D-Day Remembered... some ramblings...

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Registered: 01-06-2000
D-Day Remembered... some ramblings...
2
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 4:16pm
Our pastor flew heliocopters in Vietnam, and has an unbridled admiration for those who have served in any American front. He talked about D-Day today. On this day 60 years ago 2,000 American soldiers died trying to gain a foothold in Europe; 35,000 more would die during the ensuing summer. At home here in America, when the news hit that D-Day was upon us, the nation rallied in full, in addition to the many sacrifices already being made - food rations, women joining the workforce in massive numbers, factories turning their attention to munitions and military equipment rather than making cars and appliances, etc. On D-Day, all Major League Baseball games were cancelled. Church bells rang. A New York City newspaper - may have been the Times - instead of having the news of the invasion on the front page, simply printed the words of the Lord's Prayer *as* the front page. Numerous towns and cities stopped all activities at a designated time to participate in organized moments of silence to pray for the ones who were fighting. In Columbus OH, all activity stopped at the appointed time - not just city offices, but factories, local businesses, and people at home. Even those driving in their cars stopped where ever they were, got out of their cars and stood in reverence.

2,000 people the first day; 35,000 more to follow in a few short months. The printing of prayers and moments of silence. All the sacrifices at home. ...Would this nation be willing to do something like that today to fight an enemy? Could we give up driving our 14mpg SUVs and leased luxury cars to provide gas for the front line, give up trendy wardrobes so that more material is available for military use, not buy that new grill or swingset for the kids so that the metal could be used for a Hum-V, or switch to adequate but less varied dinners so that more food could go to the front line? So many today are angry at our current leaders for the over 200 Americans who've died in Iraq in the past year (indeed a tragic loss), a country whose former dictator supported terrorism even against fellow Arab nations, threatening the world's oil supply, the production of which (as we've seen several times since WWII) can wreak havoc on our own economy. Can we even fathom 37,000 dying over 3 months to free our allies from the throes of madmen, let alone the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died during the course of WWII? I don't think most of our citizens know what true sacrifice is, nor are they interested in such events in history. Yes, life goes on, but so indulgently it seems.

Dan and I watch many documentaries on WWII, Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, and the past Gulf War. World Events aren't black & white, but have so many intertwining parts. Between D-Day, hearing the bagpipes played at our church (both in honor of D-day and as a lead-in to our expansions), Memorial Day, and Reagan's passing, I'm just finding myself very contemplative. A little disturbed at how much we're wrapped up in Survivor, American Idol, Emeril, Trading Spaces, sports, new cars before we've halfway paid for the old one, the Talk Show host(ess) du Jour, and having the latest gadgets in our media rooms or aforementioned cars... and so clueless at past events that allow us to be so removed from history and what's being written now. A little sad that as the Veterans of WWII pass away (out of 16 million, there are 4 million left who are dying of old age at the rate of 1000 a day), that we just might start forgetting how the world hung in such perilous balance, how unprepared the US was for WWII, relegating the 1940s to ancient history that doesn't have much to do with today. It just seems to me that if today's "for the moment" mindset was prevalent in the 1940s, we might all very well be speaking German or Japanese - even if not, the world would certainly be a very different place than the one we currently have.

I'm rambling, I know. I just wonder about the path of this nation, this world. Yes, the leaders at times, the terrorists, the fanatics on many spectrums - but more than that, the populace. I pray that the sacrifices of our deceased soldiers, current soldiers and soldiers yet to come aren't in vain for a vain nation.












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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 06-07-2004 - 12:35pm
I enjoyed reading your ramblings, Linda, and I have to agree with you about wondering about our people today and if we all would sacrifice as that great generation did. I would hope that I would be willing to make sacrifices to protect our country. I watched alot of the D-Day coverage on The History Channel, CNN, Fox, and the NBC program with Tom Brokaw interviewing French sisters from a certain village (I can't remember the name) and American soldiers who survived the Nazi's. The French sisters were just teens when they helped hide the American soldiers from the Nazi's. It was sad to hear how the Nazi's executed the priests and nuns who helped the soldiers, as well as executed some of the soldiers. One of the surviving soldiers interviewed broke down and cried about the deaths of those villagers and the American soldiers. I'm so glad I watched the interviews and will have to see if I can purchase Tom Brokaw's books (second-hand, of course) about "The Greatest Generation". I think it's wonderful that he and others have preserved their stories for posterity. I can't imagine how those people suffered and sacrificed, as well as what atrocities they witnessed.
Katherine (Kat)
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 06-07-2004 - 1:46pm
Linda, your words are hardly ramblings. Through my migraine fog, I found myself trying to watch the old news-reel clips of D-Day and events in the Pacific Theater, Tom Brokaw's interviews with the veterans and the 2 sisters in Grenier (I think that was the name), Mike Wallace's taped interview with Nancy Reagan, and the coverage of President Reagan's passing. I'm sure the D-Day Anniversary coverage and President Reagan's passing on the same weekend made many of us think about whether we as a country would have the collective stomach to make the sacrifices the veterans, their families, and all the people who came of age in the 20s, 30s, and 40s made if we needed to. With what I hear and read about every day, I'm not sure we do.

I hope President Reagan's passing makes us all remember how good we felt to be Americans so many years ago and that that spirit returns in the face of the threats against us today. I hate to see the strength this country showed in the days after 9/11 recede further into doubt about why this country is the best and anger at our leaders who are trying to sustain the positive outlook and resolve needed to overcome the threats of a group of fanatics hell-bent on destroying us. And I hope that our memories of the Great Communicator allow our leaders to say what they think about our enemies without apology. President Reagan never apologized for pushing and prodding the Soviet Union through his speech. President Bush shouldn't have to apologize for uttering beliefs that he holds true and close about our present-day enemies.

Now that's rambling....

Donna