June 5, 20196 yr Popular Post My grandmother’s brother stormed the beaches as a 17 yo, 75 years ago. Enlisted as a 16 yo. He was injured on D Day + 6 and his war was over. He went on to live a wonderful life in San Antonio. Edited June 5, 20196 yr by tx 3 putt
June 5, 20196 yr Defining event of the greatest generation. Thanks to him for his service And if he went in a day early he must have really been a bad ass Edited June 5, 20196 yr by Dennis Taylor
June 5, 20196 yr Author He was pretty damn anxious June 5. He didn't expect to live through the beach landing. When his carrier / boat hit the beach, everyone around was quickly shot
June 5, 20196 yr What's the definitive book on D-Day? I'm pretty sure I've seen every film, but it would be nice to get a little more detail on the buildup and aftermath.
June 5, 20196 yr 2 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said: What's the definitive book on D-Day? I'm pretty sure I've seen every film, but it would be nice to get a little more detail on the buildup and aftermath. That's a rabbit hole that could take years to power through
June 5, 20196 yr 2 minutes ago, Trey3216 said: That's a rabbit hole that could take years to power through I have time. <fingers crossed>
June 5, 20196 yr Quote The Man Who Told America the Truth About D-Day https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/magazine/d-day-normandy-75th-ernie-pyle.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR2VuPRBzltzoKztWBtgP-HqdwFHHBuOnndthd7qK6GMLXQH448UHqaRaBQ
June 5, 20196 yr Also, there are a group of C-47s, including the one that lead the U.S. flights on the Normandy invasion, doing a fly over tomorrow complete with paratroopers. Should be interesting. I've been following about 15 of them as they flew from the U.S. over to the UK. You can follow here: https://www.facebook.com/daksovernormandy2019/. https://www.facebook.com/thatsallbrother/
June 5, 20196 yr 😭. My little fella that landed on Omaha Beach passed away 4 months ago. Great man. Glad I got to know him. He was 97.
June 5, 20196 yr My Grandfather, Alvis Hadley Jinks (born 1910 in Haskell, TX) landed with the 4th ID as a SSG. He received his battlefield commission two days later (which he resigned after VE day).
June 5, 20196 yr 16 minutes ago, Grippe said: My Grandfather, Alvis Hadley Jinks (born 1910 in Haskell, TX) landed with the 4th ID as a SSG. He received his battlefield commission two days later (which he resigned after VE day). Awesome! Thank you for that story.
June 5, 20196 yr 50 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said: Also, there are a group of C-47s, including the one that lead the U.S. flights on the Normandy invasion, doing a fly over tomorrow complete with paratroopers. Should be interesting. I've been following about 15 of them as they flew from the U.S. over to the UK. You can follow here: https://www.facebook.com/daksovernormandy2019/. https://www.facebook.com/thatsallbrother/ There used to be a group of vintage aircraft flyers who used to fly some of their collection from the county airport which is not too far from my home. The sounds of the engines on these WW II planes used to give me goose bumps when they would be flying around on a nice summer Saturday afternoon.
June 5, 20196 yr 31 minutes ago, Grippe said: My Grandfather, Alvis Hadley Jinks (born 1910 in Haskell, TX) landed with the 4th ID as a SSG. He received his battlefield commission two days later (which he resigned after VE day). Haskell, eh? I'll be some of my people know your people. There's all sorts of Fucks running around out there.
June 5, 20196 yr if you get a chance to watch any kind of version of the red arrow performance today, holy shit. it's incredible.
June 5, 20196 yr Some programming notes: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/heres-how-abc-nbc-and-cbs-are-covering-the-75th-anniversary-of-d-day/404465/ https://www.history.com/specials/d-day-the-untold-stories/full-special https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/world/gallery/d-day-75-commemorations-intl/index.html
June 5, 20196 yr The shit that I can never wrap my head around is thinking back to when I was 18-20 and how I would have handled the literal hell they were heading into. Watching their friends get killed right next to them and continue to just advance into almost certain death. Just unreal.
June 5, 20196 yr 20 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said: Haskell, eh? I'll be some of my people know your people. There's all sorts of Fucks running around out there. Most of the Jinks clan is SE of Dallas, around Ennis. We completely disown and disavow any of those fuckwad bastards who live north of the Red River and changed the i to an e. Damn Sooners.
