D Day
 

Remembering this morning the crews of c.11,000 Allied aircraft which supported Operation Overlord. I hope that the Grace Spitfire is airborne today, in memory of her victory on D Day.

Saluting all who saw action on this day in 1944.

HB

And today I must make mention of this:

Astonishingly good large-scale replica of D-Day landings is made by Swansea Air Cadets | South Wales Evening Post

which shows details of an amazing diorama made by my Swansea Air Cadet Squadron.

Yep, thoughts are with those still here, those departed and all the affected NoK.

Thinking specially of Maj Gen J....W..., who I knew as a member of the Yacht Club where I was secretary- one of the leading lights in Hobart's "funnies", the specialist armoured vehicles that landed on D-Day

Twenty years ago I was standing on the Mall next to a man I knew had served as an RAF pilot in the war.

I asked him where he had been on D-Day - "In a Spitfire over the beaches of Normandy" was his reply.

He was at best 23 years old at the time.

My late father was always very modest about his war. As a child I can't ever remember him telling "war stories". However, shortly before he died in 2012 he did open up a bit.

He said that on D-Day he had been to see a film at the station cinema! What he didn't say was the station was Keevil and being a Stirling pilot on 299 Sqn his contribution to the war had taken place towing a Horsa glider over to France well before dawn. He stayed on 299 until Feb 1946 when he was de-mobbed.

So typical of his generation. We will remember them.

MB

I watched some of it on TV last night, I thought it odd Prince Charles, while laying a wreath was in what I take to be KD, while the rest of the army was in Brown, they wore medals, he didn't, and his trousers appeared not to match his jacket in colour..

Salute to them all.


..

Nutty, 0/10 for spelling, see me.


HB

Pretty sure that the PoW was in tropical rig. What's tropical about Northern France?

The BBC keep showing a clip shot from inside a landing craft in which the guy in front of the camera seems quite happy yet behind him is another soldier whose face is full of tension and apprehension. It says it all to me. Young men pressed by circumstance into such a maelstrom. Their bravery astonishes me.
I thank them and those that stayed behind and made it possible.

Some years ago, about 15 I guess, we were in the Land Warfare Hall at Duxford watching that bit of film, my youngest and his friend, 10 and 11 and me, and an elderly couple. My boy was giving a running commentary as was his want on all things military, and I asked the elderly woman if Will was a nuisance. "No", she said, "my husband was in the landing craft behind the man with the camera, but has never seen the film". Will immediately started talking to the man and I again asked if I should remove him. "No" she said, "let them talk". Will often recounts the story of that day.


Just seen the flypast of BBMF - nice touch to have the Dakota in the lead

It is right that we remember he great deeds performed that day, but also we should think of the years of struggle and sacrifice that made the Normandy landings possible. I am thinking particularly of the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic, but also the actions in the Channel in the preceding months, the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties, dangerous low level reconnaissance sorties performed by Spitfires (et al) flying unarmed and alone over occupied territory, and the Bomber Command/USAAF interdiction of the German transport system.

Nor should the maritime aspects be forgotten.

D-Day 70th anniversary - RN website

The Royal Navy provided the majority of the vessels involved in the assault, a huge part of the escort, a large number of ships for shore bombardment, two X Craft for marking beaches, parties for control of the beaches, divers for dealing with mines, Royal Marine units, and Fleet Air Arm aircraft.

A landing in Europe was, of course, only possible after the U boat Wolfpacks and German heavy naval units had been defeated and the Atlantic supply line secured.

From the webpage: At 0527 hours on 6 June 1944, HMS Belfast was one of the first ships to open fire on German positions along the Normandy coast. The cruiser was the flagship of Bombarding Force 'E', providing naval gunfire support to the troops landing at Gold and Juno beaches.

My (late) Grandfather was a senior rate Gunner aboard Belfast at the time, so I will be thinking of him at his action station, working hard to lob 6" shells at German positions. By chance I have recently been printing out old family pictures sent to me by my cousin, including a few of my Grandfather. There are pictures of him aboard Belfast during Arctic and Atlantic convoys, and previously I have pictures from HMS Hood, his ship until he was drafted not long before her loss. How did men cope with finding out that hundreds of former shipmates had been killed?

How much sacrifice was required to get to the point where the Normandy landings were feasible?

Just had a thought watching the Cemetery Service - GoH was TA, band was TA - are really that short of Regular Army personnel, or was it to do with units involved in D Day eg Sherwood Yeomanry

My dear Father died recently aged 93. Surprisingly not from old age but from not taking a corner correctly on his 600cc motorbike!

He was a wartime member of the 13th Bn Parachute Regiment who dropped into Normandy and again, later on the Rhine drop. He always used to make me chuckle at this time of the year by saying he arrived closer to the 5 Jun that the 6 and anybody that arrived after him would just have a hell of a job to catch up!

Myself and an older brother followed him into the Parachute Regiment many years ago.

The Army seem to have the sensible practice - don't know if it's official or not - that if it's hot you wear the "hot climate" gear.

Many's the occasion I've sweltered in my No 1 at functions in UK or Germany where my Army colleagues were as suitable attired as PoW was.......

I do however recall one time many years ago at the secret Hampshire helicopter base, when there was a Dining In Night during a severe heatwave. Sensibly (unusual that!) a Tannoy went out "Tropical Mess kit optional!"

What was really sad - compared to now - is that 90% of the officers had the kit from a previous tour and wore it. At the time there were Sqns in Hong Kong, Singapore (2), Sharjah (moved there from Aden) and Cyprus; and SAR Flights at Muharraq and - in the then fairly recent past - also in Libya (pre-Gaddaffi) and British Honduras (pre-Independance when it became Belize). :(

O tempora o mores

Wander00 - not forgetting that the only VC awarded for D-Day action was won by CSM Stanley Hollis, who had joined 4th Bn Green Howards as a TA soldier in 1939.

Reading a new batch of Books on D-Day recently.

The experience the attacking Troops had at Omaha Beach is heart breaking to read. Very little film exists to record that experience for us to see which in itself reminds us of the Death and Horror of that assault across and open beach littered with Mines and Obstacles and no place to hide from the enemy artillery, anti-tank, mortar, machine gun, and rifle fires.

The one clip of movie film showing a half dozen infantrymen right at the water's edge being gunned down is so emblematic of the losses suffered by the 1st and 29th Divisions on Omaha.

Combined effort it was, but it still took very Brave Men to cross that Beach, breach the German defenses, and defeat a determined entrenched and fortified enemy battle line.

My Hat is off to those guys, everyone of them!

Hear, hear

I have nothing but admiration for the servicemen that went there and put their lives in peril. My father was there on D plus 3 and ended up on Juno, the Canadian beach, miles from the rest of his regiment. He was not very happy with the Royal Corps of Signallers, neither was his CO. Brigadier Horrocks and if you watch a Bridge to Far you will know who he is. 30 Corps.

Tenacity in adversity
 

They had it then and they still have it now...

Just reported on the Beeb:

Police say an 89-year-old British D-Day veteran who went missing after being told by care home staff that he could not attend the anniversary commemorations has been found - in Normandy.

The man, who has not been named, was reported missing from a care home in Hove on Thursday. It is believed he went out wearing his war medals under a raincoat. Police say they have spoken to the man and are satisfied he is safe and able to return to Hove once the D-Day commemorations are complete.


Respect to them all


CS