Today! June 6th.. D-Day Anniversary

Poststructural Pub
1

I was going to post this on Sunday, June 6th, the 60th, anniversary of D Day but decided that it is such an emotional event for one whole generation, to post it now.

The excerpt below is dedicated to all who participated in this world changing event on June 6th, 1944, either in the arm conflict or at home.

Henry V; Act 4 Scene III
William Shakespeare

Henry addressing his lords and men on the morning of the Battle of Agincourt.

“…No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”


Henry V with Kenneth Branagh was the last movie that my father and I watched together and when Henry made the above speech in the movie, I thought it fitting for my father, who a prisoner of war after the Dieppe Raid (August 19, 1942), that I would read that passage at his funeral (my father was terminally ill, dying of cancer), which I did.

Subsequently I have read that passage for my two uncles at their funerals who participated in D-Day, Juno Beach, the Canadian beachhead. I was asked by veterans who knew my father and uncles to read it at a special Thanksgiving ceremony on Sunday.

And today I think that it is also fitting to have read here.

Lest we forget.

MarkB

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Mark: Thanks for sharing the Shakespearean wordsmithery, the emotion, and the personal events.

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Wonderful words, Mark. This is where Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers, found the title of his book - a history of a company of men who participated in D-Day and were together throughout WWII. I honor all those who fought in that war, including my father (in the Pacific) and my uncle (at the Battle of the Bulge).

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Thanks Susan, but through living with these veterans and working in the library, the veterans very seldom read the books about World War II, let alone will willingly talk about it. Their memories are their memories.

MarkB

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In the case of Band of Brothers, Mark, there’s an exception then. Stephen Ambrose became very close to those men and spent hours and days with many of them, getting extremely detailed accounts of their actions. Band of Brothers was the basis of the Emmy Award-winning miniseries by the same name, and Richard Winters, Capt. of E Company, was a technical advisor for the series. There is also a documentary about the real E Company and the surviving men were interviewed extensively for that documentary. They were more than happy to share their incredible story.

For the past week, the Salt Lake Tribune has carried stories every day of veterans of D-Day and each one has had a sentence mentioning that the veteran hasn’t talked much about his experiences throughout his life, but is pleased that people are interested and is more than willing now to speak about his experiences.

My father, a veteran of the war in the Pacific, never talked about the war when we were growing up, but about 7-8 years ago my daughter and I sat one evening and asked questions about his experiences. He talked freely and seemed very glad to talk about what he’d been through. As soon as we finished talking I went to my room and wrote down what he’d told us, then typed it up and mailed it out to my brothers and their families so they’d have some of that history too.

In my experience, many of the veterans are glad to talk about the war if asked, but only if sincere interest is expressed.

Susan

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One thing that doesn’t get mentioned but should, especially in the light of current events, is that 19,000 French civilians were killed during the pre-landing bombardment. The bombing had to be done or the landing wouldn’t have been successful, and the invasion had to happen to defeat Hitler’s armies, but today we forget that there has always been “collateral damage” in war.

My hat is off to our soldiers who braved the storm of lead and shrapnel on June 6, 1944 to do what had to be done.

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Don’t get me wrong - I have enormous respect and gratitude for the men of the US, England and Canada who stormed those five beaches and led the charge into Western Europe.

OTOH, I find it a little unpleasant that D-Day gets so much year-round press, while little or nothing is said of the men who endured ofen horrendous casualties learning the lessons of amphibious assault that were later successfully employed at Normandy.

So on this Sixtieth anniversary of the Normandy invasion, I am taking an opportunity to also praise and thank the ones whose sacrifices played a large and generally forgotten part in “Ike”'s success: the Canadians at Dieppe, the American Army at Salerno and Anzio and the South of France, and most of all the Marines and Army on a hundred bloody little Pacific islands.

8

I read somewhere the bombardments in the towns of Normandy has been determined that the delay to the Germans by the destruction of those towns was around an hour, so in the equivalent “lessons learned” then, it was indeed deemed a military mistake and unnecessary.

My hat is off to all who participitated in either theater (My eldest brother served in the Pacific Theatre. I never got much info about it from him as he just wouldn’t talk about it.

It’s sad that there can only be true peace through a thorough defeat of the enemy. The only time we had a peaceful defeat was the cold war with the USSR under Reagan (RIP).

Sadly the public and press allways report the doom and gloom versions. Check some of the media in the aftermath of WWII and you see the same comments about our current war. “We have lost the peace”, etc.

I served in the late '60s / early '70s and from what I saw of this world, our country is worth fighting for and is not the bad guy of the world. IMHO, freedom, as much of it as you can get or afford is worth any price.

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Check out this NPR broacast about the “Mad Piper” who piped back and forth on the beach that day for Lord Lovat and his Scottish troops, in direct defiance of orders to not allow piping during the assault.

Be sure to listen to the audio of the piper himself, now 81, telling his story.
(and you’ll hear a good “chune” too!)

http://www.3wmail.com/attach/download/msg-1086570450-21440-0/feature.url

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Good post, Cowtime. Thanks for posting it.

During DDay, my dad was on Bougainville preparing for the invasion of the Philippiines. He doesn’t talk much about it, but I remember finding a copy of the Division History in the attic while I was in high school and reading it twice.

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I’m so glad my Dad was just the right age to not have to do this and I’m glad for myself that I have never been put in this dreadful position.
These men are due our respect and gratitude.
Many survivors of D-day have been interviewed on the TV and almost to a man they said after describing the horrors they suffered that what a waste they thought War was.

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

Fuck W*r

12

On the wall here at work I have a photo of my Dad’s Royal Navy ship
pounding the beejesus out of Sword Beach with it’s 15 inch guns as
British and Canadian commando’s stormed ashore on D-Day.
A lot of brave young men died in sight of his gun turret - Allied and
German - not to forget the thousands of French civilians who perished in
the bombardment also.
The 6th of June 1944 was truly a momentous day for many people.

Colin