D-Day Commemorations

[A Lark Ascending]

Very moving to watch the veterans commemorating the Normandy landings this morning.

At a time when news of just one death in the current conflict chills you it is hard to imagine a time when casualties could happen in their thousands on a single day. The courage of those who fought is something way beyond my understanding. The resilence of the populations at home (wherever home was) when every day was likely to bring more grim news.

Brings home to me just what an easy life I've lead.

[Brad]

I was hoping someone would raise D-Day. Although D-Day was not the beginning and the end, it was obviously important. Without appearing overly patriotic, without the sacrifice many people made during WWII, who knows what this world would be like today. Being of Jewish origin, I don't think I would have been here had Hitler triumpthed. We had a branch of our family in Poland. After the war, they were not to be found. Presumably, they met their end in the camps.

Here is an editorial from today's NYT:

June 6, 1944

Sixty years ago today, the free world held its breath. In America, daily life paused almost completely, subdued by the news that the invasion of Europe — D-Day — had begun. From the 21st century, we try to imagine the scale of what went forward in that gray dawn after years of preparation — the ships and men and matériel, the reserves of willpower and determination. What we sometimes forget to imagine is the almost prayerful nature of the day, the profound investment of hope and fear it entailed. It was a day in America and in Europe when civilians as surely as soldiers felt the whole of their lives concentrated on the outcome of a few hours. There has not been another time like it, when we knew that history was about to turn before our eyes.

In a way, D-Day sums up for us the whole of World War II. It was the frontal clash of two ideas, a collision between the possibility of human freedom and its nullification. Even now, we are still learning what to make of it, still trying to know whether we are dwarfed by the scale of such an effort or whether what happened that day still enlarges us. It certainly enlarges the veterans of Normandy and their friends who died in every zone of that war.

It's tempting to politicize the memory of a day so full of personal and national honor, too easy to allude to the wars of our times as if they naturally mirrored World War II. The iconic starkness of the forces that met on the beaches of Normandy makes that temptation all the greater. But beyond the resemblance of young soldiers dying in wars 60 years apart, there is no analogy, and that is something we must remember today as well. D-Day was the result of broad international accord. By D-Day, Europe had been at war — total war — for nearly five years, at profound cost to its civilian population. American civilians, in turn, had willingly made enormous material sacrifices to sustain the war effort. There was no pretense that ordinary life would go on uninterrupted and no assumption that America could go it alone.

We may find the heroics of D-Day stirring in the extreme. We may struggle to imagine the special hell of those beaches, the almost despairing lurch of the landing craft as they motored toward France. Those were brave times. But it was a bravery of shared sacrifice, a willingness to rise to an occasion that everyone prayed would never need to come again. This is a day to respect the memory of 60 years ago and, perhaps, to wonder what we might rise to if only we asked it of ourselves.

[Simon Weil]

I like what Stephen Ambrose says:

But for all that American industrial brawn and organization ability could do, for all that the British and Canadians and other allies could contribute, for all the plans and preparations, for all the brilliance of the deception scheme, for all the inspired leadership, in the end success or failure in Operation Overloard came down to a relatively small number of junior officers, noncoms, and privates or seamen in the American, British, and Canadian armies, navies, airforces, and coast guards. If the paratroopers and gliderborne troops cowered behind hedgerows or hid out in barns rather than actively seeking the enemy; if the coxswains did not drive their landing craft ashore but instead, out of fear of enemy fire, dropped their ramps in too-deep water; if the men at the beaches dug in behind the seawall; if the noncoms and junior officers failed to lead their men up and over the seawall and move inland in the face of enemy fire - why, then, the most thoroughly planned offensive in military history, and offensive supported by incredible amounts of naval firepower, bombs, and rockets, would fail.

It all came down to a bunch of eighteen-to-twenty-eight-year-olds...

D-Day/Stephen Ambrose p25

This extraordinary event made by ordinary people.

Simon Weil

Edited June 6, 2004 by Simon Weil

[sidewinder]

The commemorations have certainly dominated the media over here today - almost putting the news of Ronald Reagan's death into the background. I'll be checking out the TV highlights a bit later on. Interesting observation though from my back garden at about 6pm - military sounding prop aircraft heading Northish, possibly back from the coast. Difficult to tell but looked to me like a Lockheed Hudson - not everyday you see one of those. Possibly participating over in Normandy?

[A Lark Ascending]

Marvellous 2 hour drama-documentary about the lead up to D-Day and the day itself just went out on BBC 1. Very moving and a fitting tribute. This is the sort of the thing that the Beeb can do so well. Popular TV at its best.

As has been commented on throughout the day one of the most moving things has been the sheer humility of the veterans.

[7/4]

The commemorations have certainly dominated the media over here today - almost putting the news of Ronald Reagan's death into the background.

Which would be a good thing. Just when I was forgetting him, he dies and he's all over the news.

[sheldonm]

Without appearing overly patriotic

Brad,

Nothing wrong with appearing overly patriotic

[Brad]

Without appearing overly patriotic

Brad,

Nothing wrong with appearing overly patriotic

Sheldon,

I suppose you're right but ever since I've been a kid, I've always believed what Stephen Decatur said.

[Edward]

Brings home to me just what an easy life I've lead.

Yes, indeed. So many Allied successes depended on the actions of very brave, young men. Without Anglo-American resistance (Britain largely alone for about 18 months) to Nazi aggression, the world would be a far worse place.

I have spent a good deal of time watching various programs on the History Channel, which has done an excellent job of commemorating the day.

