Veterans Day

[Slaughter]

For all the effort and sacrifices veterans have given for the country; THANK YOU!

[Apache Warrior]

Amen.
Apache

[jaspurr]

My Grandfather served in WWI and WWII. He lied about his age in both. He was a good liar

[juneau]

My grandfather served in Africa.

[Apache Warrior]

I had an Uncle on a Jeep Carrier sub hunting in the Atlantic and then in the Pacific after Normandy. His ship received a Presidential Unit Siltation for sinking 7 subs in 5 days.
I had a cousin who served on the Hornet. He was on when it was sunk, but he survived.
My best friends father served as the Captain of the USS Frankford at Utah Beach.
He took his ship to within 800 yards of the shore, at low tide, to give fire support to the beleaguered troops on Utah Beach. The ships were under orders to expend no more than 20% of their ammunition against shore emplacements. the navy was worried about German Aircraft and Z Boats. He expended all of his 5" ammo trying to help the troops onshore. Some of his crew and others thought he should have gotten the Medal of Honor. They got together and informed him that they were going to press the navy to give him the medal. He told them he would refuse it if they were successful. He never considered himself a hero. He said he was only doing his job.
http://projects.militarytimes.com/ci...ipientid=55128
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Frankford_(DD-497)
http://macarthurmetro.org/199406/news/1241

On the morning of 6 June 1944 James E. Knight, a soldier in the 299th Combat Engineer Battalion of the 1st Infantry Division, found himself pinned down on the rocky shoreline at Omaha Beach by German artillery and machine guns dug in on the bluffs overlooking the beach. He and hundreds of other American soldiers were trapped between the murderous fire of the defenders and the rising tide behind them.

Late in the morning Knight saw a destroyer come into the shallows behind him and fire over his head at the German strong points. Soon he and the others were able to leave the beach and move inland. He remembers the ship as Frankford, and suggested that someone research the facts and see if Frankford, by herself, might have turned the tide of the Omaha landing — and, possibly, the whole Normandy invasion. (Knight, 124-26)

Frankford, however, was not alone. She was flagship of Destroyer Squadron 18, commanded by Captain Harry Sanders, and more than one destroyer nearly put her bow in the sand to break the German wall at Omaha Beach. The author, gunnery officer of Doyle, has undertaken the research suggested by James Knight, and believes he is right in his assumption that naval guns were instrumental in turning the tide. Eight ships of DESRON 18, plus Emmons and three British destroyers, backed up the heroic efforts of the soldiers of the 1st and 29th Divisions, and had a large share in starting them on the road to victory.

In his action report Commander W. J. Marshall, commander of Destroyer Division 36, writes: "At 0617 (H minus 13 minutes) LCT(R)s [British landing craft converted to fire bombardment rockets] commenced firing rockets, drenching the area just inland from the beaches. Fire from this beach was temporarily silenced and the entire area covered with heavy smoke and dust. Troops landed and proceeded up the beach into the smoke."

Apache