June 5, 20196 yr 1 hour ago, Chad Fuck said: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/magazine/d-day-normandy-75th-ernie-pyle.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR2VuPRBzltzoKztWBtgP-HqdwFHHBuOnndthd7qK6GMLXQH448UHqaRaBQ Ernie Pyle, a 43-year-old journalist from rural Indiana Man he looks old for 43.
June 5, 20196 yr 3 minutes ago, Uncle Nate said: Ernie Pyle, a 43-year-old journalist from rural Indiana Man he looks old for 43. Doesn't he? Of course, the article says he was hauling mainly whiskey to the invasion. Hard living.
June 5, 20196 yr Just now, Chad Fuck said: Doesn't he? Of course, the article says he was hauling mainly whiskey to the invasion. Hard living. I drink a lot of whiskey. A LOT. But at 46 I look about 1/2 his age in that pic.
June 5, 20196 yr Author 43 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said: The shit that I can never wrap my head around is thinking back to when I was 18-20 and how I would have handled the literal hell they were heading into. So much this. My relative was tall for his age (16yo) so the army never questioned his age. Storming the beaches as a 17yo with men dropping left and right of you. The same guys you’ve been training with for the past year is just unreal. The day before he was shot, star and stripes took a picture of him and some other guys. after he was almost cut in half by a german machine gun (d day + 6), he was sent to fort Sam for his stateside rehab. All the hospital staffed liked him, so they found him a job on base and he worked there for 50 years. Edited June 5, 20196 yr by tx 3 putt
June 5, 20196 yr 36 minutes ago, Uncle Nate said: I drink a lot of whiskey. A LOT. But at 46 I look about 1/2 his age in that pic. do you smoke 30 cigs a day?
June 5, 20196 yr Nobody dashed ashore. We staggered. With one hand I carried my gun, finger on the trigger; with the other I held onto the rope-rail down the ramp, and with the third hand I carried my bicycle. —Cpl. Peter Masters, 10 Commando, Sword Beach.
June 5, 20196 yr 11 minutes ago, hayden_horn said: do you smoke 30 cigs a day? Well, not anymore (how many were in a pack)?
June 5, 20196 yr Just now, hayden_horn said: 20. Ok, so for 10 years (1993 - 2003) I did anywhere from 15-30 ish per day. Quit cold turkey in July 2003. That was the hardest thing I've ever done, but so glad I did. Sorry to derail the D-day thread.
June 5, 20196 yr 3 minutes ago, Uncle Nate said: Ok, so for 10 years (1993 - 2003) I did anywhere from 15-30 ish per day. Quit cold turkey in July 2003. That was the hardest thing I've ever done, but so glad I did. Sorry to derail the D-day thread. i guess, i'm just saying, it wasn't just hard drinking. it was hard drinking, hard smoking, and hard eating. it just was a bit of a harder life.
June 5, 20196 yr My grandfather was part of 1st Infantry and had participated in Operation Husky and, supposedly, participated in D-Day. At least, that is what the family says. My grandfather wouldn't talk about it and directed that he be buried with his Purple Heart and other medals he had. He showed me them when I was around 5 and the Purple Heart was the only one that was distinct enough for me to remember. Every year around Memorial Day and D Day, all the research websites run specials on free searches. The only thing I can ever bring up is his draft card. Been trying to convince my dad to request his father's records from the National Archives, but haven't been able to get him to budge on it. I hope we never see all-out war on this planet again. Especially since I am almost beyond the age to be able to fight it and it would be my son that would have to do it, instead. Edited June 5, 20196 yr by Eastwood
June 5, 20196 yr 8 minutes ago, hayden_horn said: i guess, i'm just saying, it wasn't just hard drinking. it was hard drinking, hard smoking, and hard eating. it just was a bit of a harder life. No, I'm just kidding around. Those guys were raised on farms doing some seriously hard manual labor sun-up to sun-down, and probably started smoking much earlier than any of us did as well. And hell, as a war correspondent, he probably had a lot of stress long before D-day. The Great Depression may also have had an effect.
June 5, 20196 yr i guess, i'm just saying, it wasn't just hard drinking. it was hard drinking, hard smoking, and hard eating. it just was a bit of a harder life. And no sunscreen. I'm such a pussy compared to these men.
