D-Day: History Geek hits Omaha Beach
Painting of D-Day beach, artist unknown.
Lemuel, our fellow blogger from New Zealand, gave us a view of the D-Day 69th anniversary at Omaha Beach – I’m certain you will enjoy this post and the photos as much as I have.
Today is D-Day. And I don’t mean that in the figurative sense. Today marks the 69th anniversary of the Allied landings at Normandy on 6th June 1944. The original non-metaphorical D-Day. To commemorate this day of days I thought I’d share some of my personal experiences from a visit to one of the most iconic battlefields of the Second World War – Omaha Beach.
Omaha was a code name given to one of the five beaches chosen as the landing points for Allied forces. The Americans landed at Omaha and to the west on Utah Beach, with the high cliffs of Pointe du Hoc separating the two. The U.S. Rangers scaled these heights in the early hours of that morning to neutralize a gun battery overlooking the beaches – but that is another story. To the east Allied forces landed at another three beaches, Gold, Juno and Sword. Behind all…
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Posted on June 21, 2014, in Uncategorized, WWII and tagged Army, family history, History, Military, Military History, Navy, New Zealand, Tributes, veterans, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
Pacific Paratrooper 
Great pictorial post with a great indepth look into DDay.
Excellent post and narrative.
Ian
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Thank you, Ian. Most of the commemorative holiday posts are pictorial and/or contain a poem – seems more appropriate, don’t you think?
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The article on Normandy in particular Omaha Beach , was very sobering as indeed it was the most casualty ridden beach landings of them all . Not only did they have to withstand a concentrated small arms and mortar fire direct on the beach , but , the feared and highly respected 88s the artillery gun which was the best of all sides ; was concentrated on both ends of the beach , the north and south. The fact that any ever got off the beach was a testament to their courage . Thanks for the reminder of what brave men did to achieve freedom for us all .
Thanks
Ron
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Thank you, Ron for your added info and comments on just why we should remember stories such as these.
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Thanks GP for reblogging this. As I said to History Geek it is so important that we keep remembering what these offensives were truly like – so kudos to both of you.
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Lemuel is a wonderful researcher – I merely made him more well known in our community. But thanks for the kudos, I can always use the encouragement, Tish.
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Thanks for this viewpoint, GP. It’s daunting to think of Omaha Beach as a tourist attraction now.
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To some, it must seem like a sacrilege for people to make money off of the deaths of soldiers.
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I gave you a plug in a post that loosely relates to your subject matter: http://wp.me/p7SVH-3BX
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I read your post and saw the mention you gave, I’m honored. I sincerely thank you, Norbert.
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Thank you for the suggestion. Iâve become one of his followers.
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Glad you liked it!! Lemuel is an interesting source of knowledge.
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Went to his site… Thanks. A lot of hidden history…
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Yes, he does. Lemuel has taught me quite a bit about New Zealand and their interaction in the world.
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