My grandfather was at Utah Beach--he never talked too much about it, preferring to talk about getting a wink-and-nod to go AWOL with Yogi Berra on a trip to Rome (crazy as it sounds, they remained friends and occasionally visited), and never making a big deal about his service. A couple of months before he passed away in 2017, he suffered a stroke. On one of his better days in recovery, he felt well enough to talk. On the D-Day anniversary no less, he started talking about where he was and what he was doing. I set my phone on the table in his hospital room, set to record, and started looking things up as he talked so I could ask intelligent questions. What amazed me was that 73 years later, he could account for nearly every hour that week. He knew what they were doing, where the ship was, and so on, lining up perfectly with the ship's manifest. He obviously wasn't lost in battle, but is dearly missed.
Steve, I am retired US Army. I was stationed at SHAPE HQ in Mons Belgium for three and a half years, 1981 - 84. I lived about 5 km from the French/Belgian border in the small village of La Bouverie, and the Normandy Beaches were a 45 minute drive from my house. I visited the D - Day beaches fairly often, and it was always a sobering reminder, that freedom is not free. It's hard for us to imagine today, what a nightmare that invasive was. We lost a tremendous amount of men that day, who never got to grow old. They remain forever young, layed out in neat little rows, buried in foreign soil, never to return home. I was in my early 20's when I was over there, and it had a profound effect on the rest of my life. Seeing the beaches brought home the reality of the sacrifices, that so many made on June 6th, 1944. I feel honored to have served in the same armed forces as those men did, and honored to have been able to visit the grave sites, where so many still reside. Your video made me tear up a bit, it brought back memories of the solemn spiritual feelings I had while visiting those sacred cemeteries and beaches.
Thank you Steve. We lost uncle Ray on D-Day. Day 2. And uncle Ralph was in the 82nd Airborne. He jumped into St. Mare eglise early that morning. May we always remember all who sacrificed.
I"m 70 now, but when I was younger we lived in France for almost 4 years. (1960-1964) My father was in the Air Force and we lived in the center of France. I often traveled on my own through much of France and my first visit to Normandy was in 1962 (mid winter) and after I had seen the movie "The Longest Day". It certainly was the most emotional day of my life up to that point. I still get emotional just thinking about that day. Thanks for bringing back such a vivid memory for me. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm 70 now...and next year I plan to go back to France to show my wife some of the places where I spent some of my most formative years.....and Normandy will be at the top of the list.Thanks again!
My Father was on the 4th wave. He was a medic. The only picture we have is Uncle Rudy in front of a tank. Dad and all of the uncles came home. Once again it is always my pleasure to see your videos. Thanks. Fred.
Nice presentation...My Dad was a Glider Pilot in WWII and my daughter is an Air Force Veteran. On Memorial Day I always think of them and what they did when they were on active duty.
My father was there on a troop transport. He said the tin cans made the difference. They were incredibly brave as they slugged it out with the german guns. The tin cans stayed dangerously close until the german positions were knocked out. Good video. Good Luck, Rick
My Mom has 2 cousins buried near Omaha beach. There is a program where the French photographed their grave sites and sent them to her with other photos and info. It was a while ago but I remember it was very respectful. My dad enlisted and made it as far as the Azores, a Morse code guy.
Thanks for this, Steve. I've never been to France. My father survived WWII but never talked about this, ever. He was a medic and he was at Utah Beach, Battle of the Bulge, and the campaign through France. He and I made a stock for a Winchester .22 pump rifle he gave me when I was 21. We used his old scalpels from his medical kit to do some carving to make it fit. I still (at 63) have this rifle. Lot's of memories tied up in that. Thanks, again.
In 1974 , my USAFE squadron traveled from Germany to Normandy and particapated in the 30th anniversary of D-Day . General Omar Bradley was the top guy there . 2016 I was at Kerville VA hospital , recovering from a AK leg amputation . There was a man in his 90's , I came to know . He was a D-Day survivor .I have watched President Regan's famous Normandy speech several times . Saving Ryan , my wife could not watch the beginning of that movie , to real and graffic . I am not a cryer , but that ending cemetary scene does get me .
