This long but I'll post it in case anyone is interested. My dad was a B-17 pilot and flew two missions on D-Day. He woke up from an hour or so nap at 11 pm the night before, June 5, to eat breakfast and get ready to fly. They were briefed and then took off at about 2 am from Framlingham air field. The clouds and fog were so thick that he couldn't see when the plane in front of him took off. He waited to feel the prop wash from it and when it diminished it was his turn. Some planes of other groups collided in the clouds, but all of his mission took off safely. In the air he did fly close enough to other planes to feel the prop wash, but never saw them because of the poor visibility. Normally they would have circled over the air field to gather together in the air, but with the clouds so thick that was too dangerous. So they took off and headed straight for the target area. Over the English Channel the visibility improved so they formed up their group better. They had 13 planes in their mission, but only 7 met up. The others met up together and flew on their own. It took them about 4 hours to fly to the beaches of Normandy. The target that morning was a gun emplacement at the very north end of the beach landing areas. They had wanted to drop the bombs 10 minutes before the beach assault landing, but arrived just as the landing crafts were going ashore. To avoid hitting soldiers on the beach, they dropped slightly behind the target. Their target was the large German guns guarding the beach. They missed the gun itself, but severed its communication with the command tower, which meant the gun had no way of aiming accurately because the range finding scopes were on the top of the tower. In 1990 we visited the site and he stood in the middle of his target, which is still there as a memorial and museum. The command tower was still there because it was off the beach and Allied intelligence maps had incorrectly marked the location as being closer to the beach. After bombing they turned to the east, then south out of Normandy, and then swung around out over the Channel Islands on the way home. There were thousands of airplanes in the air that day, and so everyone was assigned lanes and flew only in one direction. The cloud ceiling coming back over England was about 200 ft. They flew low under the clouds but had to make sure they did not hit radio towers, which they almost did after entering British airspace. British coastal defense had been alerted so that the planes were not fired on. When he landed in the afternoon, he thought he was done for the day, but was informed that a column of German tanks was heading towards the beach and had been missed by another bomber mission who went to the wrong location. So he ate some lunch, reloaded the plane, and flew off about 4 pm. At least this time the skies had cleared up some and flying was much better. The cloud ceiling was about 5000 ft over the region east of the beach area and they were able to find the tank column. They dropped their bombs and later learned that the column was destroyed. They then flew the same loop as before back home, and returned to base about 11:30 pm. He had been up for 24 hours straight, spending most of the time flying, with only some lunch half way through. What amazes me the most -- he was 23 years old.
You might want to consider this museum near the beaches. It was long ago that we visited, but at that time it was incredible. The museum - Mémorial de Caen
If you are fortunate to still have that great man with you, God bless him. If he has passed may he rest in peace. We all owe him and his fellow soldiers, airmen, and Marines a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid.
Thanks. We are actually taking the train from Paris to Caen and picking up a rental car and staying in Bayeux. Will do Omaha one day and Utah the next. We will probably, if time allows, go to St Mer Eglise and Arromanche.
All war is impossible to imagine for those of us who have never been in one or close to one. But charging out of those landing craft, through the water up the beach toward embedded guns, as your fellow soldiers and your friends drop all around you ... the courage and the sacrifice of those men, some or many of them only kids ... It's hard to even think about without getting a little choked up.
Please consider making time if you can. Once you get there and begin to take in the landscape and what took place, you will want to see and experience as much as you can.
I had a chance to shoot a full-auto burst out of an MG-42. I think I squeezed off 20 rounds or so. I can't fathom advancing towards that sound. Allied WW2 vets are absolute heroes. Legends. Visiting historic battlefields in Europe is definitely on my bucket list. It will happen.
-snip- This thread is a rarity in too hot: something we can all agree on. Let's honor those who fought and died for our freedom and save the POLITICS for other threads. Thanks and have a nice day.
never mind. It's been taken care of - let's honor the day today folks - plenty of other threads to post in with other things....thanks! ~Bazza
Old one but a good one.... An elderly British gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane. At the French immigration desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag. "You have been to France before, Monsieur?" the Immigration officer asked, sarcastically. The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously. "Then you should know well enough to have your passport ready." The British gentleman says, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. The British always have to show their passports on arrival in France!" The elderly gentleman gave the French Immigration Officer a long hard look. Then he quietly explained: "Well, the last time I was here, I came ashore on Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944, and I couldn't find any fucking Frenchmen to show it to."
We went to Normandy in 2019. Very moving place. Went to Omaha and Utah Beaches as well as to Brecourt Manor (where Easy Company took out the four large German guns). Was the highlight of our trip to France.
