Prepping for tomorrow

Amen indeed.

That was wonderful, Bill. Amen, indeed. But now I miss my Dad something fierce, damnit!

Well done indeed.

Shipmate - Thanks for a great post. I've got tears rolling down my cheeks. Lost my dad way too young. He never spoke about his experiences during WWII. When we laid him to rest, we followed his wishes and buried him in his dress greens. I went with the CACO to the uniform shop to get a new set of ribbons. What a suprise. A Croix de Guerre, Silver Star, 2 Purple Hearts. He never spoke of any of this. Only complained about the special shoes he wore because he had lost part of his right heel. He worked, raised his kids and had a short retirement. Just like millions of other heroes from that time.

Fantastic video, Bill. Thanks to all of you for my freedom, and for my children's future in a free country.

There is this moisture in my eyes...thank you for the show. My uncle is a WWII Navy veteran who managed to get out of Germany after Hitler invaded the Sudentenland.

Also don't forget to be thankful for the ones who did vastly more than all other combatant nations put together to beat Nazi Germany: the Soviet Union. Without them there's no way that the Allies would've won. No other country in the world could have endured the full brunt of the Nazi war machine; the Soviets suffered manpower (and equipment) losses that no other nation could survive, yet they not only hung on but came back and won. In comparison with their effort, every other Allied nation's contribution shrinks into insignificance. Compared to the war on the Eastern Front, every other front was a mere sideshow. They broke the back of Nazi Germany. While the best America could do against Hitler's forces was to play a supporting role to the British in an invasion of Vichy French Morocco, the Soviets were beating Germany in Stalingrad, THE turning point of World War II; while the best America could do was to again be assigned a supporting role to the British in the invasion of Sicily, the Soviets were crushing the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient after which Germany never again regained the strategic initiative on the Eastern Front, and within the salient was the greatest tank battle ever, at Prokorovkha. While America and Britain finally got around to landing in occupied France, the Soviets were crushing German Army Group Center in Germany's largest single loss of units in any campaign of the war. For most of the time from the beginning of the war on the Eastern Front the Soviets faced more than 75% of German combat power, and even from the Normandy invasion until the end the Soviets faced no less than two-thirds of German combat power. They destroyed far more German units than all other Allied nations put together. Over eight out of ten German soldiers killed in World War II were killed fighting the Soviets. The world owes an enormous debt of gratitude to the country that really beat Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union.

Thank all of you gentlemen for reminding us how very much we have to be thankful for.