Only Two USS Nevada Crew Members Remain

From the June, 6, 2024, Las Vegas Review-Journal "It feels very lonely": 80 years after D-Day, only 2 USS Nevada crew members remain" by Jeff Burbank.

Dick Ramsey was on the USS Nevada off the coast of Normandy during the Allied invasion on D0Day on June 6, 1944, just two and a half years after his ship was nearly sunk at Pearl Harbor during that Day of Infamy.

The ship had undergone painstaking work after the attack to repair damage sustained from bombs and torpedoes and now, the ship was in payback mode using its ten 14-inch guns to pound German positions on Utah Beach as well as tanks and enemy artillery miles inland.

Built just before World War I, it was the only ship to be at both major points in the U.S. participation in WW II.  

Now, 80 years after D-Day, Ramsey, a former coxswain in the U.S. Navy is one of only two surviving crew members from the ship.

The other one, Charles Sehe, 101, is the only one to have been on the ship at both events.  He is in hospice care in Minnesota.

--GreGen

80th Anniversary of D-Day-- Part 4: 'War Is Hell'

Dozens of World War II veterans are converging on France to revisit old memories, make new ones, and hammer home a message that survivors of D-Day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy, and of other World War II theaters, have repeated time and time again-- that war is hell.

"Seven thousand of my marine buddies were killed.  Twenty thousand shot up, wounded, put on ships, buried at sea," said Don Graves, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served on Iwo Jima.

The youngest veteran in the group is 96 and the most senior 107, according to their carrier from Dallas, American Airlines.

--GreGen

80th Anniversary of D-Day-- Part 3: Parachutists

Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day.  I am writing about it in this blog and my Cooter's History Thing Blog.

Along with the men parachuting into German-occupied France early morning of June 6, 1944, were men making hair-raising descents in gliders.  (Now, I think that would be more scary than parachuting.)  The goal of both groups was to secure roads, bridges and other strategic points inland of the invasion beaches and destroy gun emplacements that raked the sands and ships with deadly fire.

The re-enactor parachutists took off Sunday from Duxford, England, for the 90-minute flight to Carentan.  This Normandy town was the heart of D-Day drop zones in 1944.

Sunday's jumpers were from an international civilian team of parachutists, many of them former soldiers.  The only woman, 61-year-old Dawna Bennett, felt history's force as she exited the plane.

"It's the same doorway and it's the same countryside from 80 years ago, and it's like, 'Oh my God, I'm so thankful I'm not doing this at midnight," she said.

--GreGen

World War II-era Boat Emerges from Shrinking Lake Mead

From July 1, 2022, OPB.org. by AP.

A sunken boat dating back to World War II is the latest item to emerge from a shrinking reservoir that straddles  Nevada and Arizona.

It is a Higgins landing craft  that was  originally  185 feet below the surface is now nearly half way out of the water at Lake Mead about a mile from the Lake Mead Marina and Hemingway Harbor.  It was used to survey the Colorado River decades ago, sold to the marina and then  sunk.

Higgins Industries in New Orleans built several thousand landing craft between 1942 and 1945.  Around 1,500 "Higgins Boats" were deployed on Normandy on D-Day on June 6, 1944.

The boat is only one of a series of objects appearing because of the declining waters of Lake Mead, the largest human-made reservoir in the U.S. held back by the Hoover Dam.  In May, two sets of human remains were found in the span of one week.

--GreGen

Remembering D-Day, 78 Years Later-- Part 4: To Not Be Forgotten

Many visitors this year came to see the monuments marking the key moments of the fight and to show their gratitude to the soldiers.  World War II history enthusiasts dressed  in wartime uniforms were seen in jeeps and military vehicles on the small roads of Normandy.

Greg Jensen, 51,  came with his 20-year-old daughter from Dallas.  On Saturday they visited the  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial overlooking Omaha Beach.

