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1) The incredible bravery and commitment to free the world from tyranny, I cannot fathom what it took for kids that were soda jerks, mechanics, gas pump jockeys etc. to do this. For the American Australian, New Zealand, Canadian troops, all the allied nations to leave our comfortable shores for foreign battlefields to join their brothers in arms from the United Kingdom so that we may bask in the sunlight of freedom, even 75 years later. That's a debt that we still reap the benefits from to this day. I know many of us had relatives and even fathers there, so to the soldiers sailors and airmen of the Great Crusade -
2) As a kid I remember watching a special on TV with President Eisenhower on the 20th anniversary of the invasion. Man... not only feeling old today, but totally question some days how I measure up to my father and his generation. Really feel I come up short.
For me, this is one of the best photos of today's commemorations. A 94 year-old veteran who repeated his parachute drop from 75 years ago. The smiles say it all:
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Some of that generation continue to put many of us to shame for their courage and get-up-and-go!!!
They really were the greatest generation.
Next year these same guys will have to account for how they treated the German and Japanese people. That will be much harder for some of them and for all of us. I say this because I agree with you.. i sincerely hope some one is looking out for these guys in that way. German Government??
thanks, post deleted. off topic and some . . .Huh??
I remember that TV special, too, and remember thinking how much greater a man Ike was than the then current occupant of 1600 Penn Ave.As a kid I remember watching a special on TV with President Eisenhower on the 20th anniversary of the invasion. Man... not only feeling old today, but totally question some days how I measure up to my father and his generation. Really feel I come up short.
If they didn't realise that soime of their contemporaries will not receive the same honors, the same attention,, the same unqualified approval they may well feel abused rather than honored. You say "All vets are honored, all operations are honored" by you perhaps, I certainly think so, that is myu experience of you. This site definitely does and consistently. (part of why I like it here)
But honestly - in the world outside - you will have come across press articles that do explain Dresden and all the context. Likewise you will see some who allegate "war criminal". How will these guys feel then, if the press decides to do the "war criminal" story not the hero thing. It's all copy to the press.
You really are sure I'm overthinking this? I may be, . . . wish I could be sure though.