D DAY. 75 YEARS AGO

Amazing and touching stories. From evil to heroic to incomprehensible. Our existence is owed to the sacrifice of these men. I'm deeply touched by the testimonials of some of our members who have family members that fought and sacrificed their lives, and in many cases, their innocence, for freedom.

My wife and I visited Normandy last fall. Mind boggling. Many tears were shed while walking those hallowed grounds.
From a previous post...
https://omegaforums.net/threads/roa...ome-watch-content-omaha-beach-and-more.83304/

Don't sweat it. He is not our 'leader', he is just the person who is currently President for another year (or maybe 5).

I suspect part of it depends a bit on how involved you family members may have been. My dad's father and uncles were Italian immigrants, and all enlisted in the US Army, but were still in training in the US when the war ended. So all I know about WWII is what I learned over the years in school, and from movies and books. The fact is other than Pearl Harbor the US did not suffer bombings, raids, etc. that had an everlasting impact on many European countries.

It is a lot different for my wife's family. All of here grandparents were in the war, as they were Russians. Her grandmother was shot and sent to Central Asia to recover, and wound up rooting down there. The years of fighting off the Germans from taking over their homeland galvanized them in a manner that was much different than the US's involvement. Not to trivialize the contributions of the massive US contribution and sacrifices by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it sticks with you a lot more when you are from a country that has been invaded and had to fight for years to take back control.

My dad (in beret) landed on D+10, and ended up in North Germany in 1 Corps HQ Signals. Never went into much detail about what he’d seen or done.
Always wore a watch until he retired and then didn’t bother.

Well. Time for a watch picture. When fleeing Germany my grandfather took his omega with him which he bought in the 30's in Paris. My mother gave it to me a couple of years ago. Now it's lying in my watchbox.

While not at all comparable to the hardship suffered by some others, the USA did indeed suffer attack and/or occupation in other territories beside Hawaii (also a US territory at the time). These areas included the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway, Western Islands of Alaska as well as US merchant ships sunk off the Atlantic Coast and I think in the Gulf of Mexico as well. The Panama Canal was also a prized target which the Japanese planned to attack.

Oregon suffered the only mainland casualties, caused by a Japanese balloon bomb.

Dad far left with buds. Marine Air Corps, South Pacific.

Flew missions up and down The Slot, Coral Sea as 17-18 year old tail gunner. 120lbs dripping wet, he said.

D-day was an amazing act. Hitlers sea wall was quite amazing. History says Hitler was sleeping at the time, Rommel couldn’t get permission to release his Panzers which very well could have changed history. The poor guys in the first wave didn’t stand a chance. I think the Marines get overlooked a bit. They were doing D-days all over the pacific against the Japanese held islands. God bless all those guys. WW2 effected just about every continent.

My grandfather in his wedding photo, 1924. He served in Pershing's JAG Corps in the Army on the Western Front in the Great War. He died when I was eight years old, but I remember him well. I was far too young to know enough about his service to ask him about his experiences.


My stepfather, XO of VMB-611, Marine B-25 squadron in the Pacific. He didn't talk much about the war, but he got together with his comrades in arms often in the years that followed. He passed away about 15 years ago, but he never stopped being a Marine.


My son at his graduation from Virginia Military Institute last year. He's a second lieutenant with the 101st Airborne Division, already deployed. I didn't serve - a fact I regret - but the tradition carries on.

They were the greatest generation. My dad lied about his age he was 16 years old and my Dad was not the only one that would lie about there age he was a ball turret gunner on avenger torpedo aircraft was on the USS bunker hill when it got hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa he escapes the fire on the flight deck by jumping to the catwalk along the edge of the flight deck. My brother sort of followed my Dad at 17 as Vietnam was slowing down a bunch of his friends joined the Navy all you needed was your parents consent no diploma needed you can't do that any more. When growing up every buddies Dad was a WW2 vet my JR. High School science teacher was in the battle of the bulge. When I got out off active duty before I went into the reserve my first real job I was hired by a WW2 vet. In WW2 8% of the US enlisted in time of war. Today 1% enlisted in time of war. They were more patriotic were they would lie about the age as did even in WW1. I joined late at 22 and managed to do 22 years in the Navy. My Dad was in WW2, Korea, Vietnam and my Grandpa WW1 and WW2 on one ship my Grandpa was my Dads Div. officer in WW2. There less WW2 vets these days my dad passed away a few years ago what WW2 vets did for me they taught me to serve what this new generation could use. What one WW2 vet said was Freedom not free. A lot of people will come up and thank me for my service and then I will ask did you serve and they will say no I remember when I use to see more that served back in 1984 after active duty but they were WW2 and Korea and Vietnam vets but there are less of them these days. Our new generation got to step up to the plate. Some times I think bring back the draft and this time take the loop holes out so bone spurs don’t work.

My Grandpa during WW2 if you notice he was enlisted and later became a officer they call that being a mustang.

My Grandpa in the Navy before WW1

Grandpa WW1



My Dad and his medals from his service I miss him since he passed away a few years ago put a flag on his grave on memorial day with the American Legion. My Dad never bragged. When I use to live in the bay area my Dad came for a visit I took him to the USS Hornet museum they had a avenger they were fixing up the ball turret was out on deck my dad looked at it and said I could not fit in that he grew a little bit. Some of the volunteers came over talked to my Dad after they left my Dad said he flew off the Hornet some times you landed on any thing you could find before you ran out of gas after a mission. We went into one of the heads that's a bathroom he said they had water troves were salt water flowed with toilet seats over the trove. The salt water would flow over the side no flushing toilets well new guys would be sitting on them doing there thing some would roll up paper light it up and let it flow down the trove the new guys had a surprise. They did have fun even in war.