Thank you, Steve, for remembering the sacrifices made that day. My dad was a combat-decorated veteran of the Pacific Theatre, 1944-45, VPB-109, a patrol bombing squadron. He was one of the lucky ones; he came home, and always said "I'm no hero. The heroes of that damned war were those who never came home".
Very moving presentation. I became friends with a man many years ago who was one of the first people to arrive at Omaha beach. His job and the others in his unit was to prepare the area for the many landing troops and vehicles that were to shortly arrive. He was a good man.
Great story. I'm really glad you took that picture from the beach. The movies aren't able to show how far it was to the hill and how little cover you had. BTW the other beaches are Juno, Gold, Utah and Sword. I could see you were trying to remember. I've been all over the Pacific (while in the Navy) and did get to Iwo Jima. But I wasn't there till 1984. So not a lot of fighting going on. But I've always wanted to go to Europe if for no other reason than to see WW2 sites. And thanks to all of the men and women that served and paid the price for the rest of us. Thanks again Steve.
My father in law was there in the war and again a few years ago for a ceremony honoring his service.he passed shortly after returning a very peaceful man.r.i.p. Floyd Hailey and thank you for your service
As a former NAVY guy I love this stuff - when I was in NOLA I went to the wwiii museum - amazing place. They had wwii vets in the lobby signing autographs IIRC next to landing crafts on display. Also last summer I drove up to the ZIPPO factory in Bradford PA - they have a militaria section in their museum - one of the US troops who stormed Normandy was scribing his ZIPPO with the time and date when they pulling up to the beach at Normandy - as he charged the beach he apparently dropped the ZIPPO in the sand and another soldier picked it up. Since he also scribed his name or because the lighter had his name on it - the soldier who picked it up was able to get the lighter to the extended family many years later and the family of the soldier whose lighter belonged to donated it to the ZIPPO museum and its on display! It came full circle. I took a photo I will email it to you Steve. Great video as always. Here is the Walter Nadler lighter: history.goerie.com/2015/04/25/zippocase-museum-wwii-artifacts-heading-to-pittsburgh/
I think the challenge for the landing soldiers was even greater than it appears: I understand that due to erosion, the low water mark was several hundred yards farther out to sea on D-day than it is today. It is humbling to think of the courage of those men.
Thank you for sharing. I have been to Arlington Cemetery and Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific. I was truly humbled to be in the presence of so many who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom that so many take for granted. I have flown over Iwo Jima and Chi Chi Jima (where George Bush was shot down) which are tiny specks of land yet so many died because of the strategic importance. My mind is boggled when I try to imagine the horrors there. Again, thanks for sharing. Normandy is on my bucket list.
As a French, I do appreciate very much the great sacrifice of those soldiers on that beach, I'm glad you bring that up and I would like to honor their memory as well on memorial day. I've been there, and what stroke me was the way the whole area on top of the beaches is covered with holes caused by the bombs and shells sent to try to knock off german strongholds. Despite all these artillery, it ends up being a brutal and bloody fight on foot for the possession of the beaches at Omaha, that is very impressive.
It does have a historical meaning and I too visited there during the 50th anniversary when I was stationed in Germany in 1994. I stood in awe at the beach and often thought of the courage those men had to face such withering fire that day.
Steve, this is an example of why you're so popular... Your varied subject matter! Always interesting and thought provoking. Thank you for your hard work in presenting your eager audience with this type of subject matter.
