Thanks again Tom. You are really making D-Day come to life for me again. The losses were heavy, and some unnecessary due to bad intelligence, but finally we were nearing the end and everyone was excited - of course, we didn't foresee the Battle of the Bulge yet to come. And the hand to hand fighting for every inch of the French countryside. Thank you again for making this era come alive again.
Thank you, Tom, for painting the picture in close feeling and detail. My mother would approve.I believe it was day three when she waded ashore from a stranded landing craft, big bag of medical supplies ballanced on her head. This twenty-three year old Iowa farm girl who had never seen the ocean before, saw a long flat beach, covered with human bodies, as her group fanned out to triage. The ones who could be saved were flagged, while those who could not, she held there hands until they went limp after she told them they were loved and would never be forgotten, as she pressed that long needle with morphine into them. She was with a front line field evac, all the way to the Elb River, waving to the Red Army soldiers on the other side. She never talked about the beach, that day.
After thirty some years as a trauma nurse, strong would not be close in describing my Mom. She and many others like her, kept our guys alive to fight again. Lest we forget.
My Mum was also a nurse, of a like age, though halfway around the world, in the Solomon Islands. She, too, spoke very little about what she saw and I'm sure she saw a lot that she would rather have forgotten.
Riveting writing. I was in Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day - one of the most important trips of my life. My daughter is the Herndon HS (VA) band director, and after 2 years of planning and with incredible community support, the band (and the Director's family included in the chaperone group) travelled to Normandy to remember and honor the crew of the "Lucky Herndon" DD638. https://luckyherndon.org/brief-history/ So my historical focus has been seaward. I now know more of the incredible air effort. Thanks, Tom.
That was a lifetime experience for her, as well as you. Sad that so so many kids have no clue about the sacrifices that so many made to protect our freedom and way of life.
Every HHS student wore 2 shoulder tags with the name and picture of "their" sailors from the USS Herndon who landed on D-Day. A band parent had located the families of almost every one of them. Students wrote to their sailors' families on our flight back to the US. Students also met with vets before and during the trip. Brings me to tears even five years later.
I went to Normandy with my sisters September of the DDay 60th anniversay year. To stand looking down on Omaha Beach then visiting the American cemetery was the most moving day of my life. The emotions experienced were & are beyond words. Every American should visit there… how can we fail to defend democracy today???
Fascinating....both men and machine! Those planes were work horses!!
This gives such depth to the pics of all the elderly Veterans in France remembering D-Day....have to remember constantly that most of them were only kids when this happened.
Thanks Tom for this vivid picture of what was going on in the sky that longest day, too often forgotten about amid the noise and clamor (and death) going on, on the ground. Having traveled that section of Normandy several times it never ceases to bring tears of sorrow, and yet pride, to see what was achieved that day. There are many ghosts. Stand in the middle of the 9,500 Carrera marble markers at the American Cemetery and marvel at the scale of it all. Mostly, the scale of death. Young men who would never go home again. If you can keep dry eyes when the carillon plays anthems from all the Allied countries involved in D-Day, then you have no heart.
Actually, water injection keeps the cylinder head termperature down, allowing the engine to develop more power, for a limited time. It was 10 minutes max for a Thunderbolt.
The Germans miscalculated. They had some troops at Normandy, but the majority of their battalions were at Chablis and to the west. Normandy was 35 miles east. The Americans and Canadians were sending false messages and the British were jamming the radar.
Thanks for giving us these brave souls' names and their personal accounts of their experiences along with the detailed account of their combat aviation. And the personnel's sleep deficit had to be factored into the planning, I'm sure.
Thanks for this, Tom - a fine report on the US fighter effort to support the D-Day invasion. It could have been a close thing, as Ike well knew, but in the end it was one of the most successful battles of the war. My only question is the last photo - it appears to be a late summer shot as the invasion stripes topside have been removed,. leaving only the stripes on the undersides. Perhaps August 1944?
That would be any time after June 25. The fighter bombers did it as soon as possible, to make them less obvious from above and therefore vulnerable to attack.
Someone should pin this to JD Vance’s forehead, with a big pin
Vance is such an embarrassment to everything the Marines stand for.
Thanks again Tom. You are really making D-Day come to life for me again. The losses were heavy, and some unnecessary due to bad intelligence, but finally we were nearing the end and everyone was excited - of course, we didn't foresee the Battle of the Bulge yet to come. And the hand to hand fighting for every inch of the French countryside. Thank you again for making this era come alive again.
