80th Anniversary of D-Day Commences-- Part 2: Largest-Ever Air, Land and Sea Armada

Part of the reason for the fireworks shows, parachute jumps and solemn commemorations and ceremonies  that world leaders will attend this week is to pass the baton of remembrance to the current generations now seeing war in the Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Royals are among the VIPs that France is expecting for D-Day events.

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The Parachute Drop

Looping around each other, the C-47s dropped strings of jumpers, 70 in all, dressed in WW II-era uniforms.  A huge crowd, estimated in the thousands, whooped and hollered as the round chutes opened while listening to tunes from Glenn Miller and Edith Piaf.

Two of the planes, christened "That's All Brother" and "Placid Lassie"were D-Day veterans themselves.  They had been among the thousands of C-47s and other aircraft that on June 6, 1944,  formed what was the largest-ever sea air and land armada.

--GreGen

Oldest WW II Vet, Lawrence Brooks Dies-- Part 3: I'm Jumping with You!!!

Mr. Brooks often told the story about the time he was a passenger on a C-47 aircraft delivering barbed wire to the front when  one of the planes engines went out.  After they dumped cargo to conserve weight, he made his way to the cockpit and told the pilot and co-pilot that since they were the only two with parachutes, if they were going to jump that he would grab onto one of them.

"We made it though," he said.  "We had a big laugh."

Despite not being in combat, he said he sometimes faced enemy bombs as the Japanese would attack Owen island where he was stationed.  He said he learned to tell the difference between approaching Japanese, American and German planes.

"We'd be running like crazy, trying to hide."

He was discharged from the Army in August 1945 as a private first class.

Truly one of the Greatest Generation and with the added problem of overcoming racism and segregation.

--GreGen

Dropping Into Normandy-- Part 5: It Was Like the 4th of July Only They Were Up There With the Fireworks

WILLIAM DUNFEE, 82nd--  "Then, looking down, I saw C-47s flying below us.  That scared the hell out of me, and I started cussing them.  I didn't want to be turned into hamburger by our own air force....  While descending, I regained my composure, since it appeared we were going to make it down in one piece."

CHARLES MILLER,  82nd--  It looked like a great big Fourth of July celebration.  The whole sky was lit up like a big show."

ROY ZERBE, 101st--  "The sky was filled with fire, and it looked like the Fourth of July.  I would guess we were low, at about 500 feet.  I could see fires off in the distance."

GUY REMINGTON, 101st--  "The black Normandy pastures tilted and turned far beneath me.  The first German flare came arching up, and instantly machine guns and forty-millimeter guns began firing from the corners of the fields, stripping the night with yellow, green, blue, and red tracers.  I pitched through a wild Fourth of July.

"Fire licked through the sky and blazed around the transports heaving high overhead.  I saw one of them go plunging down in flames.  One of them came down with a trooper, whose chute had been caught in the tailpiece, streaming out behind.  I heard a large gush of air: a man went hurtling past, only a few yards away, his parachute collapsed and burning.

"Other parachutes, with men whose legs had been shot  off slumped in the harness, floated gently toward the earth."

Only, They Were Up There With the Fireworks This Time.  --GreGen

Dropping Into Normandy-- Part 3: Last Man Out

RICHARD GLEASON,  101st--  "As I stood near the door, a shell exploded under the left wing, and the old '47 did a handstand on the right wingtip, and I was thrown back across the cabin.  There was a mad scramble to get out the door, but I was able to get there first, so I didn't get tangled in any static lines."

HAROLD CANYON,  82nd--  Just as I approached the door the top of the airplane opened up.  It had been hit by some type of explosive shell.  As I turned into the doorway, the plane started a right wing dip going into its death spiral.

"It took everything I had to get over the threshold.  It seemed to me the threshold was just a little more than chest high as I rolled over and got out.  I was the last man out of the plane."

CLARENCE McKELVEY--  "We din't know how high we were, but I felt three things in succession -- my helmet popped off my head, I felt my chute open, and I looked down and there was ground."

ELMER BRANDENBERGER, 101st--  "The opening shock (of the parachute) tore the rifle from my grasp.  I can still remember the thought flashing through my mind that it would hit some damned Kraut and bash in his head."

--GreGen

"Flying the Hump"-- Part 2: Of Dakotas and Gooney Birds

By the end of the war, the airlift was  moving 77,306 tons of supplies a month,  operating 622 aircraft supported by 34,000  military personnel and  47,000 civilians.  At the end of the war the army reported  509 plane crashes, 1,314 known crew dead and more than 300 missing.

Early in the effort,  the airlift was the work if C-47s, converted DC-3 twin engine airliners called Dakotas by the British and Gooney Birds by their crews.

Lacking cabin pressure, the planes should have been limited to 10,000 feet.  But the problem was that for 140 miles, the mountains were never lower than 12,00 feet.  Everyone on board had to wear uncomfortable oxygen masks.

The C-47s were eventually replaced by  C-46s with supercharged four engines that could fly higher, faster and with more cargo.  But a problem was the wings iced more readily.  Some just fell out of the sky.  And, they were also unpressurized.

The C-46s were later replaced by the Douglas C-54 which could carry even more cargo, 4,000 miles and had a 22,000 foot ceiling, but still unpressurized.  One specialized C-54 variation became FDR's personal plane, dubbed the "Sacred Cow."  "The Sacred Cow" is now at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

--GreGen

For God and County: Paralyzed Veterans of America June 2018 Calendar-- Part 1: 101st Airborne Prepares For D-Day

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY

Painting of paratroopers kneeling by parachutes as they are blessed, standing by a C-47 plane.  These paintings are remarkable in their detail.

The day is June 5, 1944, and the setting is Upottery Airfield, England.  As the sun goes down, the 101st Airborne paratroopers of Easy Company's Stick 70 receive a blessing from their beloved regimental chaplain, Captain John Maloney.

On this evening, later dubbed the "Night of Nights," the paratroopers and the aircrew begin a new battle in France for the salvation of the Free World.  When the blessing concludes, the men don their parachutes to go serve God and country.

And, You Know, D-Day.  --GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Building a C-47 Cargo/Troop Plane

March 19, 2016  TEAMWORK: 1942

October 1942.  :Men and women make efficient operating team on riveting and other jobs at the Douglas Aircraft plant, Long Beach, Calif.  Most important of the many types of aircraft made at this plant are the B-17F 'Flying Fortress' heavy bomber, the A-20 'Havoc' assault bomber and the C-47 heavy transport plane shown here for carrying troops and cargo."

Alfred Palmer, OWI  Color photograph.

Comments:  Posed.  The woman is outside holding a riveting gun.  The man is inside the plane holding a bucking bar.

--GreGen