in Honor of the D-Day Anniversary.....

[witchbottles]

A few trivia tidbits -

1. 1 in 35 US servicemen landed on Omaha Beach in 6-6-44 was KIA - a significantly higher proportion than the overall KIA rate of US forces in WW2.

2. 64 of the West Point Graduating class of 1915 were Generals by the time of D-Day, earning the class the moniker "The class the "stars" fell upon..".

3. Hitler awarded a Knights Cross and Oak Leaves to Walter Hennecke, the commander of the defenses at Cherbourg , for the destruction of the port facilities before capture. Edward Ellsworth, an officer assigned to command the reconstruction and clearing efforts to put the port back in service, stated on record "that for once, I actually found myself agreeing with the Fuhrer, it was a masterful job of demolition." Ellsworth was Jewish.

4. Eisenhower's son was a West Point graduate. His father could not attend the ceremonies, due to previous commitments..... John Eisenhower graduated West Point on 6-6-1944.

 

[Ric of The LBC]

3 scenes from The Longest Day were shot on the real battle fields. Pegasus Bridge, Point Du Hoc and Saint Mere Eglise.

 

[witchbottles]

Here's a few more;

1. By the end of D-Day the Allies had landed, among everything else, 94 folding motorcycles and 745 folding bicycles.

2. Richard Todd, who played Major Howard in "The Longest Day" was dropped on D-Day as part of the 7th Para Battalion.

3. James Doohan - Scotty on Star Trek, landed with the Royal Canadian Artillery on D-Day and lost a finger in action. ( I never noticed he was missing a finger in all my years of watching Star Trek).

4. Over 90 % of the D-Day Combat Cameraman photography footage was accidentally destroyed on D+1 in a developing accident aboard ship.