Thank you, Tom, for painting the picture in close feeling and detail. My mother would approve.I believe it was day three when she waded ashore from a stranded landing craft, big bag of medical supplies ballanced on her head. This twenty-three year old Iowa farm girl who had never seen the ocean before, saw a long flat beach, covered with human bodies, as her group fanned out to triage. The ones who could be saved were flagged, while those who could not, she held there hands until they went limp after she told them they were loved and would never be forgotten, as she pressed that long needle with morphine into them. She was with a front line field evac, all the way to the Elb River, waving to the Red Army soldiers on the other side. She never talked about the beach, that day.
After thirty some years as a trauma nurse, strong would not be close in describing my Mom. She and many others like her, kept our guys alive to fight again. Lest we forget.
My Mum was also a nurse, of a like age, though halfway around the world, in the Solomon Islands. She, too, spoke very little about what she saw and I'm sure she saw a lot that she would rather have forgotten.
Riveting writing. I was in Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day - one of the most important trips of my life. My daughter is the Herndon HS (VA) band director, and after 2 years of planning and with incredible community support, the band (and the Director's family included in the chaperone group) travelled to Normandy to remember and honor the crew of the "Lucky Herndon" DD638. https://luckyherndon.org/brief-history/ So my historical focus has been seaward. I now know more of the incredible air effort. Thanks, Tom.
That was a lifetime experience for her, as well as you. Sad that so so many kids have no clue about the sacrifices that so many made to protect our freedom and way of life.
Every HHS student wore 2 shoulder tags with the name and picture of "their" sailors from the USS Herndon who landed on D-Day. A band parent had located the families of almost every one of them. Students wrote to their sailors' families on our flight back to the US. Students also met with vets before and during the trip. Brings me to tears even five years later.
I went to Normandy with my sisters September of the DDay 60th anniversay year. To stand looking down on Omaha Beach then visiting the American cemetery was the most moving day of my life. The emotions experienced were & are beyond words. Every American should visit there… how can we fail to defend democracy today???
Fascinating....both men and machine! Those planes were work horses!!
This gives such depth to the pics of all the elderly Veterans in France remembering D-Day....have to remember constantly that most of them were only kids when this happened.
Outstanding as always Tom. I appreciate your dedication to keeping these details alive.
Thanks Tom for this vivid picture of what was going on in the sky that longest day, too often forgotten about amid the noise and clamor (and death) going on, on the ground. Having traveled that section of Normandy several times it never ceases to bring tears of sorrow, and yet pride, to see what was achieved that day. There are many ghosts. Stand in the middle of the 9,500 Carrera marble markers at the American Cemetery and marvel at the scale of it all. Mostly, the scale of death. Young men who would never go home again. If you can keep dry eyes when the carillon plays anthems from all the Allied countries involved in D-Day, then you have no heart.
Thank you for the history lesson.
Thank you again Tom! This was fascinating reading!
another great "you-are-there" piece, which is what you do pretty spectacularly...
What is "water injection"? I have never heard the term before and can't imagine how injecting water into anything would enhance performance.
Actually, water injection keeps the cylinder head termperature down, allowing the engine to develop more power, for a limited time. It was 10 minutes max for a Thunderbolt.
With that extraordinary volume of air traffic and the near misses, I have to wonder if there was any radar in any of those planes at that time.
Not many, and there was no system of overall air control, as there is today.
lol, I posted before I saw your comment!
The Germans miscalculated. They had some troops at Normandy, but the majority of their battalions were at Chablis and to the west. Normandy was 35 miles east. The Americans and Canadians were sending false messages and the British were jamming the radar.
I wish everyone were reading these. Maybe it would wake up some of the jagoffs out there!
Thanks for giving us these brave souls' names and their personal accounts of their experiences along with the detailed account of their combat aviation. And the personnel's sleep deficit had to be factored into the planning, I'm sure.
Wonderful writing again. Could you explain water injection?
Just did, one up.
Thanks for this, Tom - a fine report on the US fighter effort to support the D-Day invasion. It could have been a close thing, as Ike well knew, but in the end it was one of the most successful battles of the war. My only question is the last photo - it appears to be a late summer shot as the invasion stripes topside have been removed,. leaving only the stripes on the undersides. Perhaps August 1944?
That would be any time after June 25. The fighter bombers did it as soon as possible, to make them less obvious from above and therefore vulnerable to attack.
Got it - thanks muchly.....