The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Legion Hall Salute to those that gave all.

Although I did not serve in the Military, I am grateful to those that gave all so we can live the freedom we do now.
And to those who have served and are still active.

I Salute all of you!!

Ditto. Good to see the flagpole up and Old Glory flying in the breeze.

Thanks Don (on behalf of my friends and brothers who made that sacrifice). It doesn't matter whether you served or not. All that matters is that you remember what this weekend is for and honor those who made it possible for us who are here now to enjoy and engage in all the revelries and frivolities a warm-weather 3-day weekend affords in a free (for now ...) country. And I *know* that you do.

Unlike our Vice President ...

So raise a glass and ... to lost friends.

100%

While we're remembering, let's also think of the people whose service-connected injuries, both physical and emotional, took years, or even decades to finally make them casualties of their service to the nation. The consequences of some kinds of trauma are obvious- - - - -a lot of it isn't.
Jerry

Will do ... on Nov 11th

MCL honor guard firing detail.

https://www.facebook.com/1348757372/videos/10218880989199614/

I visited a friend of my yesterday at the Veterans Cemetery in Buford S.C., very peacefully spot.

.....remembering my 3 brothers that are no longer here.
Including myself, all 4 of us were USAF. I'm the only one left. We were all very close, worked together, played together. Man, how I miss them.

D-Day tomorrow. Mostly citizen soldiers. Sacrifice without reward.

As well, Midway (4-7 June 1942)

A few years ago at an auction, I bought a wall of books about WW-2. Most were real detailed script written from our guys who were there.
A lot of folks think D-Day was the most costly battle as for lives lost and and the biggest invasion attack.
There were more that were even more costly and involved more troops. Like Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge and taking the Pacific Islands from Japan.

Battles that a lot have not heard of. The Flying Tigers based in China and fighting the air war against the Japanese.
The air and ground battles on the US Aleutian Islands.

Not all these were won by the Allies.
Don

Don, I too bought a group of books (I guess everything is going digital now) from a library. I paid for 13 Pearl Harbor books and got 21 books about D-Day. A knot headed boy sent the wrong box. By mutual agreement I paid shipping to get the Pearl Harbor books. I finally finished reading them all last week. Now when I watch a new movie or read a paper, I just shake my head. What bothers me, being a cynical old guy, is that history today is rewritten text in a manner to catch the interest of today's generation.

The books I have cover the whole spectrum of the war. From the grunts on the ground, sea or air. To an overview of an operation as seen from the higher ups. My wife’s brother in law who was in some serious battles in Afghanistan, is in the book “The Chosen Few”.
A retired coworker wrote the book “From Mokane To Molehill”. He was in Vietnam.
As for the movies, most are just a movie made to get folks attention. There are a few movies that do show the events pretty accurate.

Don

I was deployed to Kenya just after the Embassy bombing in Nairobi. A group of us were invited to the Marine Embassy Guard compound for a cookout and a movie. the Movie was "Saving Private Ryan". The Marine Commander had to pull some strings to arrange for the movie to be shown as it had just been released state side. Seeing the movie for the first time in that setting, projected on the side of a building with the our Marine counterparts made a lasting impression on me. I have seen the movie a few times since but it just doesn't come close to being the same. I have read the book and as Don has said the movie was made for effect, I still think the invasion segment was fairly intense.

Craig

D-Day was more about logistics, good luck and a lot of help from the big guy upstairs. If I remember correctly it took 2.5 years for manufacturing (USA and UK) to ramp up the building of the equipment needed. During this time training of volunteers and draftees to become soldiers was carried out. All these men/women and the equipment were transported then crammed into areas in the UK. Allied forces training continued. Before deployment, the civilian population, near the encampments were locked-in and restricted from travel, telephone and mail (communications black-out). Roads, rivers and sea were only for military travel. The big bottleneck was crossing the channel, in secret with the largest armada, then desperately trying to get onto and off the beaches, so that others can come in. Once on land, the flow of men, material, equipment, fuel and food had to continue until Europe was back in the hands of the Allies. The potential was there for a massive disaster but it didn't happen.

Here is a good example. From dark to dark, of June 6th, the number of planes in the air, if averaged, would have been one plane taking off from England every 5 seconds all day/night long. This included return for reloading and refueling then off again. People didn't need to be told that the evasion of Normandy was happening. They could hear and see it.