D-Day 64 Years Later

Yep you guessed it, this is a post from Brian...not Lauren! So rejoice while you can but, I' sorry friends, this probably won't be the usual bright and cheery blog. Actually I'm writing because I have nothing better to do at my office, and my mind at this time of year always seems to drift to thoughts of many of our grandfathers and what they endured during the 40's. So with it being D-Day plus 64 years, I thought that I would pay a tribute to the "Greatest Generation".

I just wanted to try to help everyone understand what it is that our Grandparents endured and why we should be grateful for the country we live in. There have been worse situations in war than that for the US soldiers that charged the shores of Normandy at Utah and Omaha beach, but it still was one of the worst, and one of the most celebrated battles in US history. For those that have seen Saving Private Ryan, it does it some justice, but not enough. There were some of those Higgins boats that had everyone killed before they ever set foot on dry land. Some companies, which is comprised of about 200 men, had 90% casualties. Most of those casualties being death. The ocean water was red with blood for days after the first wave of soldeirs hit the beach. When the soldiers got onto the beach there was no protection from the shower of bullets and mortars, and the men weren't stuck on the beach for a few minutes. they were there for 9-10 hours. There was nothing glorious about what happened on that day, other then the fact that those men died for their country. They died for their families, for your families and for each other. Most of them were 18 to 22. Most disturbing of all is that many died screaming for their mothers to come comfort them.

I just want to publicly, even though this is not very public on this blog, thank everyone that has ever served in the military. I have a few great friends, Darin and Bruce, as well as others that have recently been the middle east, one of them twice and coming home with purple hearts. I want to thank you for having the guts to lay it down on the line and show the world that you love your country. I have more admiration for them than I do most people.

And for those people that are against what we are doing, and what we have done with our military I have a couple of quotes for ya. One is from a bumper stick that states "If you can read, thank a teacher, if you can read in English, thank a soldier". The other which sums up my feelings about those that all day long criticize this country and complain about how "horrible" our country is. It comes from South Park and it states, "If you don't like America, then you can just git out!" That's how I feel. So in closing, I just wanted to tell everyone how grateful I am for those that stormed the beaches on D-Day and all those that have fought or served in the military! So to end this post, here are some pics of D-Day. (Sorry about how they are placed, its my first time posting pics.)