Associated Press
via The Blaze
6/6/2014
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (AP) — Men who stormed Normandy’s shore 70 years ago paid tribute Friday to comrades killed in the D-Day landings in Nazi-occupied France 70 years ago in a sunrise ceremony that started a day of international commemorations of history’s biggest amphibious invasion.
As the sun rose Friday over a gusty Omaha Beach, flags flew at half-staff. A U.S. military band played Taps, while D-Day veterans from the 29th Infantry Division and serving soldiers stood at attention at exactly 6:30 a.m., the moment on June 6, 1944, when Allied troops first waded ashore.
“Twenty-nine, let’s go!” They shouted, then downed shots of Calvados, Normandy apple brandy…
The article continues at The Blaze.
Related: 9,000 Fallen Soldiers Etched into the Sand on Normandy Beach to Commemorate Peace Day (photo essay)
In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II, witness to D-Day then and now (photo essay)
At 88, she has been forced to cut back her engagements recently due to her advancing years. But the Queen will be present at Friday’s 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations this year – unlike in 2009, when she was controversially not invited by then French President Nicolas Sarkozy…
In pictures: Highlights of the D-Day 70th anniversary ceremony
…At 6.30am local time, the moment on June 6, 1944, when Allied troops first waded onto the beaches of Normandy, a US military band played taps on Friday, marking the commemoration of the world’s biggest amphibious invasion, which helped change the course of World War II and history…
D-Day revisited: how landscapes scarred by war in 1944 look today (photo essay)
D-day landings scenes in 1944 and now – interactive
Peter Macdiarmid has taken photographs of locations in France and England to match with archive images taken before, during and after the D-day landings. The Allied invasion to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during the second world war took place on 6 June 1944. Operation Overlord was the largest seaborne invasion in military history, with more than 156,000 Allied troops storming the beaches of France
• Photography then and now lets you move through time by tapping or clicking on a historic image to reveal the modern view. You can drag or swipe to control the speed of the transformation
Dramatic Original Footage of D-Day Invasion
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And what a plan! D-Day and Parliament in wartime
Too many Americans don’t know or care about their history
Given the numerous studies revealing how American education lags behind instruction in other countries in disciplines once thought to be essential, it should come as no surprise that on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, a lot of people are clueless about central elements of the Allied invasion of the European continent on June 6, 1944.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has released the results of a survey, which finds only slightly more than half (54 percent) of those who took a multiple choice quiz knew that Dwight D. Eisenhower was the supreme commander of Allied forces on D-Day. Fewer than half knew Franklin Roosevelt was president and 15 percent identified the location of the landing as Pearl Harbor, not beaches named Utah and Omaha. One in 10 college students were among those giving the wrong answer…
How 21 Newspaper Front Pages Covered The D-Day Invasion 70 Years Ago
Friday marked the 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of France. Here’s how local newspapers covered the invasion at the time.
#DDay70 veteran parachutes from plane 70 years after doing it the first time
93 year old U.S WW II veteran Jim Martin of the 101st Airborne, left, completes a tandem parachute jump onto Utah Beach, western France, Thursday June 5, 2014, as part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the D Day. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Video of the jump is at CNN. The Blaze has photos.
The valor and the lesson of the heroism of D-Day An editorial by Don Surber
…The threat to freedom is constant. Passivity only emboldens expansionists. Russia in 2008 annexed Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the nation of Georgia. This year, it added Crimea and the fear is Russia will take over the rest of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Taliban and al-Qaida have rebounded and strengthened themselves in recent years.
Let us learn from Normandy and D-Day and do something we as a nation failed to do in the 1930s: Pray for peace, yet prepare for war.
D-Day: In the words of the BBC journalists (audio)
“This is Richard Dimbleby speaking…”
The first part of D-Day involved the dropping of 24,000 British, Canadian and US troops in Nazi-occupied France, shortly after midnight. In this audio clip, and in the script below, Richard Dimbleby, the BBC’s war correspondent and one of its most famous journalists, witnessed the very first aircraft take off from southern England on the night of 5 June 1944…
D-Day anniversary: ‘World-changing’ day remembered (video)
Pensioner who hid medals and absconded from care home found at D-Day celebrations in France
The 89-year old was reported missing from his Hove care home but actually sneaked onboard a coach for a final reunion with his D-Day comrades across the Channel
…“We have spoken to the veteran who called the home today and are satisfied that the pensioner is fine and that his friends are going to ensure he gets back to Hove safely over the next couple of days after the D-Day celebrations finish.”…
And more about Mr. Jordan’s trip to Normandy here and here. “They weren’t called the Greatest Generation for nothing…”
Normandy Speech: Ceremony Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, D-Day 6/6/84
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