D-Day: 80 years later.

National World War 2 Museum: 80th Anniversary of D-Day. 

D-Day.org: 80th Anniversary of D-Day Schedule of Events. 

MSN: US World War II veterans travel to France to mark 80th anniversary of D-Day.

National D-Day: History of D-Day.

The morning of June 6, 1944, American troops and their allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France in an invasion, code-named Operation Overlord, during World War II, which began the liberation of France, and ultimately other areas of Europe, from Hitler’s Nazi regime. This day, known as D-Day, and the strategically planned landing of 156,000 British, Canadian and American troops at 6:30 A.M. on the five beaches of Normandy was code-named Operation Neptune.

Earlier in the morning of June 6, 24,000 airborne troops were dropped into battle by parachute in order to close exits and overtake bridges slowing the advancement of Nazi reinforcements. Troops entering the beaches by land and sea were met with Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall,’ 2,400 miles of bunkers, landmines, and beach obstacles (metal tripods, barbed wire, and wooden stakes) established in anticipation of a French coast invasion. Nazis planted 4 million landmines along Normandy beaches.

More at History.com: D-Day.

Britannica: The Normandy Invasion.

The D-Day Story: The Battle of Normandy Timeline.

Memorial Day.

Credit: El Mambo King

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IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

"It is the Soldier": ©Copyright 1970, 2005 by Charles M. Province

 

Lou Conter, last survivor of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, dies at 102.

WVXU: Lou Conter, last survivor of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, dies at 102.

Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, has died at the age of 102.

Conter, who was a 20-year-old quartermaster at the time of the naval assault, was on the back decks of the battleship on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces decimated the U.S. Pacific fleet. The unprecedented attack killed 1,177 on the Arizona, with over 900 of those individuals never recovered.

As the bombs rained down on the naval base, one landed between two main guns at the front of the Arizona. The explosion ignited a huge store of TNT black powder that was used for the ship's battery guns.

"There went a million pounds of powder," Conter recalled in a 2018 interview with the American Veterans Center. "It blew up!"

The explosion was so intense that it split the ship in two, "and the bow came up about 30, 40 feet out of the water and fell straight back down," he remembered.

The strike was catastrophic and it only took about 10 minutes for the ship to sink, David Kilton, a spokesman for the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, told NPR.

Meanwhile, amid the chaos, Conter abandoned the ship and eventually made it to safety, only to be ordered onto a rescue boat to help pull bodies from the water. "Some of those were individuals in distress, trying to figure out how to swim around the huge quantities of oil that had leaked out and the flames that were on the water," Kilton said.

"Guys were coming out of the fire, and we were just grabbing them and laying them down," Conter later said. "They were real bad. You would pick them up by the bodies, and the skin would come off in your hands."
[.]
After WWII, Conter went on to serve in the Korean War. Later, he became the Navy's first SERE officer — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and escape. For years, he helped establish the program, training Navy pilots and crew how to survive if they were shot down in the jungle and captured as prisoners of war.

By the end of his 27-year career in the Navy, in 1967, he'd risen to the ranks of lieutenant commander. He then moved to California, became a real estate developer, and married his second wife, Valerie. They were together for 47 years.

Conter passed away on Monday at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., following congestive heart failure. 

Rest In Peace.

Memorial Day.

Credit: El Mambo King

-

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

"It is the Soldier": ©Copyright 1970, 2005 by Charles M. Province

VJ Day.

History: VJ Day.

On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
[.]
In a radio address in the early afternoon of August 15 (August 14 in the United States), Emperor Hirohito urged his people to accept the surrender, blaming the use of the “new and most cruel bomb” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the country’s defeat. “Should we continue to fight,” Hirohito declared, “it would not only result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation but would also lead to the total extinction of human civilization.”

Read more at the link.

D-Day, June 6th, 1944.

National D-Day: History of D-Day.

The morning of June 6, 1944, American troops and their allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France in an invasion, code-named Operation Overlord, during World War II, which began the liberation of France, and ultimately other areas of Europe, from Hitler’s Nazi regime. This day, known as D-Day, and the strategically planned landing of 156,000 British, Canadian and American troops at 6:30 A.M. on the five beaches of Normandy was code-named Operation Neptune.

Earlier in the morning of June 6, 24,000 airborne troops were dropped into battle by parachute in order to close exits and overtake bridges slowing the advancement of Nazi reinforcements. Troops entering the beaches by land and sea were met with Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall,’ 2,400 miles of bunkers, landmines, and beach obstacles (metal tripods, barbed wire, and wooden stakes) established in anticipation of a French coast invasion. Nazis planted 4 million landmines along Normandy beaches.

Read more at the link. 

More at History.com: D-Day.

Britannica: The Normandy Invasion.

The D-Day Story: The Battle of Normandy Timeline.

Memorial Day.

Credit: El Mambo King

-

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

"It is the Soldier": ©Copyright 1970, 2005 by Charles M. Province

Memorial Day.

Credit: El Mambo King

-

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

"It is the Soldier": ©Copyright 1970, 2005 by Charles M. Province

D-Day June 6, 1944: 75 years later.

"You are about to embark on the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you… I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle."
 – Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower from National D Day Memorial

History On The Net: D-Day; The Invasion of Normandy

The D-Day landing of June 6, 1944, ranks as the boldest and most successful large-scale invasion in military history.

On June 6, as Operation Overlord went forward, roughly 160,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel, supported by seven thousand ships and boats, and landed on the coast of Normandy. The seaborne invasion included nearly 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers. They established a beachhead from which the Germans were unable to dislodge them. Within ten days, there were half a million troops ashore, and within three weeks there were two million.

The National D-Day Memorial. Hit the link for a wonderful and informative site.

Daily Gazette: 43 Photo Image Gallery.

C-SPAN video: U.S. Soldiers on D-Day. 

The Times Union: Albany riveted by D-Day.

Wiki: The National D-Day Memorial

National D-Day Memorial: The Bedford Boys

Washington Examiner: D-Day remembered: The view from Omaha Beach.

For the final 200 yards on the water, the German machine guns would already have been riddling their Higgins boats. Then, unceremoniously dumped into frigid, churning water, colleagues exploding in blood all around them, they would have found themselves finally on dry ground but without refuge from the Nazi weapons.

Weighted with wet clothes and hefty equipment, they had to make it 400 yards through flesh-ripping fire. In gym shorts and track shoes, most of these men might make it in about 80 seconds after a lung-busting run. Now imagine trying it with 60 pounds on your back or in your arms. And do it while running into the horrors of mechanized firepower.

WBR: 75th Anniversary Of D-Day: Preserving The Stories Of WWII Veterans.

The Telegraph (2013): D-Day Survivors tell their stories.

Eyewitness To History: Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944; On The Beach.

Time: Five Essential D-Day stories.

Memorial Day

Credit: El Mambo King

-

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

"It is the Soldier": ©Copyright 1970, 2005 by Charles M. Province