Edited June 7, 2004 by Edward

[brownie]

I was in Normandy over the weekend to coordinate news converage of the various D-Day celebrations. I have been there on numerous occasions during the past decades and was even privileged to obtain authorisation for a couple of very specials events to work from a small supply room which is located right under the main memorial at the American cemetery at Omaha Beach where the remains of 9,387 servicemen and women are buried and where the US Presidents travel for the main D-Day celebrations. Saw Reagan, Clinton and Bush at the cemetery.

And so for the 40th and 50th anniversary celebrations - when we needed specific working spaces to set up the film processing machines that were in use in the pre-digital cameras era - I was there with a small crew in the very early dawn at around the same time the real invasion started.

My colleagues and I could walk around those graves, look at all the white crosses, reflect on the values that are attached with incredible actions. These were very intense and emotional moments and it was also an honor to be in the company of all those brave soldiers who gave their life so that we could enjoy ours.

Despite all the recent antagonism which has risen over the policies of the two countries, in France we are very much aware of the sacrifice of all these young people who met their death for the Liberation of our country.

The attention the 2004 commemorations have gotten over here is simply unbelievable and quite unprecedented. Most of the tv channels had full programs relating the events of 60 years ago. Newspapers have been full of accounts of what happened and give detailed analysis of the various ceremonies.

Some asides.

That cemetery over Omaha Beach is American territory inside France. The permanent use of this burial ground has been granted by France in perpetuity.

When world leaders gather there, the US President is host.

Two side notes that were related by photographers.

- when President Bush arrived from Rome at Orly airport in Paris on Saturday, the official bouquet of flowers that was presented to Laura Bush looked miserable. The photographer who was at the airport told me 'I would never dare offer my wife such a bad bouquet',

- Prince Charles was at British ceremonies in full uniform. He mingled with the D-Day veterans. Prince Charles who has never been to war had huge rows of medals lined on his chest and was obviously not uncomfortable about this when he faced the real heroes who has much less medals on their chest.

[Dave James]

Sidewinder - Think that plane you saw might have been a Lancaster. I know one of them was involved in a fly-by during the Normandy ceremonies. It was flanked by two fighters, one of which I'm sure was a Spitfire and the other probably a Mustang. I'm not familiar with the Lockeed you mention, but many Lockeeds from that era had the same double tail configuration you see on the Lancaster. From a distance, it might be easy to mistake one for the other, although the Lancaster was a four engine heavy bomber. Also, given the nature of the event, I would find it odd that what I would assume to be a non-combat aircraft like the Lockeed would have been involved.

I've watched a lot of the D-Day coverage on TV. I also took another tour through Saving Private Ryan. I kept trying to picture myself trying to confront the kind of things our soldiers were forced to confront during this time, and I keep coming up short. It's truly remarkable what these people were able to accomplish and what they did to make it possible for all of us to have what we have today. I know it's become popular to call their's "The Greatest Generation" but even that doesn't seem to it justice. My hat is off at all times to these people.

Someday I hope to be able to visit Normandy. I'm sure it would be an emotional experience, much like visiting the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor but perhaps on a grander scale.

Up over and out.

[A Lark Ascending]

I've never been to the Normandy sites, but have visited the First World War battlefields in Flanders many times. Every time the places get to me. Its also extraordinary going to these places with parties of schoolkids who are always taken aback by the scale of the suffering. I wish it was possible to get every schoolkid there once!

Watching the various programmes yesterday made me want to visit Normany in the near future.

One rather sad thing I heard today. We have local and European elections coming up on Thursday. A couple of 20-somethings were saying how they couldn't be bothered to fill in their slips (we're experimenting with postal voting in my region).

Yesterday we have men running into the face of murderous machine gun fire to defend a democratic way of life. Today some can't even be bothered to tick a box and post a letter.

As I said before, we have life very easy!

[sidewinder]

Sidewinder - Think that plane you saw might have been a Lancaster.  I know one of them was involved in a fly-by during the Normandy ceremonies.  It was flanked by two fighters, one of which I'm sure was a Spitfire and the other probably a Mustang.  I'm not familiar with the Lockeed you mention, but many Lockeeds from that era had the same double tail configuration you see on the Lancaster.  From a distance, it might be easy to mistake one for the other, although the Lancaster was a four engine heavy bomber.  Also, given the nature of the event, I would find it odd that what I would assume to be a non-combat aircraft like the Lockeed would have been involved.

Hi Dave - No, definitely not a Lanc. This one was a smaller aircraft, definitely twin engined and with the low growl of the WWII vintage bombers. Not sure about the tail config. My first reaction was that this might have been a Hudson, as they were used on coastal patrol by the RAF and they have the 2 engines as distinct from the 4 engines of the Liberators. No sign of such an aircraft on the Normandy TV footage though (only the Red Arrows, Spit, Mustang and Lanc seemed to be on show from what I could see) so it might have been nothing directly to do with the Normandy event.

That RAF Lanc is a venerable old crate. Some years ago I was visiting the design offices of BAE Systems up at Chadderton, Lancs and one of their engineers was working with the original Avro WWII-era type drawings as signed off by Roy Chadwick ! The aircraft was getting some structural repair work done at the time.

Having said that, I did hear a group of fast jets fly past a few hours earlier to that and this may very well have been the Red Arrows on their way out ! B)

Edited June 7, 2004 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

My dad was in the RAF (he joined just as the war ended). I spent the first 21 years of my life either on RAF bases, near them or travelling to and from them during university vacations.

I was raised on the whole Battle of Britain mythology. To this day the sight of a Lancaster or a Spitfire brings a lump to my throat.