Don't Forget!
- Thread starter Tom B
- Start date
Trust me Tom, I didn't forget. I never forget.
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Son
1911 Addiction
TFL End of Summer Meet
August 12th & 13th, 2000
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Son
1911 Addiction
TFL End of Summer Meet
August 12th & 13th, 2000
I guess I'm a little older than others here because that was my father's generation that stormed the beach. Those were REAL war Heroes -- unfortunately, today, everybody is called a "hero" and it cheapens the accomplishments of our true heroes. Regards,
FUD
Share what you know, learn what you don't.
[This message has been edited by FUD (edited June 06, 2000).]
FUD
Share what you know, learn what you don't.
[This message has been edited by FUD (edited June 06, 2000).]
God bless each and everyone of them...alive or past on. True warriors that had to rise to a really bad occasion. Though there will be other battles...that one exemplified such raw courage among such common men and evil was paramont in its destruction. They won the battle and respect of a then deserving nation who pulled together to win that damn war. A salute to you all.
James
James
I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought of was, June 6,humm,.. D-Day. Boy would I like to go to the range and blast away with the Garand, heck , have to go to work.
When I get to work I asked the group in the coffee room if anyone knew what June 6th was, all I got was dumb looks and no correct answers,boy are we in trouble!
Well at least some of us remember.
When I get to work I asked the group in the coffee room if anyone knew what June 6th was, all I got was dumb looks and no correct answers,boy are we in trouble!
Well at least some of us remember.
I generally can't stand this guy, yet he wrote a nice commentary this morning:
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/0606COLUMNIST.html
It had been more than a year since I spoke to John Ahearn and, the truth is, I wouldn't have called Monday if I hadn't seen a wire service story about the anniversary of D-Day.
''You've moved away from the area, haven't you?'' Ahearn said. ''That's what I was told after not seeing you for a while.''
We met about 10 years ago. Ahearn stopped by my old house to introduce himself during one of his daily walks through the neighborhood. We talked politics and weather and children. His granddaughter is about the same age as my daughter.
I didn't think to ask him about the quirky hitch in his step, figuring it must be the consequence of age rather than what it was - the consequence of war. The consequence of heroism.
A month or so before the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994, Ahearn's son-in-law called to tell me John had been there. ''You should ask him about it,'' he said.
John Ahearn agreed to tell me his D-Day story as long as I didn't play up the ''hero thing.'' A real hero, Ahearn said, was someone like his father, a mail carrier who managed to raise three boys on his own while suffering through emphysema.
''Heroes in everyday life are bigger than heroes in war,'' he said.
On June 6, 1944, Ahearn was a company commander with the 70th Tank Battalion. They landed on Utah Beach, as they'd landed previously on beaches in Sicily and North Africa.
After fighting their way off the sand, Ahearn took his tanks inland to support the infantry. At a crossroads, he split his command, leading one group and sending another, under the command of his friend Lt. Tom Tighe, in a different direction.
Not too far inland, Ahearn's tank was immobilized by a land mine. While surveying the damage, he heard the voices of injured Americans somewhere behind the nearby hedgerows.
They were wounded soldiers, trapped in a minefield. Not knowing whether medics would get to the injured men in time, Ahearn decided to go in after them.
''What could I do?'' he told me. ''I had to try.''
Along the way, he stepped on a mine. He lost his right leg below the knee and most of his left foot. Others threw him a rope and pulled him back. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and more. The last time I saw the medals and citations they were in an old gift box, the kind they hand out at department stores during the holidays.
In the decades since the war Ahearn lived through the death of his first wife, put himself through law school and raised a large and prosperous family in Phoenix.
He and his second wife, Irene, visited Normandy years ago. It was an overcast October day, and Ahearn spent a long time at the grave of his friend Tom Tighe, who was killed a few days after Ahearn was wounded.
''I'm glad you called,'' Ahearn said Monday. ''How are things going for you?''
It's what people from his generation say. It's the kind of thing my mother and father used to say. Too often, even on the anniversary of D-Day, the answer we give them is incomplete.
''Things are fine,'' we tell them, forgetting to add, ''Thanks to you.''
Reach Montini at Ed.Montini@ArizonaRepublic.com or (602) 444-8978.
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/0606COLUMNIST.html
It had been more than a year since I spoke to John Ahearn and, the truth is, I wouldn't have called Monday if I hadn't seen a wire service story about the anniversary of D-Day.
''You've moved away from the area, haven't you?'' Ahearn said. ''That's what I was told after not seeing you for a while.''
We met about 10 years ago. Ahearn stopped by my old house to introduce himself during one of his daily walks through the neighborhood. We talked politics and weather and children. His granddaughter is about the same age as my daughter.
I didn't think to ask him about the quirky hitch in his step, figuring it must be the consequence of age rather than what it was - the consequence of war. The consequence of heroism.
A month or so before the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994, Ahearn's son-in-law called to tell me John had been there. ''You should ask him about it,'' he said.
John Ahearn agreed to tell me his D-Day story as long as I didn't play up the ''hero thing.'' A real hero, Ahearn said, was someone like his father, a mail carrier who managed to raise three boys on his own while suffering through emphysema.
''Heroes in everyday life are bigger than heroes in war,'' he said.
On June 6, 1944, Ahearn was a company commander with the 70th Tank Battalion. They landed on Utah Beach, as they'd landed previously on beaches in Sicily and North Africa.
After fighting their way off the sand, Ahearn took his tanks inland to support the infantry. At a crossroads, he split his command, leading one group and sending another, under the command of his friend Lt. Tom Tighe, in a different direction.
Not too far inland, Ahearn's tank was immobilized by a land mine. While surveying the damage, he heard the voices of injured Americans somewhere behind the nearby hedgerows.
They were wounded soldiers, trapped in a minefield. Not knowing whether medics would get to the injured men in time, Ahearn decided to go in after them.
''What could I do?'' he told me. ''I had to try.''
Along the way, he stepped on a mine. He lost his right leg below the knee and most of his left foot. Others threw him a rope and pulled him back. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and more. The last time I saw the medals and citations they were in an old gift box, the kind they hand out at department stores during the holidays.
In the decades since the war Ahearn lived through the death of his first wife, put himself through law school and raised a large and prosperous family in Phoenix.
He and his second wife, Irene, visited Normandy years ago. It was an overcast October day, and Ahearn spent a long time at the grave of his friend Tom Tighe, who was killed a few days after Ahearn was wounded.
''I'm glad you called,'' Ahearn said Monday. ''How are things going for you?''
It's what people from his generation say. It's the kind of thing my mother and father used to say. Too often, even on the anniversary of D-Day, the answer we give them is incomplete.
''Things are fine,'' we tell them, forgetting to add, ''Thanks to you.''
Reach Montini at Ed.Montini@ArizonaRepublic.com or (602) 444-8978.
Ed Brunner
New member
We are Americans today because of what they did in WWII. Our way of life hasn't been threatened from without since then. All of us who served after WWII were fighting for somebody else's way of life. Think about it today.
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Better days to be,
Ed
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Better days to be,
Ed
Munro Williams
New member
And the day before yesterday was the 58th anniversary of Midway.
If you're reading this and were there, even if you never made it overseas, to all WWII vets, and I think I speak for everyone at this forum,
Thank you. God bless you. We'll never forget.
If you're reading this and were there, even if you never made it overseas, to all WWII vets, and I think I speak for everyone at this forum,
Thank you. God bless you. We'll never forget.