June 5, 20196 yr 2 hours ago, Chad Fuck said: Also, there are a group of C-47s, including the one that lead the U.S. flights on the Normandy invasion, doing a fly over tomorrow complete with paratroopers. Should be interesting. I've been following about 15 of them as they flew from the U.S. over to the UK. You can follow here: https://www.facebook.com/daksovernormandy2019/. https://www.facebook.com/thatsallbrother/ They will be dropping the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team during the remembrance...https://wwiiadt.org/ Edited June 5, 20196 yr by BillyGoatHill
June 5, 20196 yr I was at a CAF airshow back a few months. They had some guys assemble in full jump gear and then get on a C47 with their Dale Dye-looking CO. I thought, that's kind of cute, they're playing paratrooper. An hour or so later, the C47s fly by and drop a bunch of dudes in circular canoply chutes. I was a bit stunned that they actually jump.
June 5, 20196 yr http://www.fox4news.com/news/trumpet-used-on-d-day-returns-to-normandy-beach-for-75th-anniversary?fbclid=IwAR28dTVo8C0T_qG0-YCV2XXCfIefKPazlETnRGcGYrVDytt-Iypn5mBhcd4 Pretty incredible story of a trumpet used on Normany beach on the day of days finding its way back in the hands of UT's alumni band during their Normandy D-Day trip. Article in quote below. Quote The story starts with David Anderson, who has breathed life into lots of old, tattered and beaten instruments over the years. One trumpet he was given was a bit different. “There’s cracks in some of the pipes. And there’s things missing. And, of course, it was not straight,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of dents. A lot of work had to be done. It had to be just completely torn down, straightened and re-plated.” The trumpet belonged to a young U.S. Army Sgt. Richard Wank, who lept off a Higgins boat yards from Normandy Beach on D-Day while never letting the instrument leave his grip. “He was standing at the front of the boat and when the ramp dropped he jumped off and heard an explosion, turned around and everybody was dead,” said Jeff Wank, his grandson. “He makes it to the beach, gets shot along the way and laid on the beach for a while with that trumpet underneath him.” Two days later still alive and clutching the trumpet, Sgt. Wank was found by medics. “What they experienced was on a whole other level. It really was,” his grandson said. Sgt. Wank’s family never really knew about that day in 1944 until right before his death in 2007. “He would never say anything about it. He would never talk about it. The only thing he would ever say is, ‘It should have been me,’” his grandson said. But Jeff Wank felt there was a legacy to share – both the story and the trumpet. “What I was saying was, ‘You have to tell someone. You can't just keep this to yourself. This isn't just your history anymore,’” he said. It wasn’t easy. Just handing the trumpet over to Anderson to be restored was difficult. “He really didn't want to let it go. He told me as soon as he left... he sent a text that said, ‘I cannot believe I just let you leave with that instrument,’” Anderson said. It took seven weeks to restore, an experience Anderson will never forget. "Even though it's been restored, you can still see where he held his hands, just like on a firearm or something that's used a lot and held by someone a lot,” he said. "I was blown away. Just working on it was a real honor and mind-blowing experience.” One day while working on the horn, Anderson had an idea. He knew the University of Texas Alumni Band would be performing in Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The connection was made and the newly restored trumpet went to one of the best of the brass, Kenny Bierschenk. He chose to perform Taps. “As a musician, we often think of music as spanning the centuries. Taps being sounded at all these military events, it's the same now as it was back in World War II. It’s the same as it was in the Civil War,” said Bierschenk, a member of the UT Alumni Band. “To be able to play Taps on a bugle or on a trumpet that was actually used to do that very same thing 75 years ago when it was still a battle zone, that's really meaningful to me.” In fact, Jeff Wank believes that solemn song was the reason his grandfather brought the trumpet with him that fateful day. It’s likely the only song he played after being rescued from that beach. “And I think he played Taps for his friends,” he said. "That's why he brought it over there. I'm convinced of that. He knew there were a lot of people that would not return.” An estimated 10,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded on the beaches of Normandy. Sgt. Wank was awarded the Silver Star. His trumpet will be played at several events this week.
June 5, 20196 yr How many D-Day vets are still thought to be alive? I'm sure that a few of them will last to 100-105 so there is still approx a decade before they all leave us but I assume their number is dwindling fast.
June 5, 20196 yr The shit that I can never wrap my head around is thinking back to when I was 18-20 and how I would have handled the literal hell they were heading into. Watching their friends get killed right next to them and continue to just advance into almost certain death. Just unreal. Same. Unreal. Also keep thinking how in hell a ww2 United states military would stack up against a modern day United states military. Ww2 wasnt that long ago but when thinking about comparing the 2 militaries now... they would seem to be hundreds of years apart.
