International, Military, Politics, Society

Thanks to the “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force”

180px-1944_NormandyLSTA few words on a day of courage and sacrifice by Americans on foreign soil on this day 65 years ago.

“Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”
— Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhowerikelarge

37 thoughts on “Thanks to the “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force””

  1. rcampbell:

    Would you please do me a favor? Next time you see your Dad will you look’em straight in the eye and give’em a two handed hand shake. Tell’em Thank You for serving America. From a guy in ChicAgo, who deeply appreciates the sacrifices people of an earlier generation made. If he responds like many do, ‘I was just doing my job,’ let’em know thanks for getting the job done!

  2. “D-Day, Normandy, France June 6, 1944
    by Brian Williams and John Barratt

    The Atlantic Wall
    After the invasion and subsequent fall of France in 1940, the German army controlled the entire coast of Northern France. Following the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk, Hitler had hoped that Britain would agree to settle the war. But, because of British determination and Germany’s inability to carry out an invasion of England, Germany was forced to maintain a defensive posture along the coast. In 1944, the German war machine was still very powerful despite the many setbacks on the Eastern Front. What it lacked in Luftwaffe and materials, it made up for in highly experienced and trained men. Also, its armor, heavy infantry weapons, and anti-tank capabilities were years ahead of the Americans and British. But, the Allies controlled the air and sea and what they lacked in quality, they hoped to make up for in quantity. The German high command was actually anticipatory about the upcoming Allied invasion. It meant that finally the British and American threat could be “dealt with” once and for all. …”

    http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/dday/
    ————

    By the end of the war there were 40+ MILLION dead that could be laid at Hitler’s feet. 40+ MILLIONS.

    These brave men walked into deaths arms to help purge the world of the most monstrous evil we have ever known. There aren’t words to adequately express the magnitude of their bravery and necessity. We owe them, and all of the Veterans, everywhere, of WWII nothing less than the world and freedom as we know it. Rest In Peace.

    ————
    Library of Congress, Stories from the vetrans history project: D-Day 1044

    http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/onthebeach.html

  3. Michelle Obama’s Top Aide Resigned to Escape Administration Bureaucracy

    Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, Jackie Norris, stepped down after becoming disillusioned with the administrations bureaucracy as part of the job, a senior administration official told Politico off the record.

    Norris, who worked on the president’s campaign in Iowa, didn’t enjoy the micro-management and door die scheduling duties along with the demeaning social aspect of the job, the official told the publication.

  4. rcambell, your telling us your father was/is a liberal doesn’t mean jack crap here since Liberals always lie and their biggest most shameful lie is often that their battle scarred Father was a liberal.

  6. Mary you wrote: Left wingers offering thanks to the military is brazen hypocrisy.

    we try here to be civil and to engage in discourse that speaks to high mindedness rather than to fling acid in each others eyes.
    if you want t stick around and join in discussion that’d be great.
    if you just want to insult people for their ideas then maybe there are other places that would suit you better than this one.

    as to the content of your post, many of us are students of history and while we may be liberal or conservative we have the ability to look backwards and sometimes to look forwards and see the role that the military takes in securing our shores and helping sister nations survive the threat of tyranny.

    for me, personally, I am anti-war. all war. for any reason. that may seem an unlikely point of view given that we have engaged in wars of necessity as wars of choice and telling the difference between them is not always easy. that said. I would never want to serve or want my kids to serve. we are not the military type and would not do well in that kind of environment. I’d sooner send my kids to france or argentina than to iraq and should the draft be reinstates, something that I live in fear of, I would not hesitate to leave the US with my kids. that fact that i can hold this point of view while simultaneously feeling grateful to those who do serve is not hypocritical at all. it is a sign of mental health.

  7. CCD,

    That is a sobering, yet beautiful photograph.

    Thanks.