"It took a moment just to hold the sand and you think, gosh, the blood that was spilled to give me that moment and the freedom to hold that sand," he said.  "That was vey emotional for me."

"I hope a lot of this younger generation is watching because we can't forget what happened 78 years ago," Jensen said, especially thinking of the war in Ukraine.

Andy Hamilton, a 57-year-old retired police officer, came on holiday with his family, including his two 8-year-old grandsons, from Shropshire, England.

"We're now showing our respects of the sites here and to give the grandchildren a sense of what  World War II was like .. and the amount of people that had given their lives to sacrifice for the freedom of everyone," he said.

On D-Day,  Allied troops landed  on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold, carried there by 7,000 boats.  On that single day, 4,414 Allied soldiers lost their lives, 2,501 of them were Americans.  More than 5,000 were wounded.  On the German side, several thousand were killed and wounded.

--GreGen

Remembering D-Day, 78 Years Later-- Part 3: Working the Communications

Meanwhile, on the British side of the English Channel, then 17-year-old Mary Scott was working at the communications  center in Portsmouth, listening to the coded messages coming from the front line and passing them on as part of operations in Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword and Gold beaches.

"The war was in my ears," she recalled, describing the  radio machine she operated with levers.

"When they (communications officers) had to respond to my messages and they lifted their lever, you heard all the sounds of the men on the beaches:  bombs, machine guns, men shouting, screaming."

Scott who will soon turn 96, said she got very "emotional" when arriving in Normandy Saturday on a trip organized by  the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans.  She was in tears seeing the D-Day beaches.

"Suddenly I thought maybe some of those young men I spoke to... that they had died," she said.

The symbol is even stringer across the Channel.  Queen Elizabeth II, who served in World War II as an army driver and mechanic is celebrating  her 70 years on the throne.

"Women were involved," Scott stressed.  "I mean, I'm enormously  proud to have been a minute part of Operation Overlord.

Her face turned to sadness when she mentioned the war in the Ukraine.

"Why can't we learn from past experiences?   Why can't we do that?  What's wrong with us?" she asked.  "War should teach us something but it never penetrates for very long."

GreGen

Remembering D-Day, 78 Years Ago-- Part 2: The Battle at the Pegasus Bridge

Peter Smoothy, 97, served in the British Navy and landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

"The first thing I remember are those poor lads who didn't come back... It's a long time ago, now, nearly 80 years ....  And here we are still living," he told AP.  "We're thinking about those poor lads who didn't get off the beach that day, their last day,  but they're always on our minds."

Welcomed to the sounds of bagpipes at the Pegasus Memorial in the French town of  Ranville, British  veterans attended a ceremony commemorating a key operation in the first minutes of the Allied invasion of Normandy, when troops had to take control of a strategically crucial bridge.

Bill Gladden, 98, took part in this D-Day British operation and was later shot while defending that bridge.  "I landed  on D-Day and was injured on the 18th of June ... so I was three years in a hospital," he said.

--GreGen

Remembering D-Day, 78 Years Ago-- Part 1

From the June 5, 2022, Wilmington News Journal "World War II veterans honored a day before D-Day anniversary" by Sylvie Corbet and Jeff Schaeffer, AP.

More than 20 British World War II veterans gathered Sunday near Pegasus Bridge in northwestern France, one of the first sites liberated by Allied forces from German control, for commemorations honoring the nearly 160,000  troops from Britain, the United States, Canada, and other countries who landed on Normandy June 6, 1944.

Veterans, their families and French and international visitors braved the rainy weather to take part in a series of events this weekend and in Monday for then78th anniversary of D-Day.

This year's D-Day anniversary comes after two consecutive years of COVID-19 pandemic  restricted or deterred visitors.

Dozens of U.S. veterans were also attending events in the region, ahead of Monday's ceremony at the  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial,  home to the gravesites of 9,386 who died fighting on D-Day and the operations which followed.

