6 June 1944, D-Day- Operation Overlord

 Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day.  Please remember the sacrifices of those brave men who fought and died to liberate Europe and the world from the horrors of Hitler and the Nazis (who were left wing socialists, btw).  Pray for their memories and their sacrifice and if you know one, thank him.  Below is the annual D-Day posting from one of my favorite blogs for you to read and remember these brave men.  WHN and Dad always watch "The Longest Day", and she weeps during the St Mere Eglise scenes and the scenes of the beach landings.  

NAZI- German, short for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei, National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Every year, V for Victory!commemorates the anniversary of the Longest Day: D-Day, the Normandy invasion.  It is necessary to keep alive the memory of the men who sacrificed so much to fight evil, especially now that evil threatens to engulf us once again, this time from within.  

Herewith a digest of classic D-Day posts:

FDR's radio address to the nation on June 6, 1944

Eisenhower's D-Day address to the Allied Expeditionary Force

President Reagan on the 40th anniversary of D-Day

The Great Signal: Verlaine's "Chanson de l'Automne"

President Sarkozy thanks America for liberating France in 1944

Our Lady of the Paratroopers  

Thursday, June 06, 2013

June 6, 1944: The Longest Day

"Believe me, Lang, the first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive...the fate of Germany depends on the outcome...for the Allies, as well as Germany, it will be the longest day."

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to his aide, Capt. Hellmuth Lang, April 22, 1944

From Part One, Chapter 13 of The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan (available, by the way, on Kindle):

Now Eisenhower stood watching as the planes trundled down the runways and lifted slowly into the air.  One by one they followed each other into the darkness.  Above the field, they circled as they assembled into formation.  Eisenhower, his hands deep in his pockets, gazed up into the night sky.  As the huge formation of planes roared one last time over the field and headed toward France, NBC's Red Mueller looked at the Supreme Commander.  Eisenhower's eyes were filled with tears.

Minutes later, in the Channel, the men of the invasion fleet heard the roar of the planes.  It grew louder by the second, and then wave after wave passed overhead.  The formation took a long time to pass.  Then the thunder of their engines began to fade.  On the bridge of the U.S.S.Herndon, Lieutenant Bartow Farr, the watch officers and NEA's war correspondent, Tom Wolf, gazed up into the darkness.  Nobody could say a word.  And then as the last formation flew over, an amber light blinked down through the clouds on the fleet below.  Slowly it flashed out in Morse code three dots and a dash: V for Victory.

Now you know where the title of this blog comes from.

Some classic D-Day posts:

FDR's D-Day address to the nation

Ike's D-Day Address to the Allied Expeditionary Force

President Reagan commemorates the 40th anniversary of D-Day

The Great Signal: Verlaine's D-Day Poem

And from Life magazine: color photos, before and after D-Day

The Normandy Beach landings- D-Day)...

Adrienne's Corner: Normandy Landings - June 6th, 1944 (D-Day)...: remember.

More D-Day photos in remembrance of today- these come from another of WHN's favorite sites.

Commemorating the grit of priests and D Day with manly photos

Commemorating the grit of priests and D Day with manly photos

 Commemorating the grit of priests and D Day with manly photos

June 6, 2012 By The Crescat 1 Comment and 11 Reactions

… I contend there is no other religion more manly and burlyand punk rock than Catholicism. I know Google forgot, but today is D Day. Eh, they’re a bunch of commies anyway. To honor the occasion and the grit that makes up Catholic priests I offer you these images to consider.

Fr. Francis L. Sampson blesses the dead

Fr. Sampson of Sioux Falls, S.D., gives absolution to American paratroopers killed in action, in Saint Marie Dumont, France, U.S. Army Photo, 7 June 1944 (Note that bodies are wrapped in parachutes)

Read the bio of Fr. Sampson here.

Photographed by Frank Scherschel - Priest administering Last Rites and the Eucharist to a soldier in France

photographed by Frank Scherschel- A priest says mass in the dappled sunlight of France

Source – Before and After D Day – Rare Color Photos. See all 26.
I love our priests.