“Gentlemen, we are being killed here on the beaches; let’s move inland and be killed there.”-unnamed Colonel with the First Infantry Division

Into the Jaws of Death

68 years ago today over 100,000 Allied troops crossed the English channel and landed on French soil. This invasion was officially known as “Operation Overlord” we know it as D Day.

Many of the men were trained here in Georgia. One of them was Richard Winters who lead a group of 13 men in overtaking a Nazi gun emplacement known as the Brecourt Manor Assault. The “on the fly” thinking and tactics that Winters used to take out those guns became adopted by the US Army and are still being taught to soldiers today.

According to the D Day museum over 4000 men died that day.

The men who survived those beaches are shrinking in numbers everyday. I have had the honor of meeting a few of them. Today they are older and more fragile. Some walk with the aid of canes or need wheelchairs. But make no mistake, these men, even in their old age are warriors in the truest sense of the word. If you ever have the pleasure of meeting one of them please thank them.

Posted

June 6, 2012

Military, War

Gunner

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to ““Gentlemen, we are being killed here on the beaches; let’s move inland and be killed there.”-unnamed Colonel with the First Infantry Division”

JMPrince

June 7, 2012

Thanks Gunner, lest we forget. Not only the fighting & dying, but the building, innovation, engineering & design that went into the entirety of the war mobilization effort. Witness that Higgins boat, a NOLA/Southern original:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCVP

http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/courses/ww2/projects/fighting-vehicles/higgins-boat.htm

“Andrew Higgins … is the man who won the war for us. … If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different”. Att. too: Gen. Eisenhower

JMP
Juliana

June 6, 2012

Thank you for this post, I hate that this day is being forgotten a little more each year.

My father in law was part of a team that ran the cutting edge technology of “radar”. His group arrived 2 days after the landing. He can barely tell this story without tearing up. Two days on, the bodies were still in the surf and on the beach.

Here we chant USA, USA, USA over wars and petty political victories, in Europe on Nov 11th at 11:00 am the entire nations stand still in remembrance and everyone knows why.

I wish people here would remember that triple USA chant is a hockey cheer, not a dignified way to remember sacrifice.

“Gentlemen, we are being killed here on the beaches; let’s move inland and be killed there.”-unnamed Colonel with the First Infantry Division

Comments

2 responses to ““Gentlemen, we are being killed here on the beaches; let’s move inland and be killed there.”-unnamed Colonel with the First Infantry Division”

Leave a Reply