--GreGen

USS Jouett (DD-396)-- Part 4: Invasion of Normandy and Algiers

In March 1944, the Jouett returned to Charleston and then engaged in training operations in Casco Bay, Maine, before sailing to England in convoy on 16 May 1944.  There she joined a Reserve Fire Support Group for the invasion of France before arriving off France on June 8, escorting coastal steamers with support troops on board.

She repelled an air attack that day. and until June 21, screened British heavy cruisers during shore bombardment and provided anti-submarine screen for the Omaha Beach transport area.  With the second front established, the Jouett escorted convoys to and from  the Firth of Clyde  until 12 July when she sailed with convoy to Algieria.

--GreGen

National Vietnam Veterans Day: Captain Phil Bucklew, USN, Fought in WW II, Korea and Vietnam

From the Coffee or Die site.

In honor of this being National Vietnam Veterans Day, here is a man who served in Vietnam, but also in the two previous wars to it.

Captain Phil Bucklew served in every significant Naval Special Warfare (NSW) unit from World War II through Vietnam.

During World War II, he  was with the Amphibious Scouts and Rangers and guided the first wave into the beaches of Normandy, including Omaha Beach, during D-Day.

In 1951, he became a plank owner of Beach Jumper Unit  II and was involved in a lot if undercover work.

When the NSW sent Underwater Demolition Teams and Navy Seals to Vietnam, his famous Bucklew Report contained information from his team, the Vietnam Delta Infiltration Study Group which identified guerrilla operations and other things in the area.

Fifty Facts About D-Day-- Part 3: Casualties and the Germans Almost Guessed It Right

21,  A memorial cemetery sits on U.S. soil in France.   Most of the 9,287 American buried in the Normandy  American Cemetery were killed on D-Day or early battles fought afterwards.

22.  Families fought--and died-- together.  33 sets of brothers were buried side-by-side, along with one father and son.

23.  Around 14,000 corpses were returned home.

24.  The Allies lost more than 11% of their numbers.  (226,386 casualties.  72,911 killed or missing and 153,475 wounded)

25.  German casualties exceeded  240,000.  The Allies also captured 200,000 German prisoners.

26.  The action was far from consistent.  In some places there were almost no casualties while in others almost 96%.

27.  The tide was a double-edged sword.  Landing at low tide avoided the German obstacles but meant troops were exposed to fire for longer to cross the beaches.  Also, as the tide came in, wounded drowned.

28.  The beach was a minefield.  It is estimated that the Germans had planted  around four million mines on the beaches.

29.  D-Day was the result of trial and error.

30.  The Germans almost guessed it right.

Again, if you want more information, go to the site.

--GreGen

Fifty Facts About D-Day You Might Not Know-- Part 2: 7,000 Allied Ships and 11,500 Aircraft

11.  The operation had a code name.  (Operation Overlord)

12.  D-Day involved nearly 7,000 Allied ships.

13.  D-Day involved more than 11,500 Allied aircraft.

14.  There were 73,000 American troops at D-Day.

15.  Comanche 'code-talkers' joined the siege.  (Indians)

16.  The Allies faced 50,000 German defenders.

17.  The battle lasted until August.  It was the beginning of the Battle of Normandy.

18.  The exact number of fallen (on both sides) is not known.  Allied killed put at 4,413.  German is unknown, but estimates place it between 4,000 and 9,000.

19.  Most Allied troops arrived after D-Day.

20.  The operation led to the liberation of Paris.

--GreGen

Ten Important WW II Sites to See-- Part 1

From the November 12, 2021, Fodor's Travel  "10 important World War II sites that all travelers should experience" by Apeksha Bhateja.

I will just be listing them.  For pictures and more information go to the site:

1.  ANNE FRANK HOUSE  Amsterdam, Netherlands

2.  AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU STATE MUSEUM  Oswiecim, Poland  The concentration camp.

3.  BRITISH NORMANDY MEMORIAL  Normandy, France

4.  THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM   New Orleans, Louisiana

5.  USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL  Oahu, Hawaii

--GreGen

Fighter Pilot Honored 76 Years After Death, Robert M. Leety-- Part 1

From the August 5, 2021, Trib Live (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) "World War II Army pilot  memorialized 76 years after being killed in action" by Julia Felton.

