D Day Rememberance

June 6, 1944 - Warriors from the Allied nations launched the largest amphibious assault against a well fortified, entrenched enemy the world had ever seen or will ever see.
I am in absolute awe at the bravery these men showed that morning. They charged straight into the teeth of machine guns, artillery and small arms. They crawled through the guts of the men that didn't make it to overwhelm a well trained, well armed enemy determined to defend their coast. That takes nads.
For these men and the women who supported them..attention to quarters, slow hand salute...ready, to...

With the danger of sliding a tad off topic, I do need to share an experience.  My father in law and I barely got along..  He was not a braggart .... just amazingly inconsiderate.  The best that can be said is that we got along.  I knew he had one Bronze Star.  But after he died, and I went through his papers, I realized he had 4.   I have the good sense to realize that I can never comprehend what he went through to get them.

How I love this generation of folks who left their homes to go fight overseas in awful conditions. They did what they needed to do, then came back home and resumed their lives.
Tom Brokaw called this "The Greatest Generation." I wholeheartedly agree.

I knew some older gentlemen who fought in D-Day. They didn't brag. They were very humble, almost not willing to talk about it for fear of digging up difficult emotions. They were a delicate blend quiet and gutsy.

I am sitting here having a cup of coffee, and an old memory crept in.  My father in law came to visit. His MS was pretty bad.  He used a walker and never stopped shaking.   Anyway, we had a shooting range set up, and he wanted to fire off a few rounds.  Frankly, I was terrified. But even if he missed the target and the earth mound behind it, there was 7 miles of unsettled woods behind that with no roads cutting through it (this was when I lived in northern MN).  He picked up the rifle, leaned against his walker, the rifle never stopped shaking. He fired off 5 rounds.   All were dead center. The holes overlapped. I just about wet myself when I realized how well he had been trained. I have never fired off a pattern that tight.