June 6, 1944 Round-up and thoughts

The Instapundit linked to this Chicago Tribune article:

“Seated this many years later at Arlington Parkracetrack in Illinois, Dick Duchossois struggles to explain the lingering mix of pride and horror from his service in World War II.”

Cassy Fiano has this at HotAir:

“It was the largest amphibious assault landing of all time. Over 160,000 men stormed the beaches. Many of them were killed before they even reached the shore. We’ll never know the exact number of brave souls lost that day.”

The Other McCain tells us about the boys of Bedford, Va.:

“Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation’s severest D-Day losses.”

A lot to see on the Army’s D-Day page.

The Ol’ Broad posts this and quotes:

“It was cold, miserably cold, even though it was June. The water temperature was probably forty-five or fifty degrees. It was up to my shoulders when I went in, and I saw men sinking all about me. I tried to grab a couple, but my job was to get on in and get to the guns.”

Michelle Malkin suggests Google is forgetting something. She has a small round-up of her own.

My friend at Spring City Chronicle has the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal covering the invasion.

Badger Blogger remembers the day also:

66 years ago today, more than 160,000 Allied solders stormed the beaches of Normandy. D-Day, the liberation of Europe had begun. This also included 24,000 men dropped by parachute and gliders. These troops were supported by more than 195,000 sailors on more than 5,000 ships.

One of those 195,000 was a 19 year old from Anderson, IN, who had enlisted the previous September. On LST-374, he no doubt made countless trips with his mates on those first days and weeks. He served as a Seaman first class as part of assault force O-1.

I never got a chance to ask dad much about his experiences while in the Navy. He passed away 36 years ago last month.

We Remember

Those who currently serve and those who have served. God bless you. Those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, we will never forget.

Thirty years?

Seemed longer than that…

30 years after the Kent State shootings, the impact in Madison is remembered.

Hearing of the shootings hundreds of miles away, UW-Madison students responded with rallies calling for an end to the Vietnam War. For days in early May 1970, they torched buildings, broke windows and threw rocks at police. Police used tear gas liberally and the governor called for the National Guard to occupy campus.

You knew it, too, right.

No doubt this will be changed soon.

[UPDATE: Yep, they did! Heh. Here's the tweet that referred to the original headline.]

Book review – In Harm’s Way

In Harm’s Way (full name: In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors) is Doug Stanton’s telling of the last voyage of the USS Indianapolis and the aftermath of the torpedo hit she took.

Beginning with the suicide of the unjustly condemned captain, the book takes us back to that final voyage; the loading of the atomic bomb and it’s delivery, the return voyage, the torpedoing and sinking, and the stories of the survivors.

It was the stories of the survivors that took up the bulk of the book and was the most riveting.

Of the nearly 1200 men that set sail on the Indianapolis, only 317 survived. Two hundred alone were lost to shark attacks that came at morning and evening. The suffering from the sun, the water and their wounds are unimaginable.

Captain McVay received a court-martial because of the incident. He later committed suicide. His men fought for his conviction to be overturned and, although the Navy exonerated him, his record has not yet been expunged [Ed. Note--As noted by Captain Toti in the comments, this last statement was incorrect. In the "Afterword 2001" Mr. Stanton notes that on July 13, 2001 the court martial was removed from Captain McVay's record. My apologies for this oversight and my thanks to Mr. Toti for pointing it out.]

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Recently, I took the tour of The Dead Sea Scrolls at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Being a Bible geek, I found it utterly fascinating. That ancient writings could survive so long is amazing.

That they would agree so much with manuscripts that date from much later is miraculous.

It’s a tad pricey at $26, but you do get a museum admission also. If you’re a member it’s much cheaper.

From the “What was he thinking?” files

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, reviving a controversy that had been dormant for eight years, has declared that April will be Confederate History Month in Virginia, a move that angered civil rights leaders Tuesday but that political observers said would strengthen his position with his conservative base.

via McDonnell’s Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders.

Who in the world thought this was a good idea?

If you want to declare something, how about “Civil War History Month?”

So much for an up and coming Republican.

How many times can they shoot themselves in the foot?