Seventy-six years after 1st Lt. Robert M. Leety was killed, , his family dedicated a stone in his honor at Mt. Royal Cemetery in Shaler on Saturday.

Robert Leety was born and raised in Glenshaw, Pa.,  and graduated from Shaler High School in 1942, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943.  After about a year of training, he was shipped  overseas, first to England, then to France.

He was a fighter pilot flying P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts.  The day after Christmas, 1944, he was promoted to first lieutenant.

During his time in Europe, he  racked up 175 combat hours in more than 75 missions., including the Normandy invasions and the Battle of the Bulge.   Because he had flown so many missions, he was given the opportunity to return home and assume a military role in the States.

But, he chose to continue flying.

--GreGen

Canadian Soldier John Swityk Turning 100: Landed at Juno Beach on D-Day

From the July 27, 2021, Aldergrove (British Columbia, Canada) Star  "One of Langley's last surviving  Second World War veterans is turning 100" by Dan Ferguson.

John Swityk was one of the first Canadian soldiers to land at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.

He was 19 when he enlisted with the First Battalion of the Regina Rifles in North Battleford, SK.  After initial training in Canada, they shipped overseas in August 1941 to continue their training in Great Britain, while also providing coastal defense.

As a member of an anti-tank platoon, he trained as a Bren gunner (a light machine gun.).

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he landed at Juno Beach, Normandy and fought his way through the town of  Courseulles. On June 7, his platoon was given the job of taking the village of Norrey  en Bessin, the farthest in of any of the Allied units.

Within the next few days, John Swityk was promoted to sergeant.  He later fought through Normandy,  Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany until the Germans surrendered.

Happy Birthday to One of the Greatest Generation.  --GreGen

Paris Celebrated 75th Anniversary of Liberation in 2019-- Part 3: The Day Comes

The Parisians who weren't deported or didn't flee used ration tickets to eat, wooden soles to replace scarce leather and sometimes curtains for clothes.  The black market thrived.

The D-Day landings n June 6, 1944, helped change the tide of war, allowing the Allies to push through Normandy and beyond to other German-occupied lands around Western Europe.

The message went out to the French Resistance in Paris that the Allies were advancing.  resistance member Madeleine Riffaud, now 95,  described to the Associated Press killing a Nazi soldier on July 23, 1944, on a Paris bridge.

She was spotted as she escaped on her bicycle, then arrested, tortured and jailed before being freed in a prisoner exchange days before the liberation of the city.

Seventy-five years later, she doesn't take the killing lightly.  "To carry out an action like that isn't playing with dolls," she said.

On August 19, 1944, Paris police officers rebelled and took over police headquarters.  On the night of August 24, the first Allied troops entered southern Paris.  The grand entrance of Gen. Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division followed by Allied forces would come the following day.

The German military governor of Paris, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz, was arrested at his headquarters at the Meurice Hotel and signed the surrender.

Paris buildings still bear the bullet holes from the fighting.

Quite the Event.  --GreGen

Paris Celebrated 75th Anniversary of Liberation Back in 2019-- Part 2

A Dixieland band played at the end of the parade which wrapped up at the site of a new museum about liberation and the resistance.

Long the jewel of European cities, Paris suffered relatively little damage in World War II, but its citizens were humiliated, hungry and mistrustful by the 50 months of German occupation.

The liberation of Paris was both joyous and chaotic.  It was faster and easier than the protracted battle through Normandy after D-Day, with its gun-filled hedgerows.  But the fight for the French capital killed nearly 5,000 people, including Parisian civilians, German troops and members of the French Resistance whose sabotage and attacks had prepared the city for liberation.

