953 nut 55,319 #1 Posted June 6, 2021 The combined forces of the allied nations turned the tide of WWll at Normandy France. Many gave their lives so we can all live free today. 7 20 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maxwell-8 4,277 #2 Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) We went to some of the beaches this past summer. Strange to see people enjoying the sun, knowing how much lives were sacrificed there. Edited June 6, 2021 by Maxwell-8 4 1 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handy Don 12,236 #3 Posted June 6, 2021 4 hours ago, 953 nut said: The combined forces of the allied nations turned the tide of WWll at Normandy France. Many gave their lives so we can all live free today. For many years Normandy was on my bucket list and I finally got to visit in the fall of 2019. Plenty of writers more eloquent than me have described it, but I went home deeply moved. Next year my wife and I will be bringing 75 or so high school students there for a short visit--I can only hope that they feel some of the impact it had on me. One observation to share: as we drove through the many small villages that comprise the area around Normandy, we were impressed that nearly every public building was flying three flags: the Tricolour, the EU banner, and the Stars and Stripes. 3 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maxwell-8 4,277 #4 Posted June 6, 2021 Maybe a bit of a story-time: Those big concrete blocks you see in the ocean and on the beach is what is left of the biggest floating port. Gold beach was one of the 2 beaches they made a floating port. They figured to move land inwards they needed a lot of supplies. The big boats couldn't get close to the land and tranforing it over to smaller ships would be time consuming and inefficient. They made the port by shipping huge concrete fundation made in the UK float all the way to Normandy. There they would let water and rocks in making the concrete sink. Between the foundation the put 12 miles of metal bridges down. It was a fundamental port for the upcoming months and as much as 40 000 000 lbs of materials passed trough here every day. Until November of 1944. Internet pics: 1 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handy Don 12,236 #5 Posted June 6, 2021 15 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said: Maybe a bit of a story-time: Those big concrete blocks you see in the ocean and on the beach is what is left of the biggest floating port. Gold beach was one of the 2 beaches they made a floating port. They figured to move land inwards they needed a lot of supplies. The big boats couldn't get close to the land and tranforing it over to smaller ships would be time consuming and inefficient. They made the port by shipping huge concrete fundation made in the UK float all the way to Normandy. There they would let water and rocks in making the concrete sink. Between the foundation the put 12 miles of metal bridges down. It was a fundamental port for the upcoming months and as much as 40 000 000 lbs of materials passed trough here every day. Until November of 1944. Internet pics: The sheer scale of the effort is so difficult to fully grasp. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elcamino/wheelhorse 9,326 #6 Posted June 6, 2021 @Maxwell-8 Thank you so much for the pictures . Very little written about this day in the Sunday paper here. It is a shame that people do not honor the past history of the military as they use to. 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rusty Tinsnips 477 #7 Posted June 6, 2021 GOD bless all our fighters 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haydendavid380 759 #8 Posted June 7, 2021 Grandpa was off Omaha on LST-509 2 2 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