Thank you very much Steve. Most of my family has been military in one branch or another, on both sides, since their immigration to the us. ( 1908 on one side and 1915 on the other ) So again, from all of us, Thank-You
Thank you, My Great Grandfather flew a Lancaster in support of the landings and was shot down a little layter, (he survived bud served out the war as a prisioner). Normandy along with Anzac Cove in Gallipoli are two places that would love to visit with my children one day. 👍🇦🇺
Agreed, excellent presentation. It is a "must" experience not to be missed. I would also suggest Pointe du Hoc, the cliff that the 2nd Ranger Battalion had to scale using their ladders(!) while the Germans above were firing down on them causing 70% casualties. Their bravery is beyond understanding and will move you to tears. Also, the German cemetery is usually overlooked but very different from the US cemetery and well worth the time. And, unlike some parts of France, the locals truly welcome those from the USA. They are still very grateful. In Sainte-Mere-Eglise, the church steeple has a white parachute hanging from it commemorating the well-known episode of the paratrooper who got hung up there for 2 hours till taken prisoner. As Steve and so many others say, it is a bucket-list trip. Allow 2 to 3 days to do it properly as it is spread out over 60+ miles.
My uncle who was in the army said the backpacks are about 80 lbs and the m1 garand was about 10 lbs. Plus add the weight of other men who were carrying wounded men to safety or dragging them and shooting back, reloading. It was truly a monumental task of day truly of heroes. Personally I couldn't have physically done it. I've read prior to the assault on the beach that allied forces bombed from the air and shelled from battle ships to try and soften up the defense but largely missed because they over shot and hit dummy boxes the Germans put in to mislead the allied forces. They didn't realize what happened until ground troops started landing. I also read that the airborne paratroopers were created for Dday and didn't exist till the plan to storm the beach. Before that no military had ever dropped troops from an airplane.
Just a note: I'm a 5'6" woman. In 1995, for grins and giggles, I took several college classes for Drafting, Design and Architecture. My bookbag/backpack weighed 85 lbs. My architect bag weighed 30 lbs. If I didn't get to the college early enough, I would have to park by the Colosseum and carry those uphill for almost a quarter mile, then climb two flights of steps to my first class. I arrived early most days. The point being, I was 36 at the time and while always being fairly athletic, I wasn't in the best of shape after riding a desk for 15 years. I didn't really notice the heaviness of either case, so imagine these young men, early 20's, in the prime of life and physical health, while all the gear and physical demands sound enormous to us now, I think they carried on without much complaint. The adrenaline was pumping too, and that was a huge factor. I am sure under those conditions you would have been able to carry on just as well. 🙂
As a Canadian I made sure I visited Juno beach (and the local Canadian cemetery) where the Canadian soldiers landed with my Daughter. We also have a Canadian War Memorial for the first World War at Vimy Ridge which we visited. They are definitely life changing events to see where so many made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Thank you for reminding us to remember.
I served in the Royal Canadian Armor Corps, when I was in my teens. I weighed my backpack one time and found it was 80 lbs, that did not include ammunition, rations or water that many of those boys would have been carrying. Those Items would probably add another 50 lbs to that. Running 150 yards while ducking enemy fire, in wet sand (which was not level like in your picture, thanks to mortar and shell holes) with another person on you) would not have been easy at all. Remember Them that gave their lives, so that we could live in the freedom we know today. Good video Steve.
Very Interesting, thank you. I looked at Hawaii from a similar perspective. Visiting the Arizona Memorial and the Punch Bowl (National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific). I also rented an airplane for a day to fly around most of the Hawaiian islands with the last leg of the trip flying down the same valley the Japanese forces did from the North Shore to Pearl Harbor. That 15 minute flight in a slower general aviation airplane gave me insight in to how little time US Forces would have had to react in the 5 minutes it would have taken for Japanese forces to fly the same route.
Thank you Steve. Brought tears to my eyes. I've read and heard many accounts of the various battles of the various wars. Your account added another layer to my understanding. I know it's impossible for anyone who wasn't there to really know. I remember my first trip to the Philadelphia art museum and walking up to a Manet I had recently seen in a book. I was stunned at the difference, absolutely in awe. Some things just can't be faked. I know this is a pale comparison to your wonderful account, but I hope both stories will help get it across how much can be gained by making the effort to go to these places.
