6 June D-day and the Normandy landings

My father was active during WWII. He married my Mum on June 6th a few years later. It was a day he'd never forget.

So glad they finally built the memorial, my dad was there maintaining anti-aircraft guns on a large landing craft that ferried Canadian boys to the beaches.
He luckily came home and never really talked about it.
At last, a memorial to what was in many cases School boys far away from their own homes.

I've just read on a WW2 forum that my Dad's ship was bombed the following day with many lives lost. he never told us.
So many of us personally affected,

O.M.Goodness Welshwife , we visited Oradour sur Glan about 10 years ago and it's impossible to describe the appalling atrocity that occurred at that place without being reduced to tears. Impossible to comprehend the cruelty meeted out to those poor people on that dreadful day. Everything left as it had been as a memorial, bicycle, dolls pram, shoes, a car ,and bullet holes in the church wall and blackened beams and pews where the fire took. Just awful, once seen never forgotten.

Thanks from me too MawBe - I had missed the fact that it's June 6 today.
I was 10 at the time but don't think I was aware of how crucial it was, but I expect my family did. UK was really vulnerable and it all depended on our brave forces, . And the Americans who came when we stood alone.
France etc were already flattened .
My Dad was in one of the RN off shore communication vessels - only found out recently.

The pic on my OP is the Commando Memorial
This is one of the family at what the DDs always referred to as “Grandpa’s” Street - (he has a Rue, a Place and an Avenue named after him)

The French have services around their memorials in the smallest of villages here on May 8th as well as June and November.
This morning we went to collect a take away from a local restaurant and saw a man we have seen several times at the same spot. He started talking about the landings and how many soldiers and countries were involved. They have forgotten nothing.
Not far from Calais there is a town called St Omer and nearby is where Hitler built his bunkers to fire the V2 rockets over London. Luckily he was not too successful as British reconnaissance showed something was going on and although not sure exactly what the RAF sent bombers in and kept destroying everything. That part of the coast received really awful treatment because they were the closest part of France to Britain and the fear was that they were sending messages etc,
The place is now a museum and very interesting but we could not stay for the end of the films as it was so upsetting.
And of course if you are near Limoges,- Oradour sur Glan is a real eye opener at what man can do to man.

Oh thank you Callistemon. I do know of the memorial garden and have meant to visit but somehow never made it! My father was aircrew in Bomber Command and lies with his companions in a private cemetery in Oosterhout,Nr Breda NL. My stepfather was in the RAF regiment stationed at Singapore when it fell to the Japanese. He was lucky to survive when so many didn't. I do have Runnymede in my sights.

Jabberwok if you had connections to anyone in the Royal Air Force, there is a memorial garden near Englefield Green at Runnymede which is beautifully kept and also has the names of those who have no grave, including my FIL.

My late H's uncle is buried in France.
He was killed, at the age of 21, on a troopship which was torpedoed in Genoa in the First World War. His body was brought to France with over 200 others and my late pa-in-law applied to the Home Office in 1953 where his body was then moved and buried in a separate grave in a cemetery in France.

His name is on a roll of honour at our local Town Hall. He was in the Medical Corps.

A lovely, thoughtful post. We should never forget the sacrifices made by so many, both servicemen and women and civilians.

Beautifully put Mawbe.
Forever grateful for the bravery and sacrifices made by all who took part.

We have been told so many personal stories of occupation and liberation by elderly neighbours since we moved here. It is a real privilege to hear them at first hand.
One town near us has a population of Polish descent because of a historic mining community. It was liberated by Polish soldiers and the residents went out and took flowers to them as they arrived.

Not related to D-Day as such but related to the War Graves.

DH and other members of the British Legion take care of some War Graves near where they stay. The men resting there are all pilots from the 2nd World War, there are Poles, Canadians, and other nationalities. Every year they have a poppy ceremony there and they invite children from the local primary school to lay a poppy for each man and to read out his name and country of origin.

Last year the descendants of one of the men came to visit was was very touched by the ongoing remembrance of their ancestor. Long may it last.

Mamie, people in Europe seem much more aware and thoughtful on these anniversaries than we do here in the UK. I think it could have something to do with the fact that we were never invaded and so perhaps feel less strongly than those countries that were. The Dutch are quite amazing the way they look after and revere the graves of those fallen and buried in local cemeteries as well as the designated war graves. I do wonder if we here would still be so thoughtful and respectful if it were the other way round?!

We will go to the new memorial at Ver-sur-Mer next week.

Just reading about a 16 year old from the Durham Light Infantry who was the youngest soldier to die in WW2, buried in a lovely small cemetery, east of Bayeux.
We have recently moved house, still in Normandy, but now in a village where there was a fierce battle in August '44. Houses in the village had Canadian, French, Polish and British flags out today.
So much love and care goes into the remembrance here.

Proud to say that my maternal uncle was with the 2nd battalion Ox and Bucks LI at the D.Day landings aged 24. He survived thank goodness as we had already lost one close family member, and another later died of wounds while in North Africa.

Thank you MawB

The years go by but we must not forget their bravery and their sacrifices which enable us to enjoy the freedoms we have today.

Well said MawBe.

MawBe

In the early hours of a very different day 77 years ago something very special began. We cannot put ourselves in the heads of those young men, some little more than boys, but we owe them an infinite debt. I don’t think we can even imagine what sort of world we would have been living in today -if at all- without their bravery and sacrifice. They did indeed “put it to the touch, to win - or lose it all”
He either fears his fate too much, or his deserts are small
^Who dare not put it to the touch to win - or lose it all^

So beautifully said, thank you.

I'm proud to say my Dad was there at 18 years old in charge of a Beaufors gun on HMS Roberts. RIP brave Dad.

We certainly do owe them so much.
If those that died were here today they would certainly have a few choice words for the lazy youngsters of today.
My gs was telling his dm about the war that he was being taught in school,he burst into tears because children were waving goodbye to their fathers and they didn`t come back home to their families.
So pleased they still educate children about the wars.

We had our first family get together yesterday for over a year, and we were discussing covid and comparing it to other events in history.

All agreed including the teens that it pales into insignificance if you compare it to what the young men of my GS age faced as well as on the home front and the fear and deprivation of the two world wars.

Yes. I hope the younger generations appreciate it too.
'For your tomorrow we gave our today'.