D-Day 2009
[Guest post by DRJ]
“This embattled shore, portal of freedom, is forever hallowed by the ideals, the valor and the sacrifice.”
President Barack Obama commemorated today the 65th anniversary of D-Day at Omaha Beach, France, where he paid tribute to valiant Soldiers, Sailors and Marines:
“Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget—what we must not forget—is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century,” he said.
“At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary.”
— DRJ
Unfortunately for us, we now have a group that believes they are extraordinary, but are in fact, quite pedestrian.
JD (4fcc05) — 6/6/2009 @ 11:48 amSpare me, Obama.
If you had been there, you would have been howling that fighting Germany was a “war of choice”, and moaning about how unfair it was that we were holding German POWs without giving them recourse to habeas corpus.
Dave Surls (36130b) — 6/6/2009 @ 11:54 amObama Man has attitudes
Insufficiently Sensitive (a939d1) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:15 pmfine-tuned for spewing platitudes, which
relate only by micro-fraction
to his concealed intents for action.
Day is done!
Gone the sun,
From the lakes,
From the hills,
From the sky!
All is well,
Safely rest!
God is nigh!
They were heroes – All!
GM Roper (85dcd7) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:19 pmA fine and rarely seen tribute to D-Day was produced on film by CBS News in 1964 on the 20th anniversary of the invasion. Walter Cronkite and Dwight Eisenhower discussed the events of June 6, 1944, on site riding in a jeep along Omaha Beach.
EYEONPOWER (9d1bb3) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:38 pmPetty lame speech given by Obama. He damn sure isn’t the Gipper.
Good thing he wasn’t campaigning back then. He would be saying how our troops were killing innocents by firebombing them at night.
retire05 (5e7535) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:39 pmHi. Love, Mom
Mom (17c768) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:43 pmI didn’t see or read the entire speech but I’m pleased Obama paid tribute to these brave men.
DRJ (180b67) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:45 pmWhat a petty bunch you all seem, insulting a man for daring to bestow honor on a group of honorable individuals. By all means, disagree with Obama’s politics… but there really isn’t anything here with which to disagree. Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, the vast majority of people in this country, conservative or liberal, have a great deal of respect for our soldiers and their sacrifices.
Leviticus (20b7ac) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:49 pmObviously, that’s not directed at GM Roper, Mom, or DRJ.
Leviticus (20b7ac) — 6/6/2009 @ 12:50 pmI agree with Leviticus that the Obama did bestow honor upon honorable individuals but to say it’s daring is a no-go. Whether left or right, there is nothing daring bestowing honor where it is so clearly deserved. Let’s not take away from the truly heroic.
Dana (aedf1d) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:02 pmWhat was intriguing from Obama’s statement was this,
“Diplomacy has to involve the other side engaging in a serious way in trying to solve problems,” he said. “We are going to take a very hard look at how we move forward on these issues, and I don’t think that there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilizing the region and we just react in the same ways.”
Is he suggesting that he has a different plan for their obstinacy, and what would that be? Is he going to be the one who dares to do what others before him have avoided?
Dana (aedf1d) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:07 pmThank you to all the WWII veterans who litterally saved the world. We owe you all an enormous debt.
Joe (17aeff) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:10 pmI agree, Dana. Both Obama and Defense Secretary Gates have repeatedly mentioned military options or refused to rule them out.
DRJ (180b67) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:11 pmI appreciate Obama’s words – but what really counts IMO are actions. He seems to believe wholly in the Leftist cant that “American Exceptionalism” is nothing but a myth, that our greatness as a country was purely by happenstance, and that our time has come and gone. I’m sick of his apologizing on bended knee for things we have nothing to apologize for in the first place – the irony of his lauding of the epitome of the alleged “myth” is sad beyond belief.
Dmac (f7884d) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:17 pm“What a petty bunch you all seem, insulting a man for daring to bestow honor…”
You can’t bestow what you don’t possess.
Dave Surls (36130b) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:53 pmHis words at Normandy do not displace the disgrace of his inaction and delay in condemning the shooting of the two Army soldiers in Little Rock.
AD - RtR/OS! (85c5e4) — 6/6/2009 @ 1:54 pmI fear that we will long note, and remember darkly, the election of this person.
Dave Surls: I doubt that anyone cares whether or not you’ve spoke from on high as to the “honor” of a man you know nothing about.
Leviticus (20b7ac) — 6/6/2009 @ 2:24 pmObama – or any other president – cannot “bestow” honor anymore than he can absolve sins. “Honor” is the way a person lives their life – frequently refered to popularly when a person, under extremely stress conditions, acts “honorably”. I like the comment or definition given by someone called a hero : ” I was at the wrong place, at the wrong time with the right people….”
It is not petty to note that a nit-picky thin skinned twerp is not the person I would chose to “bestow” honor on anyone. Shall the Oba-maniacs now invoke “Shrub”? Or did they think we were not listening to their seven years of derogatory comments about military sacrifice? What a bunch of Maroons.
