By June 8-1944, the total number of Allied troops killed two days previous, on D-Day, totaled more than 4,000. Of those four thousand, 2,501 were Americans, mostly killed on Omaha Beach in the first wave at 6:30 a.m., while other Americans were killed scaling the cliffs of Utah.
I shared this a few years ago, During the pandemic, I rediscovered my cousin David. He lives south of the Mason-Dixon line. We hadn’t seen or spoken to each other for 60 years. He was at my dad’s funeral in October 1960. We spoke on the phone in November 2020. His first question to me after we got done the small talk, was “What did you dad do in the War?” I told him he was a field artillery sargeant attached to the marines. He was at Guadalcanal, Boganville, Luzon, Okinawa, and other battles in the South Pacific. He was awarded 3 Bronze Stars, two with Valor.
Then I asked him about his dad, my Uncle Elsie (his real name was Elsmore). Then, almost like reciting something from a book, David paused and said, “Dog Green Sector, Omaha Beach. 29th Infantry Division, 6:30 a.m., June 6-1944.” Then he said, “My dad had the thumb and part of his left hand blown off while fighting his way across Omaha Beach.” I asked, “Did they send him home with a Purple Heart?” “No,” he said, “they just patched him up and told him he was going to Germany.” Elsie after the war, received his Purple Heart.
Both of our dads had nightmares for years after the war… they were changed forever. So, Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. was somewhat correct when he stated, “We’ll start the war from right here.” But for Veterans like our dads… the war never ended.
And I have to believe, after watching and listening to the still remaining WWII Vets at Normandy two days ago… the war and the invasion still seem like yesterday to these heroes of June 6th.
In no way would I ever, sitting at this computer, glorify war. My dad died, to what many would call, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. He caught malaria in Okinawa. After the war, the nightmares, fevers, sweats, and blackouts would continue until he died on the morning of October 15, 1960 at Philadelphia General Hospital in West Philly… where I was born eight and a half years earlier in 1952.
Elsmore DeFrehn died of a heart attack in 1972. I’m sure he looked everyday at his left hand and remembered that day on Dog Green Sector of Omaha Beach and the men who did not make it back home.
Both were still young men, in the prime of their lives.
So…
And maybe some of you can help me here with a comment or email. I’m having a tough time seeing people who live in this country shouting “Death to America and burning our Flag.” Yes, I know this is a protected right under our Constitution, the same document these people hate.
As many of you know who’ve read my missives for over four years now, I love history. I believe, if we don’t know our history, we will make the same mistakes we made at our beginning almost 250 years ago.
During my 72 years on this Blue Dot of ours I’ve stood on the hallowed grounds of Valley Forge, Bunker Hill, Lexinton and Concord, Princeton, Trenton, Yorktown, Fort McHenry, Fort Sumter, Bull Run, Fredricksburg, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Petersburg, the Wilderness, and at Appomattax where Lee surrendered to Grant.
In 2007, I stood in the waters off of Omaha Beach and then on the bluff above where the American Cemetery resides. All Hallowed Ground.
I shed many tears in all of these places.
I believe I can write all of this today, because of those men and women who gave the last full measure of their lives… from Valley Forge to Gettysburg to San Juan Hill to the Marne. From Pearl Harbor to Iwo Gima and Okinawa. From North Africa to Italy to those beaches in Nomandy. From Incheon to Pork Chop Hill. From Khe San to the Citadel during the Tet Offensive and then to Cambodia and Saigon. From the First Iraq War, through all the battles in Afganistan and beyond.
For the Unknown soldiers buried around the globe who died that we might live in Freedom. Yes, even the Freedom to yell, Death to America.
I fear we are losing our country… how about you?
The next couple of videos are what I would call “historical fiction.” I don’t believe I need to add anything to their content. Again, I believe I am FREE because of these people. Saying “thank you” seems trite. But for all you Veterans reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I owe you this life I live in these United States of America.