our children and others so that the unbelievable sacrifices of those men for the cause of freedom for all will live on.

jdr3
06-06-2009, 09:00 AM
Very well said.

sox83cubs84
06-06-2009, 11:23 AM
Never mind ballplayers or action stars...guys like these (as well as Korea, Viet Nam, and Iraq/Afghanistan) are the REAL heroes!

Dave M.
Chicag area

camarokids
06-06-2009, 11:29 AM
Watch "Saving Private Ryan" and you'll get a realistic view of the Hell our GI's and Allies went through on this historic day.

Watching that movie a few years ago made me appreciate what they went through a hell of a lot more.

If Hitler's Army was not defeated we could all be speaking German or Japanese right now.

jbcindc
06-06-2009, 12:11 PM
NYJetsFan,

It's easy to let the day go by and forget that 65 years ago many of our own family members were involved in the liberation of Europe. Thanks for the post.

I have visited the Normandy beaches many times after having lived in Belgium and France for seven years. My son's great-grandfather (Bill Husband) was transferred from the 29th Infantry landing craft the day before the invasion and assigned to General Cota's detachment (Cota landed on Omaha Beach in the second wave and is credited with forcing the troops off the beach inland). Of Bill's two hundred friends and comrades who stayed aboard that landing craft, only three were still fit for duty after the landing and inland push. The 197 others were either dead or wounded.

On one trip to Normandy I spoke with an old inn-keeper (Mr. Piprelle) who was five years old at the time of the invasion. He told me that it was absolutely unexpected and that he and his friend watched the invasion from their bedroom with "illegal" binoculars. The people in the town had no idea who was invading because they had never seen American military uniforms. Only five civilians died during the invasion and he remembered all of their names, including the name of the baker's little girl who was killed.

From Bill Husband's journals I was able to show my then-wife within about 50 yards where her grandfather had come ashore during the landing. You still see the reminants of artillery emplacements, tanks, bunkers and pill-boxes. Now and then some piece of equipment will wash ashore even today. I've personally seen a US Army spoon and hand grenade washed ashore.

I also have seen where my great-uncle parachuted with the 101st Airborne Division on D-Day at St. Maire Eglise and in Holland's Operation Market Garden where he was killed. Seeing the beaches and hearing the stories of the people who were there is amazing; particularly when you compare the sacrifices they made compared to some of the attitudes of Americans today.

The French in the towns at and around the beaches couldn't be more friendly to Americans. I suppose we should also remember that if it weren't for the support of the French during the American War of Independence we'd all be speaking English. Wait...

Thanks again for jogging these memories,

Jason

suicide_squeeze
06-06-2009, 12:34 PM
I was just having my coffee, reading a couple of D-day stories from a couple of surviving participants. Every year, no matter how old I am or what frame of mind I'm in, everything else just kind of stops in my life. I read, I watch the video excerpts...and tears roll down my face.

My Uncle, my mothers only brother, died in WWII. I never was able to meet him.

My father, who is no longer with us, God rest his soul, while serving in Germany, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross from General Patton himself, for wartime bravery.

These days that come every year and remind us of all we have to be greatful for hurt deeply. But they also represent us as Americans, show the character of this great country and what we stand for. I am proud to be living in the country of the "brothers in arms" who also have family members who did their part.

They were the greatest generation in the history of this world.

cordovacollector
06-06-2009, 07:41 PM
Sometimes photos help tell the story.

Here is my Dad - a boy about the age of 18. He's Number 33. Frost, MN, population 175. Tall, he always stood out.


http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/272818/Frost_Played_6-Man_Football.jpg


He was drafted at 19 by the Army. And was rejected. They said they didn't need any targets. Tall, he always stood out.

He drove to St. Paul the same week to try to enlist in the Navy - away from local draft board. Standing in line, shrugging his shoulders, slouching - anything to look shorter - the recruiter poked him in the side with his elbow and said, "Stand up straight, Stretch. You'll make it." Straight. Proud. Tall, he always stood out.

Here his is at age 21 (see red circle in photo). Serving on LST 351 in Italy 1943. The photo made National Geographic, July 1944. Tall, he always stood out.


http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/272818/LST%20351%20-%20Circled.jpg

Allen H. Hanson (b. 1921 - d. 1977) - LST 351 - MoMM 1st Class - African Theatre, European Theatre, Allied Campaign, Italy, Sicily, Africa, England, Scotland, France, D-Day Invasion (Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold Beaches), Salerno, Anzio, Polermo, etc. 4 1/2 years on two LSTs. Seven bronze stars, Admiral's Commendation.

A boy. A man. My Dad.

Tall, he always stood out.

yanks12025
06-06-2009, 07:51 PM
I believe it was my great grandfather that served in D-Day and other tours in WW2. I still have his Honorable discharge card and acouple of his buttons,hats and metals. On his card it says he was a truck driver for the Suppy Battalion for the 2nd armored division. I wish when i was younger i had asked him questions but i knew nothing about war at that time.

nyjetsfan14
06-06-2009, 09:53 PM
I am literally in awe of the great posts/stories in this thread. I sometimes feel like I am the only one out here that remembers, cares, and is proud. You guys have truly lifted my spirits today and for that I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to reply and sharing!

cordovacollector
06-07-2009, 12:31 AM
I sometimes feel like I am the only one out here that remembers, cares, and is proud.

I know the feeling. Anytime I stand and see the Colors march in - be it a parade or a ballgame - I fight to hold the tears back and wonder if I am the only one.

As a permanent remembrance since the day Dad died, when I stand for the National Anthem, I make it a point every single time to look at the flag and remember him.

