Anniversary of "D-Day".

In Memory Walter K · Post by **In Memory Walter K** » Jun 6th, '10, 19:27

I find it difficult to pass this day without saying "thank you" to those men who changed the world. On that morning, I was a 10 year old kid whose sick father asked him to go down to the corner and get him a copy of The NY Daily News that he read religiously. In an era of no TV, the ultra bold headline I bought home necessitated immediately bringing the radio into his room. Many, many years later in my life as an advertising creative director I discovered my immediate superior was a member of the 101st Airborne who jumped into Normandy on the night of June 5th. We grew to be very close and on his retirement, he recommended me to take his place. He rarely spoke about it, but at a somewhat drunken business party at his house he took me into his bedroom and gave me a Nazi dagger because he knew of my love for knives. I figured he was a bit loaded, so on Monday morning I took it to his office, put it on his desk and said "Don, you gave this to me on Saturday night but you were a bit loaded and this is something you should keep". He responded, Walter, I gave that to you because I wanted to. There's not enough alcohol to make me do something I don't want to do. Many years after his death, my son called me up and asked "didn't you have a boss named Donald J. Moone?". I said "of course, he was the most important man in my career and a dear friend, why are you asking?". Well, much to my surprise, he told me that he just finished reading "Band of Brothers" and unbeknown by me, my friend and boss was an original member of Easy Company that jumped on Normandy, later into Holland, was one of the Battered Bastards of Bastogne and "liberated" Hitler's "Eagles Nest" hideaway. I was floored! I immediately got the book and read it from cover to cover. Besides being in the book, I suddenly understood more easily how and why this man made so many of his decisions. I only wish I knew what I know now, when he was alive! None of us can thank these men enough! Forgive me for this post, but I just can't let this anniversary go by without thanking Don, the thousands with him, and the thousands who didn't survive. What we have now, we owe to those brave men. Walter

Mike Moran · Post by **Mike Moran** » Jun 6th, '10, 20:07

Walter what a great story thanks for sharing it with us , what a great person he was.

randall · Post by **randall** » Jun 6th, '10, 20:51

i mentioned to jesse this morning that today was the day his grandfather flew his light bomber over the english channel and if he didnt survive, as so many didnt, he never would have existed....or me. that aside, the simple fact is .........as Americans we owe everything we have to men of my dads generation.

nice story walter.

Harry Babb · Post by **Harry Babb** » Jun 6th, '10, 20:54

That is a good story Walter, and I too thank you for sharing

Harry

nestorpr · Post by **nestorpr** » Jun 6th, '10, 20:56

It's no wonder they're called the Best Generation.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Jun 6th, '10, 22:19

my now deceased uncle was 5th wave on utah beach . by the time they won the battle at metz (sp?) there were two 5 men left of the original company. my came ashore as a 21 year old man with a 1 year old dauther . went thru 4 years with a purple heart and bronze star. that wound finally killed him in later years.a great father and family man never really got into the real action because it was overshadowed by my uncle joe whom died at pearl harbor .my fathers older brother was strafe while defending the air based .the flag means alot to me and i will cherish it to the day i die regardless of politicians.----------out

coolair · Post by **coolair** » Jun 7th, '10, 00:05

my great uncle told me the story today of where he was this day 66 years ago .. intel for US Air Force said skys were solid planes said he would never forget that day. God Bless our country and the people who have fought and continue to fight for our freedoms.

MarkS · Post by **MarkS** » Jun 7th, '10, 08:26

Thanks Walter!

In Memory Walter K · Post by **In Memory Walter K** » Jun 7th, '10, 09:00

Was it just me or did the media seem to forget the anniversary? Nothing on PBS, nothing on The History Channel, No special section in the papers?

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Jun 7th, '10, 09:40

Walter, thanks for sharing.

Making it personal brings additional realness to the day for me.

Unless you listen to talk radio, your right Walter, no media coverage.
That is sad... says alot about what "they" think is important.

