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If we cannot secure our needs for survival on the basis of law and justice, then we must be ready to secure them with army in our hands. -- Mihaly Karolyi |
Letter from Kenneth7992 Reads
V-Mail , June 1944:
Dear Mom, "The O.W.I. has given you more information about the historic D-Day than we could hope to include in one letter. Of Interest to you is our personal safety and the thrills we experienced. Hollywood could not reproduce them. When we were several hours before H Hour, the sky was lighted by plane-dropped star shells, thence minutes passed, our minds were torn from the dangers that lay on either side of the narrow mine-swept roads as we waited to learn who had lighted the sky--friend or foe. Then came the drone of hundreds of bombers and eight miles of exploding bombs on the peninsula made our ship vibrate. Our Air Force worked in spite of the tracers that made beautiful patterns against the sky.
Soon after dawn a Messerschmitt could be seen coming out of a white cloud bank to meet the tracer fire from a P-47. As the American plane passed, a spitfire drove it's fiery tongue at the crippled German and sent him down in flames. We could see mines erupting: and geysers around the ships told of shore batteries firing on the invasion fleet. The hours melted into days and nights. By day the allied transports extended from horizon to horizon, while allied bombers and fighters worked overhead our guns responded to location D.T. on enemy positions. A message from a fire patrol agent stated: 'your fire is removing the turrets from their tanks', or another: 'the enemy hasn't been seen since your last salvo.' Almost everybody got some mail recently. What a thrill to realize that the radio and newspapers had given you an account of the excellent performance of our ship. The officers, men, and ship did a good job and I'm proud to be aboard. Till you hear from me again, keep praying, your prayers are being heard." Love, Ray |
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This Day in History
1296:
Edward I defeats the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar.
1746: King George II wins the battle of Culloden. 1813: American forces capture York (present-day Toronto), the seat of government in Ontario. 1863: The Army of the Potomac begins marching on Chancellorsville. 1937: German bombers of the Condor Legion devastate Guernica, Spain. 1941: The German army enters the Greek capital, signaling the end of Greek resistance. All mainland Greece and all the Greek Aegean islands except Crete are under German occupation by May 11. In fending off the Axis invaders, the Greeks suffer the loss of 15,700 men. 1972: North Vietnamese troops shatter defenses north of Quang Tri and move to within 2.5 miles of the city. Using Russian-built tanks, they took Dong Ha, 7 miles north of Quang Tri, the next day and continued to tighten their ring around Quang Tri, shelling it heavily. 1975: Saigon is encircled by North Vietnamese troops. 1978: Afghanistan President Sardar Mohammed Daoud is overthrown and murdered in a coup led by procommunist rebels. |
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