Thank you for reminding us what Memorial Day really is. To remember all Heroic n braveness from ALL of our Military people. To you ALL I greatly Salute you n Thank You. A great man Named Steve is out there HONORING U N KEEPING U ALIVE.
Thank God the American and allied casualties were no where near what Eisenhower and Churchill were expecting. What bothers me is the number of young men who were deathly seasick, then had to land and fight. I know from personal experience how weak and fatigued seasickness can make you. It takes hours to recover from. You can feel better when the motion stops, but you can't regain your strength quickly. I can't fathom how those boys moved once on the beach and I've often wondered if they weren't the greater portion of the casualties. One of my uncle's was a medic on Utah Beach. He rarely spoke about it even to the men at his Veteran's Hall. We, the family, did not really know much about it until one of his closest friends, during his eulogy, told stories my uncle had told him. Even my aunt and their sons didn't know the whole of it and we were shocked at what he went through, and that he carried that burden to his grave and didn't put it on his family's shoulders. This was a truly great generation. I just wonder, if now, we could come together as a nation and fight and sacrifice for the greater good as they did? I pray we never have to again, but, then again, that kind of sacrifice and selflessness is good for the mind, body and spirit, and would make our nation strong again. If only war weren't required.
Very well said. You can also get the same understanding by visiting some of the Civil War battlefields (Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, etc) here in the states.
Been to the beaches in Normandy a bunch of times, there are many beaches with bunkers, lefrover docks, beach obstacles... And damn its a long long run in soft sand, beach of Normandy are huge. At low tide, you easily have over 100 yards to the dunes in most places.
I was 14 when I visited, and even as a teenager I realized what the magnitude of that experience was. When you see the Mona Lisa, it simply does not compared to the D-Day beaches.
Having served in a war a zone, arriving right on my19th BD (and experience on my 20th a plane full of people cheer as the craft got up and away). . . It has occurred to me in life that I can disagree, strongly sometimes, with things. But, I reserve the word "hate" for just this one sort of mankind activity - war and all its many forms of human conflict.
I went there 35 years ago near the 40th anniversary. As I watched this, the hair on my arms stood straight up and a tear came to my eye. Thank you Steve. I'm now going to dig out my 35mm slides.
Have read so much about D-Day and viewed a gazillion photos, but that one photo you shared from low tide to the cliffs, and your description was very sobering.
The cemetery does have ~ 9,000 graves of US soldiers but total allied deaths on D-Day during the invasion were about 4,400 (total Allied, includes US, British and Canadians, etc). The other graves are from US service members who died later during or after WWII (the most recent burial was in June, 2018).
Steve you 100% right, learning about history and its historical sights is often just information but actually seeing them is almost a spiritual thing that you just can’t most of the time from not being there. It’s wonderful that groups of Europeans in different countries adopt allied cemeteries to maintain.
Thank you for sharing your experience of being on Omaha Beach. My uncle, Warren Garrett, was among those that landed on that beach, and as he said, it's a miracle that he lived. He didn't talk much about his memories of those days in France very often. The things he told me over the years about that part of his life came out in short bursts. As an older man, I now know that he stopped himself before it got to be too much for him. He told me that he and his unit went thru hell landing on Omaha Beach, but the guys he had a lot of admiration for, were the Coast Guard Coxswains driving the landing craft. He said he only had to go to the beach once. The CG guys had to keep going out, and bringing in more troops until they were blown out of the water!, or killed. This shows you what my uncle was made of. He thought the other guys had it worse than he did. On a side note, I have not been to France, but would like to visit Omaha Beach. That is such a huge part of our history as (North) Americans. Another historical site you really should visit, and learn about if possible, is Pearl Harbor. I have been there a couple of times, and have gone thru the museums and paid my respects to the "USS ARIZONA" and her crew a couple of times. It has a very intense feeling. I'm sure that is in my head because I know what went down there in 1941, but our history is everywhere there. As you said Steve, you can read about these places in books, but until you take the Navy launch out to the "ARIZONA" Memorial, and are in the same place these events took place, you really get a different perspective.