Californio (6657ce) — 6/6/2009 @ 2:28 pmFor a D-Day speech made by someone I can truly respect, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Leb7ynduCU
65 years ago, my father was in the First Infantry Division, Third Wave, Omaha Beach, Easy Red Sector. Dad was fortunate: even though wounded by shrapnel from the infamous German “88”, he got back to England, where he recuperated and finished the war as a Physical Education Instructor.
As an aside, it’s interesting to note here that Dad was scheduled to be transported through the Panama Canal to Okinawa for Operation OLYMPIC-CORONET when the war ended. That operation was the invasion of the Japanese Homeland, which almost certainly would have resulted in (at least) multiple hundreds of thousands of American casualties, and millions of Japanese deaths.
So don’t let any of today’s historical revisionists tell you anything else: the weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki made a difference. Had they not been developed and employed, I (and many others just now reaching retirement age) probably would not be here.
Dad passed away in 2000, but not before he lived a full, wonderful life. Unfortunately, many of his colleagues were not so fortunate, as they lost their lives in the cause of freedom 65 years ago.
God Bless all of our vets.
And God Bless America!
chuck
dhmosquito (772170) — 6/6/2009 @ 2:36 pmThank you for sharing your father’s story, Chuck, and God bless him.
DRJ (180b67) — 6/6/2009 @ 2:53 pm“What a bunch of Maroons.”
1 capitalized : a fugitive black slave of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries ; also : a descendant of such a slave
Wha?
poon (093c46) — 6/6/2009 @ 2:54 pmIt’s from a Bugs Bunny comic, poon. It’s also in the Urban Dictionary.
DRJ (180b67) — 6/6/2009 @ 2:58 pmAs many as 6,000 Americans died in the invasion of Normandy. In a few minutes, for a few steps. Many were blown up by mines and artillery, out of existence, and may not even be in the numbers. To their credit, “the numbers” concede that they are uncertain.
nk (c788b4) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:05 pmThe breakdown of US casualties was 1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured. Of the total US figure, 2499 casualties were from the US airborne troops (238 of them being deaths). The casualties at Utah Beach were relatively light: 197, including 60 missing. However, the US 1st and 29th Divisions together suffered around 2000 casualties at Omaha Beach.
http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm#casualities
poon (093c46) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:08 pmKnock it off, poon. I know my history. To the extent that it is known. They are still finding bodies at Normandy.
nk (c788b4) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:17 pmFrom an American Forces Press Service article:
DRJ (180b67) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:27 pm“What a bunch of Maroons.”
1 capitalized : a fugitive black slave of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries ; also : a descendant of such a slave
Wha?
Comment by poon — 6/6/2009 @ 2:54 pm
Poon. This link’s for you. Safe for anywhere.
nk (c788b4) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:34 pmDRJ:
1465 dead
poon (093c46) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:35 pm3184 wounded
1928 missing
26 captured
—————
6603 casualties
Assume that you’re right about the numbers, poon, what’s your point? That not enough Americans died? There should have been more?
nk (c788b4) — 6/6/2009 @ 3:47 pmNo, nk.
My point was simply that the number you provided was wrong.
poon (093c46) — 6/6/2009 @ 4:15 pmNo, nk.
My point was simply that the number you provided was wrong.
Comment by poon — 6/6/2009 @ 4:15 pm
Thank you for making me so important in your life. Could I possibly still be important enough, further, to persuade you that the numbers of D-Day dead are still unnumbered?
the nk who is following Andrew Sullivan's precedent (c788b4) — 6/6/2009 @ 4:27 pmThat’s amusing poon, since your attempt at calling Californio a racist showed your own cluelessness.
Long past time you grew up.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/6/2009 @ 8:05 pmI am pleased that Obama visited Europe and spoke at Omaha Beach. The American cemetery there is a graphic example of the consequences of FDR’s decision and the sacrifices Americans made there 65 years ago. A free, peaceful and prosperous Europe display the rewards of those sacrifices.
My father, a 1Lt in the 1st Infantry Division, landed on that beach, was wounded in the break out, wounded again south of Aachen and killed April 5th, 1945 as his unit approached the Rhine. He was just one of over 400,000 Americans killed in WWII.
I hope Obama can look at those white headstones and understand that each represents an American life lost on one day 65 years ago doing something directed by their Commander in Chief. Being President of the United States is a job like no other on Earth.
arch (085c10) — 6/7/2009 @ 12:56 am“I was never a hero, but I was lucky enough to serve with some.”
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 6/7/2009 @ 1:10 am“Dave Surls: I doubt that anyone cares whether or not you’ve spoke from on high as to the “honor” of a man you know nothing about.”
As another poster noted, one man can’t bestow honor on another man. But, if it could be done, it sure wouldn’t be a person like Obama doing the bestowing.
Obama’s deliberate attempts to sabotage the war effort, as a way to score political points, and secure public office, isn’t exactly what I would call honorable.
All people like him have done is help our enemies, and themselves, and under the circumstances, it’s highly inappropriate to have him paying tribute to American service people.
If somebody is going to speak at Normandy…he ain’t the right guy to be doing it.
Dave Surls (7edf89) — 6/7/2009 @ 11:03 am