Its almost dawn on June 6th.

Imagine being in a landing craft about to hit the beachs of Normandy or being a paratrooper who spent the night lost and confused after landing miles from his drop zone and his companions.
I can only pray it never needs be repeated and offer thanks for those brave men of my fathers generation.

Amen to that.

The Band of Brothers & Saving Private Ryan certainly captured that feeling. There was also an excellent cable movie about Eisenhower and the preparations for the attack

Last year I read a book about D Day. It was amazing despite the amount of detailed planning the amount of good and bad luck, mistakes and bravery that day. One thing that struck me was one company that had a number of soldiers from Bedford Va being wiped out right after they landed.

I walked Omaha and Utah beaches last fall. It's literally unbelievable to me that men were able to steel themselves against that onslaught and take those beaches.

But I'm grateful they found a way. May we continue to construct a world worthy of their sacrifice.

You had to feel you were a gonner (and most were) for those who rode in the first wave of soldiers attacking the shore.

The Utah beach attack went relatively well with only 200 casualties. Omaha was another story as it was supposed to be defended by a battalion but turned out to be a division. Compounding the problem was that due to heavy smoke the airforce overshot it's bombing runs and missed most of their targets.

The real problem and heavy casuaties was the next 30+ days as the Allied armies were unable to break out from Normandy due to the landscape which gave the advantage to the Germans

Until you see the crosses stretched across the land, you can't comprehend the amount of troops that died on those beaches. More than 10,000 died just in that one battle. People have a cow about the number of dead from the current Iraq war, it's nothing compared to what happened on those beaches.

God Bless them

First off...I don't mean to thread jack but I just want to say hello to anyone who still remembers me from these boards. I wish I had more time to spend here but life is busy. I hope you're all doing well. Most of you at least.

Chilcoot...very well said. I envy the trip you took. That had to have been an emotional journey. I lost 2 members of my family on Omaha. I want to make the trip there. Any advice on trip planning? Places to stay, permits, etc. Thanks for your help!

You won't need any permits, it's open to the public. They offer tours however I'm not sure on the hours of operation. You should be able to do a google on the area and find the tour information you need.

Bring a camera with a very wide lens, your pictures will have a much better look and feel.