After invading in 1940, the Nazi hierarchy ensconced themselves in Paris' luxury hotels and hobnobbed at theaters and fine restaurants.  Collaborationist militias kept order, and French police were complicit in te most dastardly act of the Occupation:  the 1942 roundup of around 13,000 Jews at the Vel d'Hiv bicycle stadium before their eventual deportation to the Auschwitz death camp in German-occupied Poland.

--GreGen

75th Anniversary of Paris Liberation in 1944-- Part 2: 'Nasty, Smelly, Terrible'

Harold Angle is from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and landed in Normandy in 1944 and moved to eastern France, where his division fought through a brutal winter.  He saved a piece of a bullet that hit his helmet and keeps it with a wartime photo of himself and a letter he wrote home to his mother, describing his scrapes with death.

Steve Melnikoff, 99, of  Cockneyville, Maryland, came ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with the 29th Division.  It was one of the most pivotal days of the war, but to him, just one of many life-and-death experiences infantrymen faced on the front lines of history's deadliest conflict.

"What we went through, to do what we did, people don't realize," he said.  He still has pictures in his head of a fellow soldier falling beside him, and another.  Of the muddy holes he called home.  Of the German machine guns, each capable of firing thousands of rounds.

War, he says, is "nasty, smelly, terrible."  But he maintains, "it was important for someone to do this," to stop Hitler from taking over more of the world.

Donald Cobb of Evansville, Indiana, took part in the invasions of Normandy and of southern France from aboard ship, operating high frequency antennae to detect German submarines and helping load ammunition when at battle stations.  

He's back in peaceful Paris this week with the Greatest Generation Foundation, which organizes trips for veterans.  He sometimes feels "survivor guilt," and has one fundamental message for younger generations:  "Learn history, and don't repeat  mistakes."

--GreGen

77th Anniversary of D-Day-- Part 3: The Dead American Paratrooper in the Tree

"In France, people who remember these men, they kept them close to their hear," Charles Shay said.  "And they remember what they did for them.  And I don't think the French people will ever forget."

On Saturday morning, people in dozens of World War II vehicles, from motorcycles to jeeps and trucks, gathered in Colleville-Montgomery to parade down the nearby roads along Sword Beach to the sounds of a pipe band.  Residents, some waving French and American flags came to watch.

Henri-Jean Renaud, 86, remembers D-Day like it was yesterday.  He was a young boy and was hidden in his family home in Saint-Mere-Eglise when more than 800 planes bringing U.S. paratroopers flew over the town while German soldiers fired at them with machine guns.

Describing an "incredible noise" followed by silence, he remembers crossing the town's central square on the morning of June 6.  He especially recalls seeing one dead American paratrooper stuck in a big tree that is still standing by the town's church.

"I came here hundreds of times.  The first thing I do is look at the tree," he said.  "That's always to that young guy that I'm thinking of.  he was told:  'You're going to jump in the middle of the night in a country you don't know' ... He died and his feet never touched (French) soil, and that is very moving to me."

D-Day cost the lives of 4,414 Allied troops with 2,501 of that number Americans.

--GreGen

77th Anniversary of D-Day-- Part 2: Rapidly Dwindling Group of Survivors

Charles Shay regretted that the pandemic "is interrupting everything."  He is expected to be the only veteran at Sunday's anniversary day ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer.

"We have no visitors coming to France this year for two years now.  And I hope it will soon be over soon," he said.

Shay's lone presence is all the more poignant as the number of survivors of this epochal battle dwindles.  Just one veteran bow remains of the French commando unit that joined U.S., British, Canadian and other Allied troops storming Normandy's code-named beaches.

Some French and a few other World War II history enthusiasts from other European countries gathered in Normandy.

Driving restored jeeps, dressed in old uniforms or joyfully eating at the newly reopened terraces of restaurants, they're contributing to revive the commemoration's special atmosphere -- and keeping alive the memory of June 6, 1944.

--GreGen