I got to know one of the Band of Brothers before he died a few years ago. A quiet, dignified gentleman who never talked about his war experience unless he thought you serious..
I was there about 13 years ago and took a mini van tour out of the museum at Caen so the lady explained a lot of the sites. Very sobering to stand there and imagine what it was like from both sides. It had to be like jumping off into Hell. The cemetary is well maintained and also very sobering.
I was most moved by your photo taken at the waters edge up towards the cliffs and the scant cover afforded by the stepped dunes, thinking about what that sight looked like to a kid in uniform as the transport tailgate dropped. Man, those dunes and cliffs are a long goddamn ways off. Crossing the Atlantic was nothing compared to those open hundred yards.
Thank-you! My mom's only brother was killed over Munich 7 days after D-day... he was the only one of 10 on board not to parachute from their crippled B-24. That was a pain my family never got over.
Steve, I know the feeling(s) you described. I had the same feelings when I first went to Arlington National Cemetery, and Dealey Plaza in Dallas. You can see pictures, movies, but until you actually go to that place and see with your own eyes, the feelings are almost over whelming. Also need to add the Arizona Memorial at Peral Harbour.
i was there a few years ago. was nice. some friends and myself borrowed a car and drove from Belgium to Normandy, France. Spent, i think, three days there. Was a lot to cover and see. Amazing some of the things left behind that's still there. The ability to walk into some of those bunker houses and machine gun nests was very, strange. The cemeteries were also a very strange place and feeling to be there.
Good go. My son and I went to water's edge and we tried to run off the beach. Point du Hoc was in much better shape on my first visit in 1971. The cemetery is magnificent and each monument ought have the military photograph of the man buried there. A friend's uncle is buried in that cemetery; we left his photograph after saying a prayer for his soul.
Wow! Great video. Ive always been intrigued by D-Day. Ive even read books from the Enemies point of view as the Allies came ashore. You almost feel for them as you would for our soldiers who died. I'd love to visit but doubt it will ever happen.
Thank for sharing your story. Please remember all of the fallen including Cpl Jessica Ellis KIA 11 May 2008. See more at thefallen.miltarytimes.com. If you ever are in DC be sure to visit Arlington National Cemetery. The visitor center is very helpful and they also have a women's museum there where Cpl Ellis is featured.
Powerful presentation of your memories of the day you visited the beaches in Normandy. I had the opportunity to visit northern France, Belgium and Luxenburg (the towns and areas of the battle of the bulge) when I was stationed in Germany in the mid 80s. There's a huge US Military cemetery in Luxenburg... If you go back to France, I would recommend that a visit to this area would be as moving as the beaches. Great video...👍👍👍
Excellent video! I have not been to Normandy but while I was in the Marine Corps I had the opportunity to visit the cemetery at Punch Bowl on Oahu. I had the opportunity to visit the American cemetery in Manila. I went down the Bataan peninsula and across to Corregidor. It was a pretty emotional experience for me so I can understand how you felt while visiting Omaha beach.
Steve, Thanks for helping all remember the sacrifice the USA (and many others) made to free the world. My twin uncles are buried in Normandy, one just last year. I, and a few of the family, able to attend that burial ceremony. It was very moving. They were on a Landing Ship Tank that hit a mine, and broke in half, and sank immediately, directly off Pointe du Hoc. If you google "Pieper brothers Normandy" you can see many accounts of the burial service. Keep up the good work, and thanks for all you do!
Steve I was there at low tide last year and agree with you 100%. I hope no one takes offense but I think you have your numbers a bit off. Most sources site 10,000 wounded and 2500 killed. Still horrible. Also this is a regional burial ground where soliders from battles in the area are buried. I have heard there are a total of 20,000 in this location. There is a German section as well and it is as well kept as the allied section. According to our tour guide Germany provides no money for its upkeep.
In France that beach is called "Omaha la sanglante" meaning "Omaha the bloody". Should have mentionned also that many troops landed on the wrong beach, and many troops should have landed there instead of Juno beach for example.
