i don't get how people say in vietnam the guys were fighting for our freedom...last i checked vietnam wasn't invading us...same with iraq, ww2 was one of the times it actually applied though

[quote="Jedi Marksman":6ec1a]'The Hour is Go' by Fancis J. Turner - from his personal archives.

' THE HOUR IS GO! '

One's eyes close tight and families fade,When going to war which evil men made. Though anxious and frightened, we don't let it show, For this day is approaching, when the Airborne must go.

Each day now rolls past, we wait just the same, But D-Day is near, and for this we all came. The hour grows near, each man feels it inside, And soon we'll be falling, with nowhere to hide.

Our eyes are now down and the chatter the same, Each weapon now loaded, no longer a game, Eagles gather round and bow yours heads low, Europe awaits and the hour is go.

Planes rumble past as we wait for our turn, To fly over waters we have yet to each earn. Checked buckles and straps, left nothing to chance, The Jumpmaster stands and calls "Welcome to France".

Flak turns to fire in the blackest of night, Too low, too fast, can't jump from this height. There's no turning back, the risk has been taken, Free fall into hell, paratrooper's forsaken.

Eagles hold tight, scattered prayers to survive, We'll hit the ground soon, whether dead or alive. As feet touch the ground, each soldier turns on, Confusion and fear are beaten and gone.

The enemy is close and sad they don't know The Airborne is here, it's time they must go. The hour is now, Hitler's had his last chance On St. Michael wings, we're taking back France.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/quote:6ec1a]
Thats my favorite poem.

And God Bless those soldiers that gave their lives on that day, and every day of that war.

*Salutes*

My point exactly so anyone who jumps on the bandwagon and cries "Frances owes us" is talking BS.


Also BTW I'm going to the Normany beaches and war graves later in July (part of a French trip by the school). So I'll pay my respects there rather than here for now.

I made this Flash movie for my website, it has Eisenhowers D Day speech, some classic music and some nice images, it worked out pretty well. Never thought of it as a tribute but I guess it is,

http://www31.brinkster.com/flyboysigh/dday.html

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.


My favorite war poem. By Wilfred Owen.

I like that poem too...the latin at the end translates to Oh What Glory to Die for One's Country

Actually its more like "It is sweet and meet to die for one's country"

meet = pleasant

[quote="Stinger_Dude":a284f]Jeez a thread dedicated to honouring the dead turns into a flame war of why France or America is better. You...you jsut cant get it of ya mind can ya? Ya just cant let go.... hake:[/quote:a284f]

it's all .sh1tty's fault