MSU Red Cedar Message Board

My Grandpa was always very vocal with me and my cousin about his war stories. He was in the Pacific. His best story was about when he lead a squad to take out a machine gun postion located in cave that had been wiping out troops for a while. Him and his squad threw some Phospherous gernades into the cave (Some of the Japanese came out on fire with the skin burning off). They were able to storm the cave and capture the position with some heavy losses. Later at his funeral I reliazed he earned the Silver Star for that.

The men of the 8th Air Force also deserve a nod. The losses thy recieved were some of the higest out of an group of the allied side in the war. Without their effectivness during the Transportation Plan an invasion of France would likley of been impossible.

DAYUM. That is awesome.

I should have been a history major. This stuff is so stinking interesting.

Freaking silver star, very cool!!

About 15 years ago. It is truely awe-inspiring and impossible to really describe. The vast number of graves, the massive size of the bank they had to climb. Remarkable what those men did to ensure the freedom of us today.

1. Edge of the cliff face on Point Du Hoc where some Rangers climbed up.

2. German bunker entrance at Point Du Hoc

3. View of just some of the crosses at the American Cemetery for all the Americans who died throughout the duration of the war in Normandy. I seem to remember the number being roughly 10,600, but if I had no idea I would have guessed 30,000. You have no idea how much 10,000 of something is until you see it all together individually like that.

Anyways, if anybody ever makes it out to France, I would really suggest checking out the D-Day sites. It was very emotionally powerful being there.

The initial invasions were not bigger. The most ships and men to hit the shore in one day was Normandy. Remember that the Japanese rarely defended beaches so major forces weren't needed during the invasion. However they dug in elsewhere in the rock where they could make their defensive positions more difficult. Sadly this worked too well as evidenced by the casualties on those islands.

Agree. My late dad was there, in the Signal Corps, a captain, age 21. Good Lord when I think back to me at age 21, I can only imagine.

A lot of people think communications were wireless. Not true, except for local walkie talkies. They ran lines which they had to constantly repair as our own vehicles ran over and cut the lines.

It really is hard to imagine climbing those cliffs.

Same here. We rent one disc a week. We are only 3 weeks in right now. (2 episodes per disc)

It is all pretty humbling to watch. And this thread is awesome.

Great post. I cannot even begin to imagine the things they saw and experienced. Respect always. I wonder what kind of reverence, if any, our grandchildren will have for that generation..... What we teach I suppose.

My experience was very similar. Train from Paris and winging it as tours were all booked since it was right around the anniversary.

And to what spectG&W just said, I have often thought of that as well. I was able to chat with a veteran on the short train ride from Caen to Bayeux. I didn't ask any serious war questions, just when and where he served and what not. I forgot the company and everything but he came ashore on D-day + 3, I think. But he seemed really pleased that a young person was interested in all of this. I was only 20 at the time. But it made me wonder if it is more common now for the average person to just not know or understand any of this or what went on.

But it really makes me think when i see some fragile, old man shuffling around anywhere. What was that man doing at my age? Even younger, maybe. He might have a set a balls I can't even fathom having myself.

Yes, and it is. I was there in June, 2004 during the 60 year anniversary.

both of my grandfathers fought in Europe - maternal side was at Monte Cassino in Italy and later had his knee fubared in the Po Valley and got sent home. when I was ten or so I asked him if he had killed anyone in the war when we were having our ritual midnight snack of milk and crackers...he just stared off for a bit and didn't answer. it was really uncomfortable and finally he just said something vague about how terrible war is and then changed the subject. He simply never talked about it. I later found out from my uncle that he had been involved in house to house fighting and admitted later in life about how it wasn't so bad when you were shooting across a field, but the close in fighting he had to do was what haunted him.

My dad's dad was an engineer in Patton's army, so he wasn't in France until August. His jeep hit a landmine in the early part of the Battle of the Bulge and he flew and hit a tree back first, breaking his back and leaving him paralyzed. He was evacuated to a field hospital in England at some point and amazingly regained feeling a week later and after rehab was okay for the most part - though suffered from severe pain till he died at 77. He never once talked about the war. We always called them Grandma Lucy and Grampa Ricky because they had single beds in their bedroom like on shows from the 50s. Turns out they had to because he had night terrors so bad he had attacked my grandmother when she tried to wake him. He had them off and on the rest of his life. even 50 years later apparently - though not as often.

It's nearly impossible to fathom what those men carried with them for the rest of their lives. it's unimaginable to me.

Just watched "The Longest Day." I love that movie.