D-Day Anniversary 1944-2004

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by uncle janko, Jun 5, 2004.

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  1. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    To those who participated in the liberation of Europe from fascism and national socialism: abiding thanks!

    While our "allies" in the East fought merely to remove one genocidal tyranny from the territory of another, you fought to extend the sphere of freedom.

    We are in your debt.

    To those whose fathers, grandfathers, by now even great-grandfathers were among that number (and, yes, there were women, too), know that you are descended from heroes.

    To the living liberators: honor imperishable!

    To the dead: memory eternal!
     
  2. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    I second that.

    I also pray that the terrorists are not able to use this commemoration of heroes to advance their villainy.
    Jeff
     
  3. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Well stated, gentlemen!

    The participants are indeed worthy of remembrance and respect Magna Cum Laude.
     
  4. telefax

    telefax Member

    I highly recommend visiting the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. It is very moving, and some D-Day vets still live in town and visit the site to teach visitors.

    I thank WWII vets every time I meet one. My great-uncle was an infantry officer in the first wave at Utah beach, but doesn't view what he and his generation did as particularly heroic, just necessary. Subsequent generations definitely suffer by comparison.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 6, 2004
  5. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Sixty years later, the WWII Veterans are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

    Every American should be required to watch at least the first half-hour of Saving Private Ryan.
     
  6. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    Unfortunately, I don't believe this is true. Most Americans have no clue what we were really fighting against.
     
  7. vical

    vical New Member

    My father was a WWII Army combat vet. He fought in France, Belgium, and Germany. He arrived after D-Day but fought in the Battle of the Bulge. His two best buddies in his unit were killed on Christmas Eve 1944 by German tanks. Dad came very close to freezing to death during the battle. Up until his death in 1993 he would still get tears in his eyes on Christmas Eve thinking about his lost buddies.

    Yet once when as a dumb kid I asked him if he ever killed any Germans his reply was " I hope not."

    Like many vets he did not like to talk about the war.

    Thanks so much for your kind words uncle janko. They are appreciated.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 6, 2004
  8. Rich Hartel

    Rich Hartel New Member

    To all WWII Veterans,

    Thank you and God's blessings for the sacrifices that you all made for us and for this country.

    Your service and heroism is not and never will be forgotten!!

    Rich Hartel
     
  9. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    Re: Re: D-Day Anniversary 1944-2004

    My father's reply was "no" but he spent months in an infantry regiment , so I wonder.

    The answer suited me just fine.
     
  10. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Your allies fought for their country, Uncle. Fallen and surviving soldiers of The Victory surely do not deserve such disrespect from the "ally" from the West. :(
     
  11. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    Re: Re: D-Day Anniversary 1944-2004

    That the Communists were bigger killers of citizens in the Soviet Union than the Nazi's, is there any doubt. I know some Ukrainians who would disagree. I don't know that the truth should be glossed over and I don't know that it is showing disrespect.

    The Soviet Union did bear the brunt of the Fighting in WWII and made victory possible.
     
  12. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: D-Day Anniversary 1944-2004

    I'm glad that at least Canadians get history right, more or less.

    Unk praised D-Day veterans while attacking their "allies". Their "allies" are, by analogy, soviet WWII veterans, like my late grandfather. I can assure you they didn't fight and die merely to "protect the tyranny". Very few of them were actually in NKVD you know.
     
  13. chris

    chris New Member

    Not surprising

    A study several years ago revealed that a sminority of soldiers actually fired their weapons in combat and an even smaller number were able to fire at someone. They fired at movement, shadws, etc. I would not be surprised if your grandfather didn't know for sure. He would have been part of a small minority if he did. The vast majority of casualties in modern combat are caused by indirect fire anyway.
     
  14. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    I referred to our "ally" not its soldiers. Our "ally" was a genocidal, maniacal tyranny. So was our common enemy. That the soldiers of both fought bravely, I do not doubt. I honor that bravery. That their countries' cause was evil, I do not doubt. I despise that murderous cause.

    Bravery, yes. But nobility? Stalin and Hitler stole that from their armies.

    Some of us remember the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
    Some of us remember Katyn 1939 and Warsaw 1944.
    Some of us remember Berlin 1953, Budapest 1956, Praha 1968.
    Some of us remember...some of us choose to forget.

    Some fought as the Persians did, as slaves of a despot, some as the Greeks did, as free men fighting for their own freedom. And some, the Americans, the Canadians, the Anzacs, the London Poles, who landed and died and triumphed on the beaches of Normandy, fought as free men fighting for the freedom of others.

    That, sir, is bravery and nobility.

    ----------

    If you had posted a thread to honor the dead of what you call the Great Patriotic War, say, on the anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad, I would have respected that and not quibbled. You turned a memorial into a debate. I have nothing else to say on this thread.
     
  15. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    In the WWII? No it wasn't.
    (Just noticed I made a mistake of equating WWII with what we call GPW. Apparently, Red Army's operations in Poland and Finland before July 1941 did serve an evil cause.)

    No he didn't. As notorious as Stalin was (and he was indeed), for the soldier who fought for his land, on his land, for the very survival of his nation, nobility is not the thing Stalin could stole. You seem to make the same mistake neo-Stalinist "russian patriots" do: equating the people with "The Great (Evil) Power".

    Irrelevant. I could recal Munich pact (that gave Chechoslovakia to Hitler), but it would be irrelevant, would it?

    Can't you feel for yourself that such sweeping generalisation on behalf of literally millions of fallen Soldiers of The Victory is offensive? "Slaves of the despot" indeed! Not to mention that those "slaves" made the D-Day possible for the Free World, by crushing Naci war mashine 2 years before.
    No sir, you did. You chose to degrade one soldiers to commemorate other soldiers.
     

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