D-DAY 'S 60th anniversary memorial thread. Did you know someone

[Blue_Roses]

who was in D-day if so who and what did they tell you about it?

I find this so interesting each year, 'cause my dad who died at 80 last year was in Normandy. He wasn't in the first wave, but the 2nd. For years I had no idea he had been in Normandy--that is until my older sister told me. At the time,(I was a teenager) I didn't appreciate nor really understand exactly what the impact of that day meant...so sad, 'cause all those years I felt like I took him for granted and it wasn't until I grew much older than I learned exactly what he went through. A few years before he died he opened up about some of it, but I could still see the anger in his eyes when he spoke...anger at so many of his buddies who died. Anger at the Germans and much anger when he spoke of the trials at Nuremberg.

Before he died he finally let me look inside his Army trunk (we were forbidden to look in them growing up) and wow, so much stuff. I kept most of it and now that he is gone, I look at it in such a different light.