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Jun 7th, '10, 09:57

My wife, 10 year old daughter and I lived in Europe (Belgium) for three years, and while there I tried to expose our daughter to the history of the region. We visited the then closely guarded border between East and West Germany (this was before the fall of the USSR) and many of the sites of major WW2 battles. We took several day trips to areas I read about in high school history classes.

We took a trip to Bastogne, visited the military museum there, and walked the streets of the relatively small town. It was a real emotional experience to walk in the same streets that a small group of American soldiers walked, while holed up in the dead of winter trying to hold out against a much larger force until reinforcements arrived. There are still bullet and shell marks on the walls of many of the old buildings.

We visited many cemetaries where American military personnel are buried. It is a sobering experience to stand in the middle of a gently rolling field on a balmy summer morning and see rows and rows of graves marked with crosses, six pointed stars, and crescents, all arranged so that no matter which direction you looked you saw the markers in perfectly straight lines. I had not realized until then that there is an American Military Cemetary Commission that maintains the grounds where our fallen are buried, all over the world. Of the hundreds of acres we saw there is not a single blade of grass out of place. These are special places!

These men and women accepted the challenge and gave their all so we and our children can live in freedom.

Sadly.. Freedom is not free!

RAWicklund · Post by **RAWicklund** » Jun 7th, '10, 11:46

Walter,
I too found the mention of D Day conspicously absent from most media outlets.

BUT there was a remembance on the front page of the comic section in the "Peanuts" strip "June 6 1944- To Remember"

My son pointed it out to me....... so we had this talk.......

Ray

In Memory Walter K · Post by **In Memory Walter K** » Jun 8th, '10, 11:39

I did not know these "D-Day" pictures existed.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/20 ... y-beaches/

Walter

randall · Post by **randall** » Jun 8th, '10, 12:00

great shots walter...thank you!!!

shot 12.....ive seen it before.

Dug · Post by **Dug** » Jun 8th, '10, 12:29

Walter,

It was not just you, the media missed the opportunity. That being said they are quite screwed up lately and it doesn't surprise me...only disgusts.

I am with you 100% in my gratefulness to my current military and the greatest generation as well. Amazing feats required by a scary world. And the world is still scary.

I lived in southern Holland for a few months after college with a local host family. They are still friends of mine, and wonderful people. When in college one of the favored outfits for athletics consisted of a "Bundeswhere" tank top with a German military seal. I had one. I made the mistake of wearing it one night when I was going running. I was not familiar with the area and its history and it was my mistake. Needless to say I immediately took off the tank and threw it away. I had not known the area had been occupied by the germans and that the grandparents etc. had been starved of food and given horrible treatment. To say I was sorry and then well informed was an understatement.

As I said, the media missed the boat, yet again...

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Jun 8th, '10, 19:03

my uncle tony and my father tell a differant story because these photo`s are after the fact basicily more like the landing shown on the movie picture 'saving private ryan" there is nobody shooting during these photo`s . 5000 men were dead in a few hours on omaha beach 10,000 casualties for the day .like i said in the above post two five man squads (10) men left out of 120 man company at the break out (metz) . my father lived with this incrediable carnage to the day he died and he had a full military buriel as well as my uncle .florida police rode in front and stop cars at every intersection , i was so gratful of the florida population for the respect shown. i chose to have my remains bury in the same way with my fallen brothers-----------amen

randall · Post by **randall** » Jun 8th, '10, 23:26

bob...my dad came back with hundreds of aerial photographs of bombing runs including D-Day. a truly amazing day in history.

In Memory Walter K · Post by **In Memory Walter K** » Jun 9th, '10, 09:08

Randall-Both from a historical and collector's point of view, they may be worth a lot of money.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Jun 9th, '10, 11:24

walterk my father had a book of photo`s copiled by a army photo team in a bound book. some of the photo`s were of a concentration camp "liberated" by the 4th infantry division horrible pictures beyond imagination .i think my mother disposed of the thick book after his death i had no idea they would have been worth money.
when elements of the 4th division started to flank the german pill boxes up on the hill looking over the beach head you would think they would turn there guns on the few that started to shoot into there drenches from behind ----no they were intent on killing as many as they could by shooting the troops while they were bunch up leaving the landing craft even though they were outflanked .my uncle began shooting the crazed bastards in the back.other then the civil war america never lost masses like that day in a one day battle.my grandfather patrick told my father of similar american losses in ww1 .every male in three generations of our family have gone to war.all but joseph lico came back ,all were never the same!!!

AndreF · Post by **AndreF** » Jun 9th, '10, 11:40

Great posts, thanks.

randall · Post by **randall** » Jun 9th, '10, 12:56

walter...i think my brother might have them...he has all the medals framed on the wall. i have the book "bridge busters" however. i'll show it to you sometime...its pretty amazing. story of the 394th bombardment group. the photo of the B26 marauder you posted was shot on the same roll of film as the one in my dads book.

days like memorial day and D-Day dont go passed unremembered at our house.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Jun 9th, '10, 19:38

randall i don`t have world war 1 capt. patrick but here is uncle joe on left at pearl harbor actually the air base nearby hickem field .my father in england prior to d-day.

randall · Post by **randall** » Jun 10th, '10, 07:42

nice shots bob...a jaunty fellow he.

one of the most amazing mementos i have is about 10 years ago i got a letter from my dads english girl friend during the war. i didnt even know she existed. pretty heavy stuff about wartime england....like a movie. my dad would never talk about the war till i was about 40..(although once in the summer his entire surviving crew came over for a BBQ)....then he told me hours and hours worth. he told me the reason he joined the air force was that even though the attrition rate was high...it was black and white. you were either getting shot at or you had a safe enviroment with 3 hots and a cot....not to mention a hot shower. later i learned about the hot girlfriend.

AndreF · Post by **AndreF** » Jun 10th, '10, 09:01

The acorn............................?
ha

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Jun 10th, '10, 09:47

Walt,
One ad man to another: My brother's agency has the Virginia War Memorial as a client. For the past ten years they have been video taping interviews with the Virginia veterans of all wars. One WW I. About a thousand from WW II. Brother Tom did all the interviews. Many of the vets had never spoken about their experience to anyone. Tom asked them to voluntarily talk about their experiences for posterity. Tom is pretty good at drawing people out and he says he sat with each of them in a safe and secure environment and told them they didn't have to say anything that was uncomfortable. He would start them out talking casually about where they were when they decided to go, then about boot camp. From there most took the reigns and it was a catharsis. He said he laughed at their antics and cried and held men for whom this was their only verbal recount of a terrible black spot in their lives.
The point of the interviews was to compile a history which became known as "Virginians at War." This is a multi C.D. volume and is touted as better than Ken Burns version. If you are interested, let me know and I'll send you one. There is one whole section on D Day.
For the rest of you, if you make a donation to our sand box by sending a check to Capt Pat, I'll send you one as well. Walt needn't make a donation as he did me a kindness for which this is small payment.
Walt, u always da man.

In Memory Walter K · Post by **In Memory Walter K** » Jun 10th, '10, 11:24

Mike, I would love to have one. All these men, no matter what terrible things they had to do, will go to heaven, because they have already been in Hell. Your brother's project is truly a noble one which has, I am sure, helped the participants sweep away some of their sleeping ghosts. He has done a very important thing!

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Jun 11th, '10, 08:58

Walt,
Many thanks. Tom lurks here on occasion and will be honored and humbled.

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Jun 11th, '10, 09:54

Mikey: I would like one too! Let me know what would be an appropriate donation.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Jun 11th, '10, 13:59

Rawleigh,
Like the fundraisers say, "give 'til it hurts."
Well maybe not that bad.
Whatever you can, its for Capt. Pat's heroic efforts.

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Jun 11th, '10, 14:06

Will do!!

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