  8. Dredd,

    Yes, I purposely left you out because your post was more relevant; i.e. implications that we could bear the loss of innate robots instead of human lives. I was a veteran during the Viet Nam period and my brother was killed in action during the time I was also serving. Other regulars who post here are veterans. I doubt that anyone of them would say that they worship war.

    I understand your position. As a lifelong Republican, I consider Eisenhower as the last good Republican president and your post about him was relevant; however, I prefer to honor this thread for the veterans of 65 years ago and perhaps you can post more about those events and that era, given your skills as a blogger.

    Rcambell,

    Thanks for that bit of relevant history.

  9. Mary

    My 90 year old father, a staunch liberal then as now, was part of the D-Day invasion. He was in the second wave of LSTs that hit the beach. He knew why he was fighting the Nazis and has more than once compared the radical right’s agenda of self-proclaimed cultural superiority, fear and hate to theirs. He would deeply resent your comments and, in his name, so do I.

    He’s told the story many times over the years of boarding that LST the night before the invasion. As the LST sat bobbing up and down in the stormy waters overnight, many soldiers, himself included, got quite sea-sick. There were no bathroom facilities on the LST and the men had to endure the stench until the actual landing. He said that given those conditions, when the front dropped for them to disembark and rush headlong toward the beach amidst heavy enemy fire, it was a relief just to get some fresher air to breath.

  10. FormerFederalLEO,

    Thanks for leaving me out of the scolding of mary, kobo & Ovadya.

    My robot comments were downstream from Professor Turley’s recent post about robots becoming law professors.

    Those who give their lives for others in personal sincerity are to be respected, no matter what the venue.

    I do however take exception to our drift toward the worship of war, which true American patriots have said is our WORST ENEMY:

    http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-is-americas-greatest-enemy.html

  11. mary:

    “Left wingers offering thanks to the military is brazen hypocrisy.”

    ************

    Right wingers who think those fallen dead had anything in common with the frozen-hearted capitalist, imperialist neo-cons of today are delusional or brazenly stupid.

    I know JT I just promised, but I can’t help myself. Stop me before I type again!

  12. mary, kobo & Ovadya,

    Why denigrate and defile a thread honoring our war dead?

    If you have no shame or self-respect, then please show respect to those who sacrificed their lives so that you could speak freely by posting your hatred and confused thoughts on another one of the Turley blawg threads.

    Please honor this thread as sacrosanct for remembrances of fallen heroes.

    Thank you.

  13. Israel will never allow Barack Hussain Obama to dictate to us how and when to surrender our country. I found his speech to be a gesture of weakness. Obama could not even bring himself to criticize the thuggery of the Egyptian government. He is a disgrace.

  15. Dredd, how could robots do any worse at teaching law than the liberal universities have done for 50 years now?

  16. US NEWS: WHEN LIBERALS LIE TO GET ELECTED, THAT IS A GOOD THING.

    U.S. News: “Obama’s flip-flops for the public good”

    Overall, however, Obama has been praised for his flexibility, not condemned for his flip-flops.

    Says a senior Democratic Strategist: “Obama is willing to change course if he feels it’s needed. The American people will still support him if he is not seen as doing it for political reasons.”…

    Lying to get elected = “pragmatism.” Is promising not to raise taxes on people who make less than $250,000 a year “a fundamental promise”? Just like we’ll find out that inexplicably changing one’s position on whether soldiers in Iraq have died in vain is due to something other than “political reasons.”

  20. “I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place. In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 firstline aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.

    …

    But all this, although a very valuable first step-a vital and essential first step-gives no indication of what may be the course of the battle in the next days and weeks, because the enemy will now probably endeavour to concentrate on this area, and in that event heavy fighting will soon begin and will continue without end, as we can push troops in and he can bring other troops up. It is, therefore, a most serious time that we enter upon. Thank God, we enter upon it with our great Allies all in good heart and all in good friendship.”

    Part of Winston S. Churchill’s address to the House of Commons 6/6/44

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