"You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine,...

... the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely....The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

~General Dwight D. Eisenhower giving the D-Day order on June 6, 1944.

Yeaaaaaaah!!!!!!!

My hat, if I wore one, would not only be topped off to you, but I would throw it at your feet as you have seen enough mud and I enough death, of brothers and fathers and those whom I loved, dying for us all. Christ? Naw, he is just one fabled man dying for our sins. WWII, yeah, now there were some men dying for the real lust, love of life. A million dying for freedom and us and tears and ideology.
But true, is the face of a man who has nothing and wants to, at the end of the 1930's, provide for his family.
So, he goes, off to fight Fascism. Off to fight Nazi Germany, off to take 10 yards of sand. Off to take a beach.
We died, like that and even harder. We died so that others may live and even in Holland, and I wept like a child upon seeing it, there is a statue to a Canadian airman,
He had the choice, after being shot-up and down, of ejecting his plane to have it hit a small Dutch town, or stay on board, and ride that fucking kraut-hit bitch to hell, avoiding the town by a few miles.
And he died like that, throttle back hard, praying, loving his wife and children, knowing he was going to die. He did it because it was the right thing to do, the only thing to do.

When I saw the statue, in 1995, 50 years to the day of the liberation of Holland by Canadians, I breathed deep and prepared for memories that were never mine but always ours, collectively.

That soldier, that man, that hero, has made more of a contribution to Canada than I could ever hope for.

Thank you, granddad. Those beaches were hard and now I know why grandparents can handle kids when the folks are off; because kids are easy, compared to .50 caliber slugs, semi-auto, raining down all fucking day.
Or your man in a trench somewhere, you only getting rain-soaked letters from him telling you that you are all he wants, all he has ever wanted. A home, with you, and some babies to carry forth in this Nazi- free world, that new world. Here, now and always. And so they did.

So, happy V-day, you lazy cunts.

-Sid
xoxoxoxo