June 6, 2020
On this day in 1944, the Allies stormed the Normandy coast, beginning the push for Berlin and the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany. Under Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight David Eisenhower, the largest amphibious military operation in history, Operation Overlord, commonly known as D-Day, was launched.
Supported by a 1,200-plane airborne assault and an amphibious wave involving more than 5,000 vessels, nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on June 6. American troops came ashore at Utah and Omaha beaches.
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| This photograph Into the Jaws of Death was taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. Sargent from one of the D-Day landing crafts. |
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| Gold Beach is that strip of sand beyond Bonnie's right shoulder. |
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| I took this photograph from a position above Omaha Beach where the German guns would have been on that day 75 years ago. |
From D-Day to August 21, the Allies landed 2,052,299 men in northern France. 36,663 members of the land forces were killed, and the Allied air forces lost 16,714 airmen. Soldiers who died in the armored tank forces have been estimated at 4,000. The total number of the dead and wounded during the campaign is estimated by historians as between 225,606 and 226,386.
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| When I took this photograph, I thought of another war memorial cemetery and remembered a poem written about it: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row.” The poem is In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. |
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| Charles Schulz died February 12, 2000, but the syndicate which still publishes Peanuts runs this same piece every year on D-Day. |
“I don’t come to you with tidings of joy. If you aren’t alarmed by what’s happening to the country, you haven’t been paying attention. I don’t simply mean the sickening violence. I mean the campaign to excuse it and normalize it by the media establishment and the intellectual elite. [For example]
“It’s not rioting; it’s an “uprising.”
“Destruction of property is not violence.
“The burning down of police precincts is justified.
“Looting is a complex, difficult-to-understand phenomenon.
“Peaceful protest is overrated.”
All of those are statements from the media justifying and excusing rioting and burning and looting. With the loudest voices from the press giving permission to the anarchists these activities will continue – and they will not solve the problems which started the peaceful protests. They will give license to continue the destruction.
I’ll return the keyboard to Lowry: “None of them [the permission-giving media – my words], by the way, want their houses or buildings ransacked. None of them want to be attacked with two-by-fours. So, on top of being profoundly wrong, they are cowardly hypocrites.”
👉 For the two commenters on yesterday’s blog (the one standing behind the bicycle and his nephew, Matthew) I share the following photograph. As we step into the Way Back Machine, those of you who have visited 117 Shenandoah Avenue, will notice the Christmas tree standing where the TV later stood. The black shadow on the right of the photo was the pot bellied stove that heated the whole house.
👉 How many of you remember Citizens Band Radio, usually just CB Radio? 10-4 good buddy. Keep ‘er between the ditches and the bears outta your britches, come on.
We had a CB in our 1974 Pontiac Catalina, the “Grey Ghost” (all of our cars have nicknames, a pattern that started with my Mom, but that’s a story for another time). My handle was The Caboose – I was awarded that appellation on a trip from Pennsylvania to Texas because I was the last car in our caravan. Bonnie and I have been trying to remember her handle, and all that comes back is some kind of Mamma. Sorry. My brother was The Milkman, Mom was The Galloping Granny, and Dad was The Number One Mr. Fix-it.
We all started out on Channel 10, and then for reasons I never learned, the whole CB world switched to Channel 19. And it was there we would talk as we traveled, passing along road and weather conditions, and most importantly, Smokey Reports.
“Breaker 1-9. We’ve got a Bear southbound at Marker 121.”
Or “Breaker 1-9, there is a Kodiak with a Kodak on the side at Marker 95.”
And the reason I bring all of this up on June 6 is a song by C.W. McCall – “Convoy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0PzZjtNnlM
Next week we’ll play some more tunes from the Golden Oldies Jukebox.
👉 Remember the Alamo? We were talking about it only yesterday – John Wayne’s movie version that is. I found a clip that shows the movie edited to under 8 minutes, and it features part of the original sound track. Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aez1FfpoMlA&feature=youtu.be
Although all these Walt Disney Westerns were filmed in color, ABC broadcast them in black and white. This angered Walt, so in 1961 he moved to NBC with Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color and, in an agreement with the new network, made the decision to abandon all of the Western heroes to give the show a totally new look and feel.
👉 In an earlier blog I shared a blessing from Christ Beside Me, Christ Within Me by Beth Richardson (with thanks to Linda Birchall). I’m closing today’s ramblings with another piece from her. Enjoy. And be blessed.
“You Walk Beside Us”
We are lonely,
We are aching,
We are grieving;
You walk beside us.
We are hurting,
We are searching,
We are afraid;
You walk beside us.
We are hungry,
We are homeless,
We are destitute;
You walk beside us.
We are happy,
We are contented,
We are grateful;
You walk beside us.
On all paths,
Through all days,
For all souls,
You walk beside us.
-30-
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