June 5, 20196 yr 1 minute ago, MNLonghornFUKM said: Same. Unreal. Also keep thinking how in hell a ww2 United states military would stack up against a modern day United states military. Ww2 wasnt that long ago but when thinking about comparing the 2 militaries now... they would seem to be hundreds of years apart. As much anyone would give the modern US military a ridiculously strong technical advantage, the WW2 military wasn't afraid of firebombing entire cities including using atomic weapons.
June 5, 20196 yr 2 hours ago, JimmyHoffa said: The shit that I can never wrap my head around is thinking back to when I was 18-20 and how I would have handled the literal hell they were heading into. Watching their friends get killed right next to them and continue to just advance into almost certain death. Just unreal. It will happen again. Remember--WWI was the "War to end all wars". It will happen again. And young men will summon courage that they didn't know they had.
June 5, 20196 yr 4 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: What's the definitive book on D-Day? I'm pretty sure I've seen every film, but it would be nice to get a little more detail on the buildup and aftermath. There are others, but Stephen Ambrose's D-Day (https://stephenambrosetours.com/d-day-june-6-1944-climactic-battle-wwii/) is a damn good start......his "Citizen Soldiers" starts off with the first chapter covering D-Day also. His book "Pegasus Bridge" covers the British 6th Airborne Division gliderborne infantry taking the small bridge in Ranville that spanned the Caen Canal. Ambrose had met (by chance) the officer ( Major John Howard) that lead the assault while on a D-Day tour in 1981. Major Howard led less than 100 troops to the objective and took the bridge with the loss of one man. The gliders were cut loose from their tow lines at just past midnight on June 5/6th and the three of them landed in the darkness less than 100 meters from the bridge at approximately 0016. The bridge was vital in keeping German reinforcements and especially Panzers from moving in and stopping the invasion before it ever got started. Lt. Danny Brotheridge was fatally shot in the throat as he was leading the lead elements across the bridge and he is arguably the first Allied casualty of D-Day. If my memory serves me right, "Pegasus Bridge" was Ambrose's first book about the invasion and led to the others above along with of course, Band Of Brothers. ALL are great reads if you know anything about Ambrose's works. On a side note, Major Howard (in 1962) was a consultant for Darryl Zanuck's movie "The Longest Day. Richard Todd (who actually participated in the assault on D-Day under Major Howard at Pegasus Bridge) portrays Major Howard in the film. As depicted in the film, they were relieved by Lord Lovat and his 1st Special Service Brigade the following morning after coming ashore from Sword Beach. True to his Scottish background, Lord Lovat defied overall British orders and had his piper play his bagpipes and announce their arrival as they were coming up upon the bridge. Cocky SOB.... Edited June 5, 20196 yr by BillyGoatHill
June 5, 20196 yr 1 hour ago, Uncle Nate said: No, I'm just kidding around. Those guys were raised on farms doing some seriously hard manual labor sun-up to sun-down, and probably started smoking much earlier than any of us did as well. And hell, as a war correspondent, he probably had a lot of stress long before D-day. The Great Depression may also have had an effect. yeah those guys had seen some shit. and were about to see a lot more.
June 5, 20196 yr My grandfather stormed the beach on D-Day. Would've never known about it except that it was listed on his discharge form as one of the campaigns he participated in. He also spent time in North Africa and in Poland, IIRC, where they liberated a concentration camp. He had written a letter to my hometown newspaper about what the concentration camp was like and my grandma had the newspaper clipping. He only mentioned WWII once. We were watching some war movie and he mentioned that they were coming out of a pub in England while the Germans were bombing and the dropping bombs sounded like lawnmower engines. Movies never got the sound right. Edited June 5, 20196 yr by CooterBrown
June 5, 20196 yr If you haven't seen it, I recommend "Ike- Countdown to D-Day" starring Magnum PI. He does a good job. It is all about the leadup. I really enjoyed it, but I love everything WWII.
June 5, 20196 yr I guess I should have waited a few days to start that other thread: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/05/30/feature/my-grandfathers-secret-d-day-journal/?utm_term=.445fbb49014d
June 5, 20196 yr 3 hours ago, JimmyHoffa said: Imagine what that boat ride was like on those landing craft (aside from the rough weather and seasickness). Knowing there was a decent chance you were about to meet your end. Makes me shudder.
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