doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: 75th Anniversary of D-Day - 82nd Abn A/O

Gene, the thousands of men who took part in the invasion will be in my heart and on my mind front and forward tomorrow, but none more so than your dad. They changed the history of the world 75 years ago. Gil

Argo, thanks very much for posting your brother's article. Fascinating reading. Enjoy your time in Normandy.

Argo,

What a tremendous honor it must be for you and your family members to be on that hallowed ground that was made so by the efforts of your father and his generation.

I especially like the two pictures, one taken with his camera and the one from your camera. Walking in your father's footsteps 75 years later. Wow that's really something to cherish.

Safe travels,
Scott

The hedgerows are incredible, Until you try to walk the area you can't realize the lack of landmarks, tiny sunken roads, walls of foliage impossible to penetrate. The paratroopers landing at night...wouldn't have had a clue where they were:



Ponl'Abbey (Etionville) 1944 from Father's camera and today


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At first, I thought the dummy paratrooper hanging from the steeple of Sainte Mere Eglise was in poor taste. After reflecting upon it for a couple days, it serves as a stark reminder of the extreme sacrifices made by these brave soldiers who fought and died to keep us free.

Let's hope those sacrifices are never forgotten.

Big drop down on Drop Zone K, the British 1st Airborne drop zone east of Caen today. 33 C-47's flew out of UK, then dropped reenactors and old guys. DZ K is totally different from the DZ's for 82nd and 101st..no brocage..not hedgerows....open flat country, 33 planes, the most ever assembled since WWII, no AA, broad daylight, no huge tailwind...and they still scattered the reenactor jumpers over a km off target. They couldn't take off within two hours of their target date, could't fly in formation, couldn't control their speed so the faster wouldn't surge ahead...

There were 800 C-47's on D-Day...flying at night, taking off at precise time including transporting, feeding, loading the troops, in three triangle serials, 3 serials per section. I'll post more on today's drop because it's instructive. The D-Day maps like to put a "spot" where a stick dropped. The sticks though were stretched out over 800 to 3000 meters and dropped at an altitude from anywhere from 400 ft to 2000 ft..

It's now 0138 06 June, French Daylight time, D-Day time was Zulu +2 = French Daylight time, The 3bn 508 Pathfinder stick landed at 0130 according to a survivor, 0138 according to 82nd Abn records.

I just walked up to the top of the hill to see where the first part of the stick landed. You simply cannot cannot get across country with the hedgerows. I found my way I think to the field or near it. It was pitch black, this night, with brilliant stars out and lights from from Sainte Mere Eglise....but with sunken roads and overarching branching,.it was spooky,eerie, and no-one was shooting at me.

Look, I've run small unit reconnaissance missions into Laos..we "RON"'d (Rest over Night) at sundown, but I've operated at night there once...without infrared and before starlight... But the moon then was so bright it cast shadows. Admittedly tonight had no moon...it was dark except for the star pinpricks and the lights in the far distance from the bordello Sainte Mere Eglise has become. But you can't find your way in these sunken, twisting lanes without looking at a map and if you look at a map with a light, and get shot at for doing so, there are no landmarks to tell you where you are.

The 508th rally point was "Hill 30." It's a hill in name only overlooking the flooded Merderet River plain.. But how did you get down there? There was a burning downed 101st C-47 on the DZ of the 3 Bn Pathfinder stick, one of the "markers" twin brother used to identify the DZ. The 101 overflew the 82nd ops area first on the way to their drop zones near the coast. Still, Until you're out in Normandy at this time of night, you won't believe how difficult it would be to find teammates let alone shoot enemies, Makes a lot of things clear, More tomorrow.

Very good read and shows the overwhelming obstacles that our fathers' generation overcame to keep us free. My father Henry L Beiter USAF Lt. was in Germany and N. Africa after V day, during the occupation and passed on the stories of the sacrifices made by the "greatest generation". He was very much a military history scholar had been to Normandy many times to pay his respects and I hope to one day do the same. I wish he was still here to read this.
Proud to be an American and reflect on this special day. Thank you to all that serve or have served.

D-Day photos

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/world...section=topNews

Thanks for sharing with us; I enjoyed reading it