Marky B

It is sixty five years ago today when the largest invasion ever took place on the beaches of Normandy,bringing redemption to a Nazi occupied Europe.
Let us not forget the fallen and those who came back. Respect to you all.
Mark

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

jaycad

i echo markybs sentiments

'QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT'

faginsgirl

Respect to all, living or dead may they have peace now.

xx

Creative people feel isolated, they create, they`re not part of an established functioning society!

darrenburnfan

Yes, we all owe them a great debt. I've just been watching the ceremonies on television. I must have missed Prince Charles speech, but I got to hear the speeches of the French and American presidents and the Canadian and British prime ministers.

My father landed on the beaches on D-Day. He never spoke much about it, but from the little he did say, it appears that his mates were being shot to peices alongside him and his best friend was decapitated by shrapnel as they fought side by side, while he came home without a mark...physically, that is. But his mind was affected terribly. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was not recognised in those days and veterans coming home from the war had to live with what the war had done to them. But he definitely had PTSD and he was hell to live with most of the time. I wasn't born until a year after the war, but my mother used to say how he had the most terrible nightmares and used to try to kill her in his sleep because he thought she was a German soldier. This was happening to thousands of other demobbed soldiers who had been in the thick of battle, but it was unreported at the time. Dad died of cancer in April, 1970, aged 59. But he really died in the war, when I come to think of it. Mum said that when he came back from the war, he wasn't the same man she had married.

torinfan

Remembering D-Day.

He brings joy to me.

batman

Respect.

"Aha Mr Aubergine ... that's where you're wrong!"

jaycad

that's a very sad story,how many peoples lives must have stopped at the same point in time-be it in death or will to live.
as a kid,i used to ask my grandad about the war,hoping to be entertained with tales of bravery etc only to be met with a wall of silence and a change of subject by my nan,my grandad,like many others,never collected the service medals he won which told me,at a later age, all i needed to know about his feelings on the war.

'QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT'

darrenburnfan

Yes, same here. When I was a youngster, I asked him: "How many Germans did you kill in the war, daddy?" and the reply came: "As many as I had to. It was either me or them." He certainly wasn't one to talk much about his wartime experiences.

Marky B

Thank you for that.
Mark

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

Mark O

Remembering our Heroes........

Mark

dpgmel

Yes, remembering them with prode.

theuofc

Marky,

Thank you for posting this tribute to the heroes who lost their lives and all the hundreds of thousands who were injured and traumatised at D-Day. And this doesn't even take into account the toll on civilians. I never realised the devastation and impact of D-Day until I really started reading about it.

Also thanks to all for sharing their relatives' accounts of that historical day.

Barbara

TimR

Thanks for running this thread. So many died and so many others were wounded. Thanks and gratitude to all of them.

My Dad was part of the landing. He died in 1985 when I was very young. He talked often about other aspects of the war, but never mentioned the events of that day.

Steve Crook

People should also consider how close it was. It nearly didn't succeed.
Just think about what would have happened if they had failed

Steve

Maurice

I also missed Prince Charles's speech, despite watching the broadcast - so wonder if he made one.

If there could only be one speech on behalf of the UK, it should have been by someone "above politics" - rather than a party political figure like the PM.

On two occasions during his visit to Normandy, the PM was loudly jeered - an occupational hazard for a politician.

Surely Prince Charles (in the absence of the Queen) would have been a more suitable person to make a speech than the PM ? HM attended on the 60th anniversary.

The original plan, for which the French and British governments must share blame, was not to invite a member of the Royal Family. The Prince attended at short notice.

While the French President wanted to share the limelight with President Obama, the British PM seemed very slow to appreciate the importance of the event.