The 70th Anniversary of D-Day is nearly upon us and this may well be the final time that surviving participants of that momentous day will be on hand to commemorate that event.
As an ASL player, I am pleased to be playing the Pegasus Bridge Campaign Game at this time and I expect that my opponent and I will come close to completing it very near the 70th Anniversary of the battle. So in advance of that I would like to submit this post to remember those who fought for the liberty of Western Europe in those dark days of Nazi Occupation. Our world will never be completely free of those who would try to take away our liberty...but thankfully, there will always be those who will stand up and defend it. So I tip my hat to those heroes of Pegasus Bridge and remember also their opponent, whose cause was so completely unworthy of his personal valor.
Hail Britannia and Vive le France!
The face of Heroism given a moment to reflect on that great purpose to which he dedicated a portion of his life. To all Veterans...thank you.
Lt. Col. Pine-Coffin
Major Howard.
Colonel Hans von Luck.
Major Howard and Colonel Hans von Luck with Stephen Ambrose at Pegasus Bridge. Enemies no more.
A sobering post.
ReplyDeleteThe war may have ended in 1945. But for the veterans, the war would only truly end with their passing.
That most went on to rebuild Europe, along with their lives, is as impressive as any feat carried out on the field of battle.
I worked with a salesman that was a Korean War Vet. I didn't know this fact until we were on a flight together to Memphis to visit a supplier in Oxford, MS. It was then that he told me his war story. He arrived in Korea and was assigned to an army Signals Battalion. He arrived at base camp and asked where his platoon was. He was told that they were out laying cable and would be back by nightfall. Well they never returned. The next day he found out that North Koreans had ambushed and wiped them out to a man. So he spent his tour assigned to the quartermaster. And this is when he began drinking (I knew already that he liked to drink). He told me that he would spend his days drinking vodka out of a pineapple can. And believe it or not being drunk he said saved his life. One day while in his jeep (drunk), he was spotted by a North Korean Anti-Tank gun. The gun kept missing him, because he was literally weaving drunkenly down the road. He finally stopped and staggered out of his jeep just as they hit it and destroyed it. We landed shortly thereafter and he never mentioned it to me again. He died of prostate cancer in 2005 and is buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, MO. Needless to say...it is on my bucket list of things to do before I die. I have a journey to his gravesite on the agenda. And I look forward to one more visit with my friend, Don.
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