June 6 The Longest Day

This day becomes more meaningful with each passing year. Imagine if
D Day failed. It's hard to look at the veterans still able to travel to
Normandy and not weep for their heroism and their loss of comrades in
arms.

 

DDay only contrasts the miserable performance of the US military since then. Only 3 battlefield wins in 70 years over Iraq (twice) and Grenada. Best equipped Army. Ever. poor political, civilian and military leadership at the General officer level and above.

Can't hold ground and can't defeat an enemy. 10 years in Afghanistan compared to less than 4 years to defeat Germany and Japan. The will to win must match the will to fight.

 

Talk about comparing apples with hand grenades.

 

It is interesting how D-Day has come to be the symbolic holiday for US participation in World War II rather than V-E or V-J Day. There's no corresponding occasion for the Pacific Theater at all.

 

The war was lost for Germany at Stalingrad.

D-Day was the knife in the heart of an enemy that already had a bullet through its skull.

 

Chuck Todd has been interviewing a paratrooper about his experiences.

The guy can tell a story. I think, out of deference to his age and experience, Todd just let him go uninterrupted.

Killing German's; taking prisoners; getting captured; in the hospital; escapes with the help of a doctor; meets up with Patton, who gives him a Purple Heart, and some Johnny Walker Black; gets back to England, then jumps back into Holland.

Hell of a tale, and a big personality.

 

The war was really lost for Germany the day Hitler declared war on the U.S. The balance of forces became terminally in the Allies' favor when our resources, human and material, came into play.

 

Heard those guys. Some amazing stories. Glad Chuck let them go on
and not break for commercial.

 

Some interesting decision points that turned out to be correct starting
with decision to make our entry point in North Africa.

 

My uncle fought at D-Day with the British Army, he was in the war for the duration. I only found out at his funeral that he had been at Normandy, he would never talk about the war. My old man said he asked him all sorts of questions about it over the years and he would never discuss it. My old man served in the British Army and spent some time Korea and he said before he shipped out they took them to Normandy as well as Arnhem as a bit of a history lesson.

Canada has changed its military direction since Korea, focusing on peacekeeping, but it had a major role in D-Day and there has been much media coverage, not only of the ceremony, but of Canada's preparation for the operation.

 

It's also the anniversary of Midway, which tends to get overlooked a bit.

I think the reasoning is more that the Japanese weren't as much of a threat to the democratic nations as the Nazis and the Russians. Japan was a regional power.

 

Japan was playing in the Mid America Conference at that point