D-Day: 65th Anniversary commemorations

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, today is the 65th anniversary and I have spent most of the day watching the live coverage of the news from Normandy on the BBC.

I was interested to see some of the Veterans being honoured by French President Nicolas Sarkozy with the Legion of Honour. The US Veteran decorated was Zane Schlemmer I have had the pleasure of meeting him personally. So I was really pleased to see him honoured! He was a US Paratrooper with the US 508th Parachute Infantry Regt. He was based in my home town of Nottingham in 1944 and that is how I first got to meet him many years ago now. He lives in Hawai.

If you do a search on his name, you can find a lot written about him.

Cheers, Ade.

[RedArmyCollector]

Hey, Ade

I unfortunately missed the live coverage of the D-Day ceremony because it was to early it was to early where I live so I was still sleeping...I'll have to look it up on the internet.

I will go look up Schlemmer now as I have never heard about him and am curious.

[Ty Revelo]

We at this forum need to make June 6th a world wide holiday

Thanks for the info. Ade i am hoping that there will be a play back on the cable tv.

rgds, Ty

[Stewy S]

I take my hat off to all the soldiers who were there & the families of the one's that never made it home. Stewy S

[John Brandon]

I take my hat off to all the soldiers who were there & the families of the one's that never made it home. Stewy S

Just watched the old BBC program on D Day, the one where its a mixture of drama and real footage, narrated by Ian Holme. Very moving.

In the mid 80's I personally worked alongside one of the paras that landed in Ranville on the 5th June. He never ever spoke about it. Until he knew I was going to visit some places, and he gave me a slip of paper with a poem on it, and asked me to go to the cemetery in Ranville, and say this poem, and a little prayer for his "Mates, that never came back"

I did, and I took some photographs for him, of the village, and some of the graves (without names showing) When I showed him the pictures, he just cried like a baby. I felt so bad, but after he told me that it was years of pent up feelings, and always wondering was the reason he broke down.

Remember in the 80's there were no digital cameras, and D Day had nearly been forgotten. The museums were there, but more emphasis has been put on it over the last 10 years than ever, which is a good thing

I also worked with Royal Marine Bill Sparks, anyone guess who he was?
sorry to ramble.....................................

[guscanoesp]

Just watched the old BBC program on D Day, the one where its a mixture of drama and real footage, narrated by Ian Holme. Very moving.

In the mid 80's I personally worked alongside one of the paras that landed in Ranville on the 5th June. He never ever spoke about it. Until he knew I was going to visit some places, and he gave me a slip of paper with a poem on it, and asked me to go to the cemetery in Ranville, and say this poem, and a little prayer for his "Mates, that never came back"

I did, and I took some photographs for him, of the village, and some of the graves (without names showing) When I showed him the pictures, he just cried like a baby. I felt so bad, but after he told me that it was years of pent up feelings, and always wondering was the reason he broke down.

Remember in the 80's there were no digital cameras, and D Day had nearly been forgotten. The museums were there, but more emphasis has been put on it over the last 10 years than ever, which is a good thing

I also worked with Royal Marine Bill Sparks, anyone guess who he was?
sorry to ramble.....................................

John,


Bill Sparks. Wasn´t he the commando who escaped through France and Spain to reach Gibraltar after a succesful raid in France? I think I read his incredible story somewhere.


Regards,


Gus

[John Brandon]

Gus...spot on, one of only 2 people to escape the Germans, the rest were murdered after a successful raid down the Bordeaux river in a canoe.

Immortalised in the film "Cockelshell Heros" Anthony Newley played Bill, and in the credits It says that he was a technical advisor.

He was a fantastic guy, Moved down to Portsmouth a few years ago, and worked tirelessly to have a bronze statue of a commando erected I still have his autograph, framed. What a guy!

[Gary J]

My 2nd cousin was killed on the 7th June after landing with the 6th Airborne Oxford and Bucks by glider on the night of the 5th/6th.

L/Cpl. George Edward Reeve. (29 years old) .... Buried at Ranville Cemetery.

[guscanoesp]

Gus...spot on, one of only 2 people to escape the Germans, the rest were murdered after a successful raid down the Bordeaux river in a canoe.

Immortalised in the film "Cockelshell Heros" Anthony Newley played Bill, and in the credits It says that he was a technical advisor.

He was a fantastic guy, Moved down to Portsmouth a few years ago, and worked tirelessly to have a bronze statue of a commando erected I still have his autograph, framed. What a guy!

John,

It must have been an honour to know that great man. You are quite lucky. They don´t make folks like him anymore. The mould was broken sometime after WWII. What a generation!!


Regards,


Gus

[John Brandon]

You are quite lucky.

Hi Gus
I am VERY lucky to have had the honour of meeting Bill, and quite a few like him.

We must not forget that wars are still being fought, and hero's are being made every day