Thread by @giftofdad

25 quotes from D-Day to teach your sons and daughters.

1. “Two kinds of people are staying on this beach—the dead and those who are going to die.”

— Colonel George A. Taylor, commanding the Sixteenth Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division, on Omaha Beach.

2. “You get your ass on the beach. I’ll be there waiting for you and I’ll tell you what to do.

There ain’t anything in this plan that is going to go right.”

Colonel Paul R. Goode, in a pre-attack briefing to the 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division

3. “'Hitler made only one big mistake when he built his Atlantic Wall,’ the paratroopers liked to say.

‘He forgot to put a roof on it.’”

4. “I am prepared to lose the whole group.” — Colonel Donald Blakeslee

5. “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs.

These are the champions who helped free a continent.

These are the heroes who helped end a war.”

— President Ronald Reagan, on the 40thAnniversary of D-Day

6. “The waiting for history to be made was the most difficult.

I spent much time in prayer.

Being cooped up made it worse.

Like everyone else, I was seasick, and the stench of vomit permeated our craft.”

Private Clair Galdonik, 359th Infantry Regiment, US 90th Division

7. “They’re murdering us here. Let’s move inland and get murdered.”

Colonel Charles D. Canham, 116th Infantry Regiment commander

8. “That road to V-E Day was hard and long and traveled by weary and valiant men. And history will always record where that road began. It began here, with the first footprints on the beaches of Normandy.”

President George Bush, on the 60th Anniversary of D-Day

9. “I don't feel that I’m any kind of hero. To me, the work had to be done. I was asked to do it. So, I did. When I lecture kids, I tell them the same thing.”

Private First Class Joseph Lesniewski​
Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 101st Airborne Division

10. “At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed.

So, they fought and won, and we, all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.”

11. “I took chances on D-Day that I never would have taken later in the war."

First Sergeant C. Carwood Lipton, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

12. “God almighty, in a few short hours, we will be in battle with the enemy. We do not join battle afraid. We do not ask favors or indulgence but ask that, if you will, use us as your instrument for the right and an aid in returning peace to the world.”

LTC Robert L. Wolverton

13. “Today, when people thank me for my service, I figure three years of my time is a cheap price to pay for this country.

Nobody owes me a thing.”

First Lieutenant Lynn “Buck” Compton, Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

14. “And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred.”

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

15. “Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

16. “Nobody dashed ashore. We staggered. With one hand I carried my gun, finger on the trigger; with the other, I held onto the rope-rail down the ramp, and with the third hand I carried my bicycle.”

Corporal Peter Masters, Troop 3, No. 10 Commando, British Army “Jewish” Troop

17. “After nearly five years of toil and suffering, we must renew that crusading impulse on which we entered the war and met its darkest hour.”

King George VI

18. “Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

19. “Thank you to those men & women who put self aside because they held the thought of us on the inside. So, whether that be the bloodied beaches on D-Day or any number of other battles..., we now hold you on the inside and we say, ‘Thank you.’

C. Lounsbrough

20. “It was a different world then. It was a world that required young men like myself to be prepared to die for a civilization that was worth living in.”

Harry Read, 6th Airborne Division, Britain’s Parachute Regiment

21. “I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, ‘Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?’ Grandpa said, ‘No, but I served in a company of heroes.’”

Major Richard Winters, Commander, Easy Company 101st Airborne Division

22. “I am firmly convinced that our supporting naval fire got us in; that without the gunfire we positively could not have crossed the beaches.”

Colonel Stanhope B. Mason, Chief of Staff, 1sr Infantry Division

23. “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”

General Dwight D Eisenhower

24. “When pressure mounts and strain increases, everyone begins to show the weaknesses in his makeup, it is up to the Commander to conceal his: above all to conceal doubt, fear, and distrust.”

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

25. “This operation is not being planned with any alternatives.

This operation is planned as a victory, and that's the way it's going to be.

We're going down there, and we're throwing everything we have into it, and we're going to make it a success.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A generation of great dads can change the world.

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