CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

A DAY AT THE BEACH

6/12/2014

 
As I sat at the beach earlier this past week, looking all around myself at people playing in the sand and frolicking in the waves, I could not help but be reminded of another day at the beach – one that wasn’t so happy and carefree.

For, on a hitherto unknown stretch of beach more than half a century and half a world away (at Normandy on June 6, 1944), thousands of American young men (the average age  was only 19) spent their own day in the waves and on the sand.  Only, they had to fight their way ashore against savage resistance from an entrenched and brutal adversary.  By comparison, my only inconvenience was  the occasional cloud.

And later, when my own day at the beach was done, I made my way off the beach to a comfortable condo and soft bed just over the dunes.  Today, situated just over the hill from that other beach is a hallowed cemetery full of brave men, all resting in rough wooden coffins and covered in grass.

Each and every one of them willingly sacrificed their lives in order that I might  have the freedoms that I enjoy today.  In short, my day at the beach was made possible by their day at the
beach.  And I, for one, will never forget the price they paid. Never!

NOTE:  In my four plus years of blogging, I do not know if I have ever received as much feedback as I have from my post last week about D-Day.  I thought I  would take the time today to list a few resources for those who desire to know more about that day of days.

Of course, for armchair historians, the internet is both the greatest blessing and the greatest curse of the day.  For instance, in response to a query on “D-Day”,  Google
returned about 1,260,000,000 results, all in less than .26 seconds. That is simply awesome!  But who has the time to sort through more than one and a quarter billion items?!  In light of this, where does one begin to learn more about this topic?  Here are some suggestions for the average layman from an amateur WWII sleuth.

To begin with, channels like National Geographic, The History Channel, H2, Discovery, AHC (American Heroes Channel – the new name for what was once the Military Channel) and even PBS have numerous documentaries on the topic of World War Two. Many of these are one or two hour specials devoted specifically to Operation Overlord (the Allied  Invasion of Nazi Occupied Europe via Normandy in June of 1944).  Air times for  these can be found on the respective web pages of these networks.  Most are also for sale in DVD format as well.
 
Some of the best documentary series are World War II in Colour (an exceptional British Production, thus the unique spelling of the word color), The Color of War, WWII in HD,  Victory at Sea, and the landmark series, The World at War.  These can all be purchased fairly inexpensively online at places like eBay and/or Amazon
.  (A word to the wise: make certain that you are purchasing DVDs compatible with your own DVD Region. England differs from North America.)

Needless to say, as World War Two was the single biggest event in human history, books on the subject fairly abound.  In my opinion, the definitive work on the subject for layman is Norman Stone’s World War Two: A Short History.  Much more in depth studies exist, including works like William L. Shirer’s c. 1500 page tome,
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.  More readable one volume histories  include John Keegan's The Second World War (at only 608 pages) and Martin Gilbert's similarly titled The Second World War (at 928 pages).  (Gilbert has a companion volume on The First World War.)  Norman Polmar’s works are all good, as well as varied and informative.  Studs Terkel (The Good War) also did a lot with oral histories from actual WWII veterans.

Books devoted specifically to D-Day include the classic work, The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan, which was later made into a movie.  Stephen Ambrose wrote several good, readable books as well - among them D-Day, Pegasus Bridge, Band of Brothers, and
Citizen Soldiers.
 
Band of Brothers, itself, was made into an award winning mini-series by HBO.  Other classic dramatic renditions include films like The Longest Day (star studded and the best of them all), The Big Red One (based on the book of the same name by Samuel Fuller detailing his own experiences invading North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy), D-Day: The Sixth of June (an old black and white film starring Robert Taylor), and, of course, the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan.

Lastly, web sites exist which are devoted entirely to Old Time Radio.  A Google search will lead anyone interested in knowing more to wonderful first-hand accounts of the war as they unfolded.  One such  example can be found online at
https://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day.

This site contains the complete, unedited radio recordings that were broadcasted on CBS and NBC back here in America while the actual landings were taking place.  Listening to this, one gets the sense of what it must have been like to have sat “glued to the radio”, as it  were, breathlessly awaiting any word of news from the battlefield.  Given that some 200,000 men were ultimately involved in the landings, no doubt many anxious wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters did just that.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All