D-Day. June 6th, 1944. The day that America came calling on France.

On June 6th, 1944, 13,100 paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions dropped into Occupied France, departing their C-47 aircraft from roughly 700 feet above the French countryside.

These troops were quickly followed by 4,000 more troops in gliders.

It was the beginning of the invasion of "Fortress Europe", and it's success spelled the end for Hitler's Third Reich.
To these men, Europe owes it's liberty today. The world owes them it's gratitude.

800 C-47 aircraft were required to lift them all over there and land them where they needed to be. 800 aircraft trying to fly in marginal weather, with no radios or radar, and often without even a trained navigator aboard. It's a miracle that so many of them made it. Not all did.

And just recently, researchers discovered the C-47 that led all the rest over the English Channel that morning. C-47 s/n#42-92847, with the message "That's all, Brother" painted on it's nose as a message for Hitler, was the lead plane that morning, carrying a belly full of 101st Airborne troops.

She returned to England and picked up an 82nd Airborne glider and towed that back across next. Remaining in service, That's all, Brother also flew support for Operation Market Garden, the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and the crossing of the Rhine River. Here was a plane that saw the invasion of France and the march on Berlin start to finish.

After the war, 42-928427 disappeared in the surplus sale market. No one knew what it had done or where it had been, and it passed through 16 civilian owners before it finally wound up in an airplane scrap yard in Wisconsin. There, a company was planning to strip the airframe and convert it to a turboprop cargo hauler for use overseas, and the aircraft was just weeks away from this fate when it was tracked down by researchers and it's conversion was halted. Now, the Commemorative Air Force is trying to buy this piece of history to restore it to it's original D-Day configuration and fly it around the country so that people today can experience a little bit of what it was like on that morning in 1944.

They've got a kickstarter campaign going now to raise the money needed to purchase this aircraft from the salvage yard. I'm throwing a few bucks their way. If you've got a dollar or two to spare, I'd be hard pressed to recommend a better use for it.


Save That's All, Brother.

And bless the men who flew her and the boys who flew on her enroute to saving Europe and defeating the Nazis.

67 Years ago today...

America saved Europe from the Nazis.



You're welcome.
Je vous en prie.

66 Years ago today...

American fighting men saved the world.

It was the largest invasion force the world had ever seen...or would ever see again.










1,465 of those Americans would die before that day was over. Thousands more would die before the job was done and Europe was free of the war they'd gone over there to end. But they did it. WE did it.
To Europe, on behalf of America, I say "You're welcome".

And to those on the continent who today profess disdain or hatred towards our nation...you losers can kiss our collective ass. If not for America, you'd likely be cursing us in German today.

It was sixty-five years ago today...

Sixty five years ago today, American troops stormed ashore on the beaches of Normandy, France, the first step in our ultimately successful effort to save Europe from the tyranny of Nazi Germany. 2,499 US soldiers paid a price that day, including 1,465 who were killed. But we did what we had to do, and we ended the war and set Europe free.

And much of Europe has resented and hated us ever since.

Pathetically, our media is pretty much ignoring the day (just like they did last year), unless they're using the occasion to tout Obama.
"Oh look...Obama's visiting some place called 'Normandy'...Let's get some pictures of Obama and write about Obama some more...Gee, we love him..."

Screw Obama. This is not his day. This day belongs to the veterans, and the survivors. This is a day where we're supposed to reflect on American sacrifice and the American fight for liberty and justice for all.

And that's all I have to say about that. Other Americans said it better, sixty five years ago.

June 6th, 2008...A day that pretty much passed without fanfare

I can remember when June 6th meant something to America, and I can remember a time when our media outlets rushed to outdo each other to see who could deliver the most patriotic and moving memorial broadcast dedicated to those who gave their lives on this day in 1944 on a series of beaches around Normandy France.

On that day in 1944, the Germans occupying France awoke to see more than 5,000 ships--the largest invasion fleet ever assembled--floating offshore. 12,000 Allied planes flew missions an that day as 155,000 American, British and Canadian troops swarmed ashore, some under incredibly fierce fire.

When the first day was over, more than 1,500 American soldiers, airmen and sailors were dead, as were a number of allied troops. But they held on in the face of overwhelming odds, and they finally established the beachhead that opened the door to the eventual liberation of Europe.

Many of our soldiers still lie in cemeteries in that area. A lot of brothers, sons and husbands never came home. For a while, France was grateful, but that's long since changed. Still, America remembers.

Or at least we used to. I saw nothing in today's papers or the major internet news sites about what this day is supposed to commemorate. Nothing on the TV news. It was just another day. It's like it never even happened. But this is new, because it wasn't long ago when this day's anniversary WAS news, and we all took a few moments to remember those who never came home, reflect on what they did, and show appreciation to our vets and soldiers today.

Did something change recently? Doesn't it matter any more? It was the same back on December 7th, when it seemed that no one mentioned Pearl Harbor. I thought it odd then, because I remember a day when every paper had it on the front pages, and all the news shows spared a few minutes of recognition, but it passed without mention. Just like June 6th did today.

Well screw the rest of you. I won't forget. It's too important and too central to the American experience and our nation's identity. in 1944 and 1945, America saved the world. We saved it from the Nazis and the Japs, and for the next half-century, we protected the free world from the Soviet menace. And as long as we were carrying the water and paying the costs, both in money and blood, the world loved us.

But now the job's done and much of the ungrateful world resents us, apparently having forgotten the fact that most of them would be speaking German, Japanese or Russian today but for us. Even worse, many so-called "Americans" no longer love or support this country. Either angry because they're side lost the last two elections, or afraid and unwilling to give back to this country by sacrificing anything to support our war effort and today's heroes overseas, they bitch and backstab and make me want to deport them by the thousands, perhaps in trade for some of those people from other lands who still remain grateful to us for freeing them from post-WW2 Communist oppression.

On a day like today, I want to remember and thank those who went to fight for the fate of the world in Europe and the Pacific, and especially those who never returned.
And I want to leave this link to a great speech by one of our greatest President, Ronald Reagan, a man who did as much to free the world in the 1980s as FDR did in the 1940s.

From President Reagan's speech at Pointe du Hoc, Normandy France, June 6, 1984:

Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.''

Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value [valor], and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

Thank you very much, and God bless you all.