The greatest treasure I own is a flag that flew on LST 351 when he served that is tattered and full of shrapnel holes.

cjclong
06-08-2009, 08:13 AM
Just saw this. We owe an incredible debt to those who fought for us, of course not just on D Day but all the wars. However D Day is when we specially remember those who fought in Europe in WW 2 . I can't get over the courage of those who went into battle with the knowledge they could be killed or horribly wounded. And those who survived D Day then continued to do the same thing in battle after battle. Its an incredible thing to be brave and risk your life on a single occasion, as courageous as that is, but to do it over and over day after day as our soldiers fighting in Europe did is something I find hard to comprehend. Thank you for posting.

CampWest
06-08-2009, 08:50 AM
Thanks for the thread, its good to keep things in context and remember those who sacrificed. Does anybody here collect WWII? I have a couple small items, but not much...

http://home.everestkc.net/wescampbell/PCollection/wildbillguarneres.jpg

cordovacollector
06-08-2009, 11:32 PM
Thanks for the thread, its good to keep things in context and remember those who sacrificed. Does anybody here collect WWII? I have a couple small items, but not much...

http://home.everestkc.net/wescampbell/PCollection/wildbillguarneres.jpg

I do collect some WWII items. Most recent, about 3 years ago I went to the WWII air show in Eden Prarie, MN, and got to talk with and get autos of 75 of the 78 or so Vets that were in the program by their photos - including women pilots, George McGovern, some from the Doolittle's Raiders, Tuskeegee Airmen, Chuck Lindberg (Iwo Jima flag raiser - original flag, not the second posed one), etc. Got a wonderful small, deco-styled poster representing Tuskeegee airmen and got three T. Airmen to sign it. It was glorious.

Most unique WWII item I have is a collection of about 175 letters a Jewish girl wrote to her boyfriend who had managed to escape Germany and get to US around 1939. She wrote all these letters to him during the 13 months they were apart. And I have two photo scrapbooks of them. I have purchased the items and the rights to publish it as a book someday. Gotta shake this cancer bug first. Heh.

Of course, as I mentioned my most cherished WWII item is the flag from Dad's ship.

Picked up other items off and on. What kind of things do you have? How about the rest of you?

Oh geez, I forgot, my uncle worked in the athletic department of the Navy in WWII in Pensacola. One day a guy walked in while uncle Archie was sewing a baseball glove back together on a sewing machine. Archie finally saw him watching and jumped up to salute. Then noticed the officer he was saluting was Ted Williams. He nearly fainted. Ted said, "No salute needed, son .... you're doing a nice job on the glove." He signed a baseball for him, along with Johnny Sain, Bob Kennedy, and a couple others that were with him. His daughters, my cousins, now have the baseball. And yes, theft has crossed my mind! :o

cordovacollector
06-08-2009, 11:32 PM
Forgot to add, that print you have is a treasure!

CampWest
07-18-2009, 10:14 AM
http://valorstudios.com/Images/Collectibles/Shifty_Powers.jpg

Amidst all the *journalism* about Jon and Kate breaking up, all the American Idol garbage, etc... The media by and large completely ignored the passing of a true hero and a deserving celebrity. Its sad they couldn't take 15 minutes to properly honor this fallen hero.

SSG Shifty Powers fought in, among other battles, Normandy on D-Day, Bastogne, Hitler's Eagle's Nest, and Battle of the Bulge.


+++

By The Continuous News Desk (news@tricities.com)

Published: June 20, 2009
BY ROGER BROWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
“The world depended on them. They depended on each other.”
That was the tagline for “Band of Brothers” – an award-winning 2001 HBO mini-series drama on the World War II experiences of Easy Company, a U.S. Army unit that fought bravely and fiercely across Europe.
But for Bristol’s Margo Johnson – daughter of Darrell “Shifty” Powers, one of the soldiers depicted in “Band of Brothers” – two more lines could be added to describe her heroic father: “The world truly admired Darrell Powers. I absolutely adored him.”
“I loved everything about my daddy,” Johnson said. “He never bragged about what he did in the war. And for a lot of years, he never even talked much about what he did – unless someone asked him about it.
“But he truly was a hero to me,” Johnson said. “Just like he’d been to the people who know him as a soldier in a [mini-series].”
Powers, a Dickenson County native, died earlier this week at age 86 following a battle with cancer. His funeral service will be held today in Clintwood.
“He was a brave man, even to the end of his life,” Johnson said of her father. “He’s helping me be brave now, too.”
Bravery – and dignity – was a constant, running thread in the life of “Shifty” Powers, both during and after his life as an Army sharpshooter in the actual “Band of Brothers.”
During the war, he fought brutal battles against the German army across France and Belgium.
After the war, Powers served as an eloquent representative for the men he fought with: At one point during the “Band of Brothers” mini-series, he appeared on camera to talk in moving, humane fashion about his grim but necessary task during the war – killing the enemy.
And, too, Powers served as a loyal, steadfast representative for the country he fought for: from graciously meeting with a former enemy German soldier to eagerly accepting any chance to speak with modern-day members of the U.S. military.
Ivan Schwarz, a producer on the “Band of Brothers” HBO series, remembers Powers as a “kind, generous soul with a great sense of humor.”
“Shifty was an incredibly humble human being,” said Schwarz, now executive director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission in Cleveland, Ohio.
“He was like most of the other [Easy Company] soldiers we met for the series. They were good guys who were kind of shocked that, 50 years later, people were making a big deal over them for just doing their duty.
“That’s exactly how [Powers] was, too,” Schwarz said.
Attempts were unsuccessful to reach Peter Youngblood Hills – the English actor who portrayed Powers in the “Band of Brothers” miniseries, through both HBO and his former publicity firm, Hamilton Hodell in London, England.
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