This day in history - June 6

[WarHawk-AVG]

Jim,

My parents lived in Galveston during WWII. My dad was stationed at the Galveston Army Airfield. I was told stories about ration books that they had to use to buy anything. They told about the black outs and when they fired the 12-foot guns along the sea wall that it shook the house, sometimes the dishes would fall out of the cabinets. I don't know what caliber they were all I could find out was they were 12-foot guns. I assume that means the barrels were 12ft. long. I am sure someone on the forum will know.

I ran across a very good Texas in WWII Brochure that has a lot of good information on WWII and the role Texas played in the war with each city and base listed if anyone is interested.
Thanks, for another great post.

-geo

12" guns..but they could have been 12 feet long!

Battery Wade Hampton
Near 39th and Seawall Blvd today

http://galveston.ssp.nmfs.gov/aboutus/f ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://andy_bennett.home.mindspring.com/crock1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Crockett" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/4607+FORT+ ... VARD+77551" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bryang]

"WarHawk-AVG
12" guns..but they could have been 12 feet long!

Battery Wade Hampton
Near 39th and Seawall Blvd today

http://galveston.ssp.nmfs.gov/aboutus/f ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://andy_bennett.home.mindspring.com/crock1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Crockett" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/4607+FORT+ ... VARD+77551" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I could see how that would shake Galveston up just a little bit...even break a few dishes.

Thanks, WarHawk, I just found out that they were 12" guns. I don't know why the other articles I look at only had 12-foot gun. I didn't realize Ft. Crockett was part of it and that was what trowed me off.

The websites are great!!!! and I love the pictures.

-geo

[seamusTX]

Thanks, WarHawk. Those links are fascinating. Some of those old structures are recognizable today, and the street layout hasn't changed much.

- Jim

[seamusTX]

1944 - D-Day. About 10,000 Allied troops laid down their lives in the invasion.



- Jim

[Grammy]

1944 - D-Day. About 10,000 Allied troops laid down their lives in the invasion.



- Jim

In 1988 I participated in a reenactment of the D-day invasion when I was stationed in Vicenza, Italy. We joined aircraft coming from Ft. Bragg and jumped in on the various drop zones around French counrtyside. I tell you the people in out in the countryside are not the same folks that live in Paris. I spoke with a very old gentleman in St Mariglise that rescued a paratrooper from drowning and he was very grate full and appreciative of the US on that day. The cemetaries of our fallen servicemen over there are hallowed ground and unbeleivable in size. Sorry for the typos, in a hurry to get out the house to church.
Jim

[ELB]

Jim,

...I ran across a very good Texas in WWII Brochure that has a lot of good information on WWII and the role Texas played in the war with each city and base listed if anyone is interested.
...-geo

Very interesting, thanks. I was surprised by the map showing military installations -- -surprised at the number of POW camps. A lot more than I had realized.

[Skiprr]

1944 - D-Day. About 10,000 Allied troops laid down their lives in the invasion.

- Jim

Thank you again, Jim. For helping make sure none of us forget...

[seamusTX]

You're welcome.

Whenever you think you're having a bad day, the thought of storming a beach in the face of enemy machine gun and artillery fire puts it right in perspective.

"You have a one in ten chance of death or permanent disability. If you succeed, you will save the free world and get a ribbon and discharge papers"

http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/n ... or-pam.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Most people are more familiar with The Return of the Jedi than the Normandy invasion now.

- Jim

[The Annoyed Man]

The Old Jarhead is a blog that I check on periodically. He offered this post on June 6th:

D-Day
June 6, 1944, the US and our allies invaded Europe through France, a country that had not attacked us, to get at Germany, another country that didn’t attack us and only declared war because we went to war with their ally, Japan, after firing on their planes over Pearl Harbor, long after cutting off economic materials to them through an embargo. Germany was in much the same situation as the Palestinians today, fighting the Jews. In the process of our invasion and aggressive war against Germany, hundreds of thousands of innocent French, Belgian, Dutch and German civilians were killed by us, including thousands of children. And we interfered with Germany’s sovereign right to deal with its citizens internally, just as we more recently did with Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Neither Saddam’s treatment of the Kurds and Shi’a, not Adolf’s treatment of Jews, Gays, Gypsies, Communists, Christian agitators and others he determined were undesirable were any of our business. Nor is it our business to spread our culture and political system to countries like Japan, German and Iraq against the wishes of their government. Unfortunately for Germany, they did not have the allies they would have in today’s UN, American media and leftist Americans to rally support for their side against Amerika. If they had, the National Socialist Workers Party and state capitalism might still be efficiently running the Third Reich.

All honor and eternal remembrance to our troops and those of our allies who, at the cost of their lives and unaware of the blessings of multiculturalism, put down those rabid tyrannies. Let us continue to defend the values they died for, regardless of the cost to us, and of the leftist allies of tyranny at home.

I think he leaves us in no doubt as to how he feels about things.

[ELB]

In 1988 I participated in a reenactment of the D-day invasion when I was stationed in Vicenza, Italy. We joined aircraft coming from Ft. Bragg and jumped in on the various drop zones around French counrtyside. ...

Now THAT is a neat jump to have on your record!

AIRBORNE!

[Keith B]

Had an uncle that was a pilot on one of the LCT(A) landing craft on D-Day. He said the size of that operation was unbelievable. They made several trips to and from the ships to bring more equipment and men to the beaches. He said he was never more focused in his life, but also never more scared; not for himself even though they were being shot at, but for the guys that were hitting the beaches. He said they knew that the volume of casualties were going to high and he knew he was delivering many of them to their death location.

[Kevinf2349]

One of my friends from church was aboard the USS Nevada providing some of the bombardment of the defences for D Day. He is a really interestig guy to talk to. The number of these surviving war heroes drops every year. We need to hear their stories while they are still around.

[seamusTX]

http://www.amazon.com/Good-War-Oral-His ... 1565843436" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim