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[TheBoy]

I note, sadly, the UK TV channels have not bothered this anniversary, I'm sure Celebrity Tits Out is more important.

As, not only Overload but all of the 2nd minor disagreement, falls out of living memory, remembering and learning from this time in history is important, more so as we head into a period of heightened global tension.

If ever you get a chance to visit the coast of Normandy, ignoring what some may think of the French, Socialist, EU, whatever, I would urge you to do so. Not only to pay your respects for those that never made it back, but also to understand those few weeks in history.

Lest we forget.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Many were wet behind the ears 18 and 19 year olds.

Something they never forgot.....if they survived.

[ronnyd]

BBC had wall to wall coverage of the memorial service this morning. Quite moving seeing the old veterans giving eulogies, probably their last chance to go there for some. Heroes to a man.

[TheBoy]

Many were wet behind the ears 18 and 19 year olds.

Something they never forgot.....if they survived.

Many much younger.

Certainly not many left  :'(

[TheBoy]

BBC had wall to wall coverage of the memorial service this morning. Quite moving seeing the old veterans giving eulogies, probably there last chance to go there for some. Heroes to a man.

Oooo, I missed that, despite channel flicking a bit - whilst working, obviously....


S'pose it makes sense they will show it, as it was one of their journalists behind the British memorial over there.  Really glad they did cover it , I'll go take a gander at iPlayer.

[TheBoy]

I think it's easy to be blasé about the whole thing - I know I was when I went to the American cemetery near Omaha Beach for the first time.  We've all seen Shaving Ryans Privates and The Longest Day, and know the yanks took a kicking.  As we approached the cemetery, we were talking about how there were "only" 9000 US graves (for the whole Overlord operation, not just 6th June 1944).  Then you walk into the 170 acre field, and I defy anyone not to be moved, even a heartless bastard like me.

I've been a few times, and its always equally sombering...

[Andy B]

Quite a bit of coverage on Radio 2 this morning.

Driving back home through  Northern France a few years back we stopped at a few war cemeteries.  The German cemeteries were as moving if not more so than ours .... 4 names to a cross & a stylised grave stone with Jewish dead from the 1st World War interspersed within the crosses. 😕

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I think it's easy to be blasé about the whole thing - I know I was when I went to the American cemetery near Omaha Beach for the first time.  We've all seen Shaving Ryans Privates and The Longest Day, and know the yanks took a kicking.  As we approached the cemetery, we were talking about how there were "only" 9000 US graves (for the whole Overlord operation, not just 6th June 1944).  Then you walk into the 170 acre field, and I defy anyone not to be moved, even a heartless bastard like me.

I've been a few times, and its always equally sombering...

https://youtu.be/hdBEyitJ7Qc?feature=shared

[Rangie]

Watched the majority of the coverage , very moving especially when the 98 & 100 year old soldiers are moved to tears explaining what they witnessed and how helpless they felt watching their comrades fall. We must never forget.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Apparently a recent survey said that around 50% of British young people have no or little knowledge of D-Day. 

I guess history lessons are all about the trans Atlantic slave trade and the bad bits of our colonial past these days.   

[Raeturbo]

Too bloody true

[Nick W]

I think it's easy to be blasé about the whole thing - I know I was when I went to the American cemetery near Omaha Beach for the first time.  We've all seen Shaving Ryans Privates and The Longest Day, and know the yanks took a kicking.  As we approached the cemetery, we were talking about how there were "only" 9000 US graves (for the whole Overlord operation, not just 6th June 1944).  Then you walk into the 170 acre field, and I defy anyone not to be moved, even a heartless bastard like me.

I've been a few times, and its always equally sombering...

We went to Normandy several times in the seventies, before they cleared the wreckage from the beaches. The sheer amount of stuff visible when the tide went out was sobering even to a 7 year old.


The smaller cemeteries scattered throughout the countryside are just as shocking.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Rishi seems to be receiving a boll*ocking for leaving early.

He looks deeply uncomfortable.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Probably doesnt really understand what all the fuss us about. He had a lengthy photo opportunity there. Then left for another one. Simples. 
Added to the fact the Tory election broadcast the other night had the Union flag flying upside down, it shows the days of the Tories being genuine patriots are long gone.


As a side note - We sent the best we had to French beaches 80 years ago.
Look what the French are sending to our beaches now. 

[Raeturbo]

Can’t see why they can’t have a large squad of people waiting for these boats to load up and then puncture them before they leave, that’s surely not illegal. An easy solution, what could go wrong?