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Posted: 6/6/2017 12:56:38 PM EDT
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In remembrance of one of the greatest days of valor in world history, anyone want to share their retro-retro (WWII) pics?
And while we're at it, let's take a moment to thank the roughly 160,000 allied troops who stormed the beach 73 years ago...and especially the thousands who didn't survive the day. Sadly, the only photo I can grab right now with any WWII association is this one, with an Inland M1 carbine tucked in there. 
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Actually, I can do a whole lot better than that.
They were never mine, but I used to run tours and such at a local Military Vehicle museum. I talked a lot about WWII, and the vehicles involved. Here's our M16 Quad 50 Anti-Aircraft Halftrack at a local Airshow: 
And our M3 Scout Car at the San Jose Veteren's day Parade: 
But even better than that, another one of our volunteers was a man named Tom Sator. Tom was born in Hungary in 1923. By 1939, it was clear what was coming, and Tom's family was able to escape to the US. Tom, at 17 joined the Army, and ended up serving in a couple of different M4 Shermans. He was a driver and a loader, and was in the Battle of the Bulge. Tom is still alive, though I haven't talked to him in a while. He's the sweetest man I've known, and has a handshake that could crush cars. Tom was always willing to talk with guests about his experiences serving, but a few years back, on his 91st birthday, we were finally smart enough to turn a camera on him for a bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24WrOhheqTM&t=8s (For context, while the video is looking in the direction of the Panther, it's facing our M4A1 Sherman ("Black Magic"), which is behind and to the right of the camera, and is what Tom's gesturing to) |
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I've had the pleasure of speaking with 2 D-Day veterans on 2 different occasions. One was 29th and one was Big Red 1. Both went in on Omaha.
This was early 90's. Both men happily field stripped my M1 Garand like it was nothing although it had been 45 to 50 years since they had handled an M1. (Neither served in Korea) Both laughed and joked about life in Jolly Olde England and both had great stories about "chasing birds" as Big Red 1 put it. (Brits call the ladies birds) I never asked about what they went through. I made the mistake long before of asking an WWII vet that. He got mad (and upset) at me so I've never again asked a vet about what combat was like. I assume it is a right painful memory. 29th offered something along the lines of "it was rough" as his voice fell off and his eyes watered up. I quickly changed the subject to the "ping" controversy and he told me "You can't hear a God damned thing when everybody is blasting away!" and he laughed again. Big Red 1 didn't say anything about the landing but when he was telling a story he recalled someone he lost because as soon as he said the guys name, his good natured chuckles stopped and his voice trailed off just like 29th's and I again changed the subject to something else. Those two meetings were very powerful to me. I always remember what I heard a vet say on TV one time. I think he was NM era and I paraphrase him here. "The guys that were in the shit don't talk about it. The guys that talk about all the shit they did didn't do shit." Dayum onions. 
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