Saturday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have succeeded fairly well.”

                                        Robert Benchley

This day in 1944 is one of the most important in the history of western man. Therefore I am offering this in remembrance of the thousands of brave and courageous men that died on the beaches of Normandy saving the world from the most evil conglomeration of humans ever documented. Think about what it took for these men to do what they did and then think about calling Bruce Jenner “brave and courageous”. Bruce can kiss my ass...but perhaps not, he might think I am hitting on him.

Back in 2004 a good friend of mine from Charlotte and I decided we needed a vacation and began a scan of the web. We found that Holland America had a cruise that began with three days in London and then to Dover to get aboard a ship. The ship made stops at Plymouth (a NATO exercise was in progress there), then to Guernsey Island (the only English property that was occupied by the Germans), then a three day stop at Cherbourg, France. From there they bused us to Omaha Beach for the 60^th anniversary ceremony of the D-Day invasion. The French Marines (in red berets) were there thick as fleas as was helicopter gunships constantly on patrol. It would have been a great time for a terrorist attack considering that 9/11 was not that far in the past. President Bush was there along with Condoleezza Rice, President of France Chirac, Colin Powell, my companion and myself among other celebrities. After several speeches, a 21 gun salute by 105 howitzers, a parade of American, French, English and Canadian warships just off shore and “Taps” was played. There was not a dry eye for miles, including mine.   

From there the ship sailed to Le Havre, Brussels, Amsterdam and back over to Dover then we flew back home.

We were in London for three days and made several interesting side trips especially to the British Museum. What a great town but the food sucked…too bland for my tastes. But all of that is worthy of another lesson.

               This Date in History   June 6

1944 On this date one of the most important events in recorded history occurs. After waiting aboard ship for 48 hours, the Allied (primarily the United States, Great Britain and Canada), troops are landed on the continent of Europe on the beaches of Normandy in northwestern France to destroy the German military machine that had overrun Europe. The Allies paid a price for gaining a foot hold to the tune of about 10,000 casualties. In this one day the Allies had about 156,000 combat troops that they put ashore, 13,000 paratroopers, 5,000 ships and 10,000 aircraft of all kinds were involved in this endeavor. The 10,000 casualties was redeemed a few days later when the Allies pivoted east and trapped thousands of German soldiers in a very small perimeter near the town of Falaise, France. This was called the “Falaise Pocket”. The Allies poured in all the gunfire they could find hoping to eliminate as many German soldiers as they could. They did not get them all but General Eisenhower visited the site later and said that one could walk for hundreds of yards on the bodies of German soldiers and not touch the ground. War is hell.

1918 Earlier in WWI, the German Army had driven through the Allied forces and was within 45 miles of Paris. The American army and Marines had joined the war by this time and were under the command of General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing. Four German divisions had dug in a place named Belleau Wood on the Paris-Metz road. General Pershing tasked Marine General James Harbord with clearing Belleau Wood of Germans. On this date the US Marines launched their attack. By the end of the day the marines had suffered 1,000 casualties. For the next three weeks the Marines launched one attack after another to no avail. The German commander General Erich Ludendorff was just as determined to keep possession of the Wood in spite of the Marines bringing up US army artillery. Ludendorff brought up reinforcements and counter-attacked with swarms of machine guns, artillery and poison gas. The US Marines would not be denied and finally cleared out the Germans. The price for this victory was 10,000 dead, wounded or missing. It was during this battle that US Marine Sgt. Daniel Daly ordered his platoon to “fix bayonets” and then ordered a bayonet charge when he stood up and screamed the immortal phrase “Come on you sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever?” Daly was a two time Medal of Honor winner and was recognized by the Commandant of Marine Corp as “the fightingest Marine I ever saw.” In 1918 Congress passed a law that there could only be one Medal of Honor per hero.

1865 Earlier a man named William Quantrill had organized a Confederate guerrilla group to harass US troops operating mostly in Kansas and Missouri. Included in his small army were Frank and Jesse James. “Quantrill’s Raiders” proved to be a sore thorn in the side of the US army for the entire Civil War. It was well known that the town of Lawrence, Kansas was used as a marshaling point for US Cavalry. One night Quantrill led his men into Lawrence, they shot and killed every man they saw and burned town to the ground. After Lee surrendered in April of 1865, the Civil War was essentially over but not to Quantrill’s Raiders. They continued raids until this date when Quantrill was tracked down to Kentucky and killed by a unit of US Cavalry. Since Quantrill and his raiders operated as guerillas, they were not eligible for the blanket amnesty offered by the US. For that reason many of Quantrill’s men turned to a life of crime, including Frank and Jesse James.

Born today:

1606 French writer Pierre Corneille. He said “One must have a good memory when he has told a lie.” Sounds like my 3^rd ex-wife.

1860 English writer William Inge. He said “One of life’s pleasures is the pleasure of not going to church.” I have not been in a while because I find the members hypocritical, including most ministers and deacons. Perhaps I have not been to the right church.

1917 Dominican actress Maria Montez. She said “When I look in the mirror, I am so beautiful I scream for joy.” I admire self-esteem but this is ridiculous!

1955 US comic Sarah Bernhardt. She said “One side you have the book-burners, Congressional wives and Pat Robertson. On the other side you have vulgar comedians, foul-mouthed rap groups and Dennis Hopper, the choice should be easy.” Sarah is pretty foul-mouthed herself.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow