80th Anniversary of D-day at Gold Beach

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This is the BBC Home Service.

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Here is a special bulletin read by John Snagg.

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D Day has come.

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Early this morning, the Allies began the assault on the northwestern

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face of Hitler's European fortress.

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The first official news came just after half past nine, when Supreme

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Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force, usually called SHAPE from

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its initials, issued number one.

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This said, under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval

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forces supported by strong air forces.

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began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.

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The roar of the aircraft engines was deafening.

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As a British paratrooper, I knew the success of Operation Tonga hinged on

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our ability to land and secure key positions behind enemy lines in Normandy.

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The night of June 5th, 1944 was pitch black, and the only light in the sky.

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came from the moon and the distant flashes of anti aircraft fire.

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As we approached our drop zone, the tension among us was palpable.

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I clutched my rifle tightly, my heart pounding in my chest.

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The red light turned green and we jumped.

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The air hit me like a wall and I plummeted down towards the dark fields below.

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My parachute opened with a jolt and I began my descent.

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I landed awkwardly in a hedgerow, quickly unbuckling my harness

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and scanning my surroundings.

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The sounds of war were everywhere.

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Gunfire, explosions, and the distant rumbles of tanks.

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I quickly regrouped with my fellow paratroopers and we moved towards our

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objective, securing the bridges over the Orne River and the Cane Canal.

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Our mission was critical.

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If we failed, the Germans could use the bridges to launch a counterattack

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against the beaches where our comrades were landing in the morning.

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We advanced cautiously, using the cover of darkness to our advantage.

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As we approached the first bridge, we encountered heavy resistance.

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German soldiers were well entrenched, and a fierce fight ensued.

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Despite being outnumbered, we fought with determination and grit.

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I fired my rifle, took cover, advanced, and fired again.

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The rhythm of combat.

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The training kicked in and we moved as one cohesive unit.

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Slowly, we began to push the Germans back.

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Keep moving.

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We have to secure them.

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The bridge was ours, but the cost was high.

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Many of my comrades lay wounded or dead.

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We moved to the next objective, knowing there was no time to mourn.

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The battle for the second bridge was equally brutal, but we were relentless.

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By dawn, we had secured both bridges, cutting off the German

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reinforcements and protecting the flank of the invasion force.

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Exhausted but triumphant, we dug in and prepared for the inevitable counterattack.

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Looking at the faces of my fellow paratroopers, I felt a surge of pride.

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We had accomplished our mission against all odds.

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The success of Operation Tonga played a crucial role in the overall

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invasion of Normandy, and I was honored to have been a part of it.

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As the sun rose over the battle scarred landscape, I knew

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this was just the beginning.

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The road to victory would be long and arduous, but we had

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taken the first crucial step.

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Something glinted out of the corner of my eye.

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I thought I could almost see the horizon lined with ships

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as they landed on the beaches.

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I said a prayer for my little brother.

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He was part of the 50th Division, landing at Gold Beach.

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I had told my mom nothing would happen to him, and I was

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determined to keep that promise.

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Welcome to Talk With History.

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I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jen.

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On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world travels,

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YouTube channel journey, and examine history through deeper conversations

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with the curious, the explorers, and the history lovers out there.

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Now, Jen, we're just going to jump right into it because this is a series

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we have been anxiously wanting to get out into the world for quite some time.

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Quite a few months ago, you made plans.

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We, I mean, you for you to get out to Normandy.

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So if anybody follows us on our Walk with Us YouTube channel, they would have

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just seen our first video from there.

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And you went to the 80th anniversary.

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You went to do a multitude of things out there.

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But the day before the actual 80th anniversary day, you were out at the

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Gold Beach kind of memorial out there.

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Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

Jenn: 00:04:34

Yes, so I went to the 80th anniversary of D Day ceremony

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and celebration at Normandy and there was a lot of people there.

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It was.

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very busy.

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The tour guide said it's the busiest they have ever seen it.

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And, if anybody's listening to this, it makes sense, right?

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This being the 80th anniversary, there's not going to be another

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kind of big number anniversary, really, where there's going to be any

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veterans that'll most likely be there.

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We'll see.

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There was a, about 120 veterans at this one.

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I bet the 85th will be another big one and we'll see maybe the 90th.

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I think those will probably be our last three big, these

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will be our last three big

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Yeah, and I think because the majority of the World War II vets

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that were there were probably in their, in the youngest, in their 90s.

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nineties.

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Oh, absolutely.

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the, at the absolute youngest.

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I mean, there's, there's some I've seen recent interviews with that are 102, 103.

Jenn: 00:05:38

Exactly.

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So it was just a real honor to be there, but because it was so busy, we, the first

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day we got there, we were supposed to go to the American Normandy cemetery.

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We couldn't get there.

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It was too crowded.

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They shut it down.

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We went to Omaha beach, but we were barely there for 10 minutes and then that

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got shut down for the next three days.

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So it really didn't get to make it back out to Omaha beach again.

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We'll talk about it on another podcast.

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Thanks.

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just the little bit we got to do, which is mostly in reels on Instagram.

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I don't even think we can, we can't even make a full video on YouTube

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because we just went there long enough.

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Yeah, because you were there, I, I didn't get to go I had to

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stay back with the kids and work.

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But you got, you got to get out there with, some Navy, veteran friends of ours.

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So when you say we, that's, that's who you're talking about for our listeners

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Yeah, I went with two other female Navy veterans

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officers that I had served with.

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And when Scott says he had to stay back and work, Scott

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had to stay back and, and be.

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a naval officer in the United States Navy.

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So he couldn't make it to D Day because he is actually doing the real deal.

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But the first place we were able to really go and get out and see and

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just experience it all was Gold Beach.

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Now that one was a little bit unique.

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This time, because and I know we'll touch on this and I'll, I'll let you

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walk us through what you saw for the day.

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But one of the big things there was obviously there was like memorial

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there, but they also had the standing with giants silhouettes, which a lot

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of people may have seen pictures of but talk, walk us through or walk our

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listeners through, getting there and what all is there at, at gold beach.

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So just just a quick background.

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We're not going to go right.

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into much of the history of gold beach, but I'm gonna give you a quick

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background so you know what gold beach is.

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So remember there are five beaches that are part of operation overlord

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and operation overlord is the entire operation of the landing on the

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French beaches against the Nazis.

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So these are the allies, the, the British, the Americans, the

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Canadians, the Polish, the Dutch.

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It's everybody who the New Zealand's, if you can think Australians,

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everybody who is together trying to overcome Nazi Germany.

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And they have since been, they've been joined with Italy and Japan.

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So they are the Axis powers.

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And so they have taken.

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France, the entire country of France.

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For four years, they've occupied this country.

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And the British basically have gotten away back to England and been planning.

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And that's what's been going on for about a year.

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They've been planning this big operation.

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And Eisenhower at the time, General Eisenhower is in charge

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of all of it, oversees all of it.

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So this is the day, D Day.

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And when people ask me, what does D Day mean?

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It means day, day day.

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So D Day is day day.

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it's like the

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It's like the day.

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So the D doesn't really stand for anything.

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It's the day.

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So It's Operation Overlord is the entire operation.

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We're going to get Operation Point Blank, where British and American bombers are

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going to start bombing at midnight, the night of June 6th, and you're

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going to get over 2200 bombers just bombing all of these strategic areas.

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on the French soil, which is now occupied Nazi Germany.

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And then Operation Neptune will be the naval side.

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Neptune will start first, because Neptune will start with the bombardment,

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amphibious bombardment of the coast.

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So it always will have Neptune before the landings.

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There's five beaches, basically.

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And if you go from east to west, I guess that's the best way to go.

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Or maybe from from west to east.

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It's going to start with Utah Beach, an American beach, Omaha Beach, another

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an American beach, Gold Beach, the one we're talking about is like the

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joining beach between the American beaches and the other allied beaches

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and Gold Beach will be British.

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Then you're going to have Juno, which will be a Canadian beach and Sword,

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which will be another British beach.

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Utah and Omaha are named by the Americans.

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The story is that when Eisenhower was planning the men who were writing, he

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asked, where are you, where are you from?

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And the two men who were typing out the, the operation plans, one was from

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Omaha, and one was from the state of

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I, I did not know

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So they named the beaches after those two men.

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For the Allied side the British side Churchill went with fish names So

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swordfish goldfish and it's supposed to be jellyfish for Juno, but Winston Churchill

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couldn't see Men dying on jellyfish

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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so he changed it to Juno Beach.

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So when you hear gold Beach Sometimes it's referred to as gold But it's goldfish.

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That's where it comes from.

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So again, this is the middle beach of these five beaches.

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It's completely British authority.

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It's the British who are taking this beach.

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So what we went to was the British Normandy Memorial.

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And I don't want it confused with the American Normandy Cemetery because

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the American Normandy Cemetery is a cemetery where men are buried.

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The memorial men are not buried there.

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It's a memorial and it overlooks the entire gold beach.

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Yeah.

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And it's, I mean, you guys did a good job of, as, as much as I

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love and I'm, I'm biased towards my own B roll footage, right?

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A little behind the scenes here of YouTube, you and, and Bonnie and whoever's

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holding the camera kind of did a good job of kind of really showing what the,

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the view look like, it's a, it is a beachhead kind of going uphill, right?

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So you can look out.

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over this beach and you can see down to the water, right?

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And it's, it's not super steep, right where you guys were.

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So it's pretty long.

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So there's a long way to go to get all the way to the top of the beachhead.

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Now, when I was doing the editing and putting the video together, the,

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the fighting on this speech wasn't, wasn't but this is a very this is

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specifically a British memorial, right?

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I think you were saying when you were there, it looked like there, there

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were some British soldiers practicing and stuff like that, potentially for

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Prince William or somebody like that,

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so I was at the American ceremony.

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I was at the American Normandy ceremony at the American Normandy cemetery.

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Oh, the, so that, oh, that was at the cemetery.

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That's where the, that's where the ceremony was.

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The British ceremony was at that location.

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and that's what you saw they were prepping for when you were

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there the day before the actual 80th

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And it was Prince William.

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Prince William had come And he was in, in replace of King

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Charles and he, he, he served.

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So he, he was the big dignitary there.

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So when you think of Gold Beach, it's going to be the British, the

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Dutch, the Polish and other allies.

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So it's really their militaries that were also part of that ceremony there.

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And so that's what you see in the video is those militaries.

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can hear the band playing in the background Which is neat because

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they were playing old school music and

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It was really neat.

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And they're.

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Memorial, if you look down from the sky, looks like a British flag.

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So with the walkways are making that crisscross design of the British

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flag, and they have names on pillars.

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About 300 little over 300 men will die on Gold Beach that day, they'll land

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25, 000 men, the British and allies.

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And they'll have a little over a thousand casualties, but 350 men will die.

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It is announced a little later that General Montgomery is in command of

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the Army Group carrying out the assault.

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This Army Group includes British, Canadian, and United States forces.

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The Allied Commander in Chief, General Eisenhower, has issued an order of

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the day addressed to each individual of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

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In it, he said, Your task will not be an easy one.

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Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle hardened.

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He will fight savagely.

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But this is the year 1944.

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The tide has turned.

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The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

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I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.

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We will accept nothing less than full victory.

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Good luck and let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon

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this great and noble undertaking.

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The world seemed to slow down.

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Every move I made on this cursed boat felt like a lifetime.

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Was that Winston Churchill over the radio earlier?

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The only thing I could hear now was the deafening sound of

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gunfire and artillery in the air.

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All around me, the sea had red patches.

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Never seen that before.

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As an infantryman, I was among thousands of British soldiers.

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Landing at Gold Beach on D Day.

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Attention on my fellow countrymen's face was palpable as our landing

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craft approached the beach.

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We were under heavy fire, but we were determined.

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As soon as our landing craft hit the beach, I jumped out and ran

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towards the sand dune for cover, my heart pounding in my chest.

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I could see the German bunkers up ahead.

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We were outgunned, but we pushed forward.

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We were trained for this.

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We knew our mission.

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I fired my rifle, took cover, advanced, and fired again, a

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rhythm of survival and duty.

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Despite the chaos around me, I felt a strange sense of clarity.

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I was fighting for my country, for our freedom.

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I saw comrades fall, but we kept going, driving the Germans

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back, securing the beachhead.

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By the end of the day, we had accomplished our mission.

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I was one of the lucky ones who survived.

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Looking back at the beach, I barely realized the enormity

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of what we had just done.

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I wondered if my brother had made his jump okay.

Jenn: 00:16:12

Their names are the closest inside the memorial.

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And then as you walk outside the memorial, there's names on pillars.

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They consider Normandy landings from June 6th to the end of August.

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So all of the men who died from June 6th to the end of August are listed

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as you walk out towards those pillars.

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They also honor 20, 000 French civilians who were killed

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during this Normandy landing.

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And they're also listed a little bit farther out as well.

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But again, you had the civilian casualties of war

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And that was another interesting thing in in the the listener will

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if you're listening to this podcast you'll hear in some of the vignettes

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as we go through this that they were actually You know, the the Allied

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forces were actually making radio kind of announcements, or You know good guy

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propaganda trying to announce things to the French people via the radio

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saying you know, hey, don't fight back, essentially keep your hopes up.

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And then they also gave them a little bit of warning

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to get out into the

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to get out into the countryside because it's like it, which makes sense.

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You'd never really think about it.

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You're like, well, aren't they giving away?

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What they're doing to the Germans, well, the Germans would have

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known long before that, right?

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Long before an hour before the actual landing.

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They would have detected them, they're like, okay, they're coming, but the

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people, the French people wouldn't know that, and so they hear it over the

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radio, they're like, okay, it's time to hightail it out of here, but of course

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there's still going to be casualties.

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So there was a lot of espionage, but there was a lot of what's the

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word I'm looking for where you're like

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Kind of like gamesmanship,

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gamesmanship.

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They were projecting these false operations.

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So to keep the Germans guessing, and they were doing that for about three

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months before they actually did this pretending, I forget what they called

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it operation bodyguard, I think, but these fake operations that they were

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doing to keep the Germans on their toes.

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And.

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Fortunately, I think I remember correctly, Hitler had gone to bed.

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early on June 5th and told not to be awakened for any reason whatsoever.

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Oh my gosh.

Jenn: 00:18:24

So when things were happening on June 6th, they didn't wake him and tell

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him, even though this is a big deal.

Jenn: 00:18:30

They, he was, he was not woken up until well into the day on June 6th.

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And so he couldn't send even quick responses because they

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were too afraid to wake him.

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Lucky for him.

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the allies.

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Now, like you said, things start at midnight on June 6th.

Jenn: 00:18:48

You're going to get gliders coming in from the British, which are so accurate.

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They're taking out these big bridges because when you think of

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Normandy, I want you to think of farmland and this farmland, the

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way that it's fertile is it floods.

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Think of the Nile.

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Is they flood this farmland to keep the soil very fertile.

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And when they do that, there's no way to connect these areas, but

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these big bridges that bring you in.

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And the Germans occupied these big bridges.

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And they also, the Germans had flooded farmland on purpose to,

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to make some roads unusable.

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So what the allies had to do was capture these bridges.

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And that's, is what they're going to do for Utah beach and Omaha beach.

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That's what our airborne.

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They're doing the same thing.

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They're trying to capture these strategic bridges to get not only the

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allies onto the beaches and get all of their material across the bridges

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into theater, but to stop the Germans from using those bridges to fight back.

Scott: 00:19:48

Yeah, they're also trying to cut off the, the German

Scott: 00:19:50

kind of supply and logistics.

Scott: 00:19:51

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:19:52

So you get the ally, the Americans are doing it at Utah and

Jenn: 00:19:56

Omaha beach, and then The, the the British and the Dutch and the Canadians

Jenn: 00:20:03

are doing it over on Gold Beach and Sword Beach and Juno Beach as well.

Jenn: 00:20:07

So they're really the first to go.

Jenn: 00:20:10

It's the airborne and the gliders that are going to be the first out.

Jenn: 00:20:14

And the bombardment the bombing.

Jenn: 00:20:17

Also of that strategic outside of that area, but those gliders are so accurate.

Jenn: 00:20:22

They land right where the bridges are.

Jenn: 00:20:24

They pop open this like 20 minute glider and they were able to take those bridges

Jenn: 00:20:28

really with no, with no fight back.

Jenn: 00:20:31

So it was really nice for the British.

Jenn: 00:20:34

Now you had said, Gold Beach is not like Omaha Beach.

Jenn: 00:20:37

No beach will be like Omaha Beach.

Scott: 00:20:38

I mean, there were still casualties.

Jenn: 00:20:40

still casualties, but no beach of the five are going to encounter as much

Jenn: 00:20:45

resistance and firepower and just the way that the topography of the beaches

Jenn: 00:20:52

are against the allies like Omaha.

Jenn: 00:20:56

It's why it's called bloody Omaha.

Jenn: 00:20:58

You will have more losses on Omaha than any other beach.

Jenn: 00:21:01

And we'll talk about that.

Jenn: 00:21:02

But the topography of Utah and Omaha are not like these nice gold

Jenn: 00:21:07

has a nice straight, clear beach.

Jenn: 00:21:11

Utah and Omaha are very rocky.

Jenn: 00:21:13

And they have the point to Hawk is in the middle of them.

Jenn: 00:21:16

So the kind of like cuts off and it it's not as easily The terrain is not

Scott: 00:21:21

It's easier for the germans to defend right because

Scott: 00:21:24

because of the terrain yeah,

Jenn: 00:21:26

So gold beach again, you're going to what happens is the

Jenn: 00:21:30

Navy bombardment starts at 530.

Jenn: 00:21:32

So you're going to get the bomber starting at midnight, the airborne

Jenn: 00:21:36

and the gliders go at midnight.

Jenn: 00:21:38

And then the Navy bombardment starts at 530.

Jenn: 00:21:40

So what does that mean?

Jenn: 00:21:41

The Navy gets as close as they can to the beach and just starts

Jenn: 00:21:44

hitting the beachhead as hard as they can with their guns.

Jenn: 00:21:47

And what's very lucky is they take out the three of the four major guns.

Jenn: 00:21:50

They're taken out by 620.

Jenn: 00:21:52

So that's great.

Jenn: 00:21:53

You only got one major gun then still manned on Gold Beach.

Jenn: 00:21:56

Now that gun takes a day to get out.

Jenn: 00:21:59

They really don't even get it out to June 7th, but it's only one major gun.

Jenn: 00:22:05

So the Navy, their Navy ships are.

Jenn: 00:22:07

pretty accurate taking out those those big artillery guns.

Jenn: 00:22:11

And then the first landings happened about 725.

Jenn: 00:22:14

Now that's about an hour after Omaha beach.

Jenn: 00:22:17

And the reason why is because of tides.

Scott: 00:22:19

Oh sure

Jenn: 00:22:20

So when we talk about these beaches and what they did with the

Jenn: 00:22:23

obstacles on the beaches is you remember in saving pride, right?

Jenn: 00:22:26

And they have all the hedgehogs out.

Jenn: 00:22:27

And those are those.

Jenn: 00:22:28

Weird twisty metal looking things that keeps amphibious

Jenn: 00:22:32

craft from landing on the beach.

Jenn: 00:22:34

What it also does is during high tide, when you can't see them, if boats

Jenn: 00:22:39

hit them, it makes boats capsize.

Jenn: 00:22:42

And what they would also do is put mines on the end of those.

Jenn: 00:22:45

So if you also hit them, you would blow up.

Jenn: 00:22:48

So you had to wait to low tide because you had to wait till

Jenn: 00:22:53

you could see all those things.

Jenn: 00:22:54

But low tide, we're Navy officers also means you have a

Jenn: 00:22:57

huge amount of beach to cover.

Scott: 00:23:00

Yeah, and it was in Depending on where you're from what beach you're used

Scott: 00:23:04

to right growing up in california when the tide goes out It doesn't it drops off

Scott: 00:23:08

pretty quickly It's not like beaches in florida where you can walk out, Or in that

Scott: 00:23:14

part of the country where you can walk out for a quarter mile You And the water

Scott: 00:23:17

is only knee deep the entire time, where in California, it drops off to incredibly

Scott: 00:23:24

deep water within, 50 yards or less than even sometimes even less than that.

Scott: 00:23:30

The what I saw and you were able to show a little bit of the of the gold

Scott: 00:23:33

beach there But you see from some of the historical footage that we cut in is

Scott: 00:23:37

that these are one of those beachheads Just like you said for farmland is that

Scott: 00:23:41

the shoreline when the tide goes out.

Scott: 00:23:43

There's a lot Of beachhead, it's it's it's long for them to come in from the

Scott: 00:23:50

ship on all the way up to where it's essentially dry, where the tide wouldn't

Scott: 00:23:54

go up any higher, and then get to the, whatever it is, the embankment, the guns,

Scott: 00:24:00

the, where the Germans actually were.

Scott: 00:24:01

So that's kind of the, the risk on each side.

Scott: 00:24:05

It was actually less risky to wait for the tide to come out so they could land

Scott: 00:24:10

these landing craft, roll the tanks up, or the soldiers, or whatever it was.

Scott: 00:24:15

So that they didn't run into these hedgehogs and mines and things like that.

Jenn: 00:24:18

Exactly.

Jenn: 00:24:19

And then you think of all that beach you have to cover with all that gear.

Jenn: 00:24:23

And it's, it's just seems daunting.

Jenn: 00:24:26

I, the only place I really understood the expansiveness of it was Omaha because

Jenn: 00:24:30

I happened to be on Omaha when the tide was out and it was a huge beach.

Jenn: 00:24:35

Even when you think from the shore all the way to the first grassy area, that's

Jenn: 00:24:40

a lot of beach to cover in full gear.

Jenn: 00:24:42

I'm thinking 50 pounds of gear.

Jenn: 00:24:44

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:24:45

when you're taking tons of hostile fire.

Jenn: 00:24:48

So you can imagine this is what's happening on Gold Beach as well.

Jenn: 00:24:51

Now, like I said, they're landing 25, 000 men, and they're,

Jenn: 00:24:56

they, they are, they secure the beachhead by the end of the day.

Jenn: 00:25:00

So they're able to meet their goal.

Jenn: 00:25:04

Now, Gold Beach is instrumental because it has to join Omaha

Jenn: 00:25:08

with Sword and, or with Juno.

Jenn: 00:25:11

So it has to join Omaha with, with Juno.

Jenn: 00:25:13

Like it's the middle beach.

Jenn: 00:25:14

It's,

Scott: 00:25:15

if people aren't familiar, if you haven't really looked into

Scott: 00:25:17

the beachheads there, it's over 50 miles of continuous beachhead

Scott: 00:25:21

across these five beaches, right?

Scott: 00:25:24

So when we say that, like it's all, they're all continuous kind of along the

Scott: 00:25:28

French coast, but it's a well over 50 miles from one end of one beach all the

Scott: 00:25:34

way to the other end of the other beach.

Scott: 00:25:35

So it's a pretty expansive, Piece of the coast that they are they are landing on.

Jenn: 00:25:41

yeah, it's really beautiful now.

Jenn: 00:25:43

It's really flat now, but at the time I can imagine it was just overwhelming.

Jenn: 00:25:47

What we got to see was the British Normandy Memorial and

Jenn: 00:25:53

they just have recently built it.

Jenn: 00:25:54

It just was unveiled June 6th, 2021 for the

Scott: 00:25:58

wow

Jenn: 00:25:59

anniversary.

Jenn: 00:26:01

Well, the British felt like they don't have their place, right?

Jenn: 00:26:04

Like the American cemetery at Normandy is like where we had the ceremony.

Jenn: 00:26:10

It's our place.

Jenn: 00:26:11

It's also a cemetery.

Jenn: 00:26:13

Now there is this, there is this World War Two cemetery for the British.

Jenn: 00:26:16

It's a little farther inland, but But it doesn't have the place on the beach.

Jenn: 00:26:21

So they wanted something to show the memorial of what the

Jenn: 00:26:24

men did where you can see it.

Jenn: 00:26:26

And it lists over 22, 000 names from more than 30 countries under British command

Jenn: 00:26:33

who were killed at Normandy from June 6th, again, to the end of August 31st.

Jenn: 00:26:38

And as you move from the center out, their names will be listed

Jenn: 00:26:42

as the days go out from June 6th.

Jenn: 00:26:44

So you can look on the pillars and find names.

Jenn: 00:26:46

And I found Benny's and I found Mitchell's.

Jenn: 00:26:48

And so it was really neat to see all those names on there.

Jenn: 00:26:51

But yeah.

Jenn: 00:26:51

The centerpiece is a bronze statue of three British soldiers attacking the beach

Jenn: 00:26:59

and it was made by David William Ellis.

Jenn: 00:27:02

It really is reminiscent to me of the one at Omaha Beach

Jenn: 00:27:06

and the one we saw at Bedford.

Jenn: 00:27:07

Again, just about you with your comrades together.

Jenn: 00:27:12

handling it together

Scott: 00:27:13

they're they're it's a classic kind of world war ii soldiers charging it

Jenn: 00:27:16

yes.

Jenn: 00:27:17

And you would know they were different because of their helmets.

Jenn: 00:27:19

They have different helmets than the Americans.

Jenn: 00:27:22

Now the standing with giant silhouettes is what's really impressive there as well.

Scott: 00:27:27

Those were really cool and it's it's the thumbnail Yeah, we used one

Scott: 00:27:31

of them a picture of one of them as the thumbnail of this particular video, but

Scott: 00:27:35

they have They're displaying all these different kinds of soldiers and airmen

Scott: 00:27:41

and sailors that were involved in this.

Jenn: 00:27:45

Yeah, so it depicts 1475 giants who are the number of servicemen who

Jenn: 00:27:51

died under British command on D Day.

Jenn: 00:27:55

So not at Gold Beach, but of all And all the beaches and

Jenn: 00:27:59

the airborne and the bombers.

Jenn: 00:28:02

So anyone who died that day under British command is depicted with a silhouette.

Jenn: 00:28:08

And that's why there's 1475 of them.

Jenn: 00:28:11

And they all look different because they're different.

Jenn: 00:28:14

doing different jobs in the military.

Jenn: 00:28:17

And so it's very neat to see pilots or naval officers or army officers.

Jenn: 00:28:23

It's very neat to see how they look, their silhouettes look different and that people

Jenn: 00:28:30

have little placards with quotes on them.

Jenn: 00:28:34

And we found Dick Winters at those placards will

Scott: 00:28:38

Oh, okay.

Jenn: 00:28:39

but the silhouettes will go.

Scott: 00:28:41

they were only there for the basically for the 80th

Jenn: 00:28:43

Yes, they're supposed to leave the The end of August, but there's two women

Jenn: 00:28:47

depicted There's two army nurses sister ever shed and sister field They died on

Jenn: 00:28:55

deed on D day trying to save men on a sinking hospital ship So they're also

Jenn: 00:29:01

their silhouettes are also depicted there.

Jenn: 00:29:03

So that's very neat to see

Scott: 00:29:04

Yeah, theirs was cool because it had that cut out.

Scott: 00:29:06

Like the from the waist down, you could see the metal kind of silhouette of them.

Scott: 00:29:10

And then there was like that hollow so you could see the sky as there, they

Scott: 00:29:14

would fill in, the rest of the gaps.

Scott: 00:29:16

It was really neat how they did it.

Jenn: 00:29:17

Yeah, they were really neat and it's a and to have women depicted.

Jenn: 00:29:20

They're the only two women of the fourteen hundred seventy five You I

Jenn: 00:29:24

think it's such a neat memoir, I really don't want them to take it down at all.

Jenn: 00:29:28

I think it would just be great.

Jenn: 00:29:29

It doesn't really impede on the view.

Jenn: 00:29:32

And I thought it was just an amazing thing to see.

Jenn: 00:29:34

It really feels like it's called standing with giants.

Jenn: 00:29:36

And I really feel like you are standing with them.

Jenn: 00:29:39

And it gives a real to me, humanization of the area.

Jenn: 00:29:44

And I almost I don't want to see it go.

Jenn: 00:29:47

But it was really neat to be there and to see that and you can walk among them,

Jenn: 00:29:51

you're allowed to walk out in there, it wasn't cut, and the grass was high.

Jenn: 00:29:55

But you're allowed to walk in there and take pictures and Find ones that maybe

Jenn: 00:30:00

could be dedicated because each of them is supposed to be a certain person to maybe

Jenn: 00:30:05

your ancestor or somebody that you knew from your family or something like that.

Jenn: 00:30:09

So that was really neat to see, but I'm happy we got to go there.

Jenn: 00:30:13

It is an impressive monuments.

Jenn: 00:30:16

And again, this is the middle beach.

Jenn: 00:30:19

So when you think of the five beaches, this is the middle beach.

Jenn: 00:30:22

If you do make it out to gold beach, gold beach is one of the

Jenn: 00:30:26

few beaches that has preserved a lot of those big guns and a lot of

Jenn: 00:30:30

those what do they call those, babe?

Scott: 00:30:32

little bunkers.

Jenn: 00:30:33

they preserve the bunkers there.

Jenn: 00:30:35

So you can actually go and see them.

Jenn: 00:30:36

They're, they're really well preserved.

Jenn: 00:30:38

And so if you make it out to Gold Beach, it's one of those places

Jenn: 00:30:41

that if you walk the beach, you can really see a lot of the history still

Jenn: 00:30:45

there for you to participate in.

Jenn: 00:30:46

So I'm happy we got to go there.

Jenn: 00:30:48

I never thought about it as an American.

Jenn: 00:30:50

I was like, Oh, it's like, it's I mean, after Omaha and Utah, you're kind of

Jenn: 00:30:54

like, Oh, what are the other beaches?

Jenn: 00:30:56

So for me, I learned a lot.

Jenn: 00:30:57

I got to see it.

Jenn: 00:30:58

I really did appreciate it.

Jenn: 00:30:59

So I'm happy we went.

Scott: 00:31:01

People in enemy occupied territory who lived near the coast were warned

Scott: 00:31:05

to leave their homes as soon as they received a warning of the coming attack.

Scott: 00:31:08

It would come about an hour before the attack, and then they ordered once to make

Scott: 00:31:12

it with all speed for the open country.

Scott: 00:31:15

After Communique No.

Scott: 00:31:16

1 had been issued, General Eisenhower broadcast to the people of Western

Scott: 00:31:20

Europe announcing the landing as part of the concerted United Nations

Scott: 00:31:24

plan for the liberation of Europe.

Scott: 00:31:27

He asked them to wait for the signal to rise and strike the enemy.

Scott: 00:31:32

The day will come, he said, when I shall need your united strength.

Scott: 00:31:36

Until that day, I call on you for the hard task of discipline and restraint.

Scott: 00:31:41

Addressing the French people especially, General Eisenhower expressed his

Scott: 00:31:45

pride at having under his command the gallant forces of France.

Scott: 00:31:49

As the initial landing was Being made in France, he emphasized the

Scott: 00:31:53

importance of his warning message.

Scott: 00:31:55

A premature rising of all Frenchmen, he tell them, may prevent you

Scott: 00:31:59

from being of maximum help to your country in the critical eye, be

Scott: 00:32:03

patient, prepare great battles.

Scott: 00:32:06

Lie ahead.

Scott: 00:32:08

The

Scott: 00:32:11

sun was beginning to set as I walked through the narrowest streets of the

Scott: 00:32:14

French town we had just liberated.

Scott: 00:32:17

The air was filled with a mixture of relief and apprehension.

Scott: 00:32:21

The residents, though cautious, peeked out from their homes, some

Scott: 00:32:24

offering smiles of gratitude.

Scott: 00:32:26

It felt surreal to be standing here in Aramajus, a town that had been under

Scott: 00:32:31

German occupation just hours before.

Scott: 00:32:35

Gold Beach had been a crucible of fire and steel.

Scott: 00:32:38

As an infantryman in the British 50th Division, I had

Scott: 00:32:40

faced the fiercest resistance.

Scott: 00:32:43

The memory was still fresh.

Scott: 00:32:44

The roar of the guns, the whizzing of the bullets, and the cries of my comrades.

Scott: 00:32:50

We had pushed through, determined to secure the beach and move inland.

Scott: 00:32:53

Our objective was clear, to link up with the Americans on Omaha Beach

Scott: 00:32:57

to the west, and the Canadians on Juneau Beach to the east.

Scott: 00:33:01

Now as I stood in the heart of this French town, I reflected on what we had achieved.

Scott: 00:33:05

The Mulberry Harbors were already being constructed, an engineering marvel that

Scott: 00:33:08

would allow us to bring in the supplies we needed for the rest of the campaign.

Scott: 00:33:13

The liberation of this town was just the beginning.

Scott: 00:33:15

We had paved the way for Allied forces to establish a foothold in Normandy,

Scott: 00:33:20

but our mission was far from over.

Scott: 00:33:22

The road ahead was fraught with danger, but Germans were

Scott: 00:33:24

not going to give up easily.

Scott: 00:33:26

Kane, a major objective late of the southeast.

Scott: 00:33:29

We had to push forward, liberate more towns, and secure critical supply routes.

Scott: 00:33:33

The success of Operation Overlord depended on our ability to maintain momentum.

Scott: 00:33:41

As I looked around, I saw my fellow soldiers, weary but resolute.

Scott: 00:33:45

Subconsciously, I think I was looking for my older brother.

Scott: 00:33:48

His unit should have jumped in the middle of the night.

Scott: 00:33:51

God willing, I will see him soon.

Scott: 00:33:53

I found a moment of solace knowing that today we had made a difference.

Scott: 00:33:57

Tomorrow, we would continue the fight for freedom, for peace, and for a future where

Scott: 00:34:01

such a conflict would never happen again.

Scott: 00:34:05

General Eisenhower concluded, I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us.

Scott: 00:34:11

Keep your faith staunch, our arms are resolute.

Scott: 00:34:15

Together, we shall achieve victory.

Scott: 00:34:19

And that is the end of this special news bulletin.

Scott: 00:34:29

Thank you for listening to the Talk With History podcast and please reach out

Scott: 00:34:32

to us at our website, talkwithhistory.

Scott: 00:34:34

com.

Scott: 00:34:34

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Scott: 00:34:36

podcast, please share it with them.

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Shoot them a text and tell them to look us up.

Scott: 00:34:40

We rely on you, our community, to grow and we appreciate you all every day.

Scott: 00:34:44

We'll talk to you next time.

Scott: 00:34:45

Thank you.

Scott: 00:34:48

, I'm debating over whether or not to talk about this on Talk with History.

Scott: 00:34:51

So we are going to start kind of a, a, a premium podcast and, and I'll talk

Scott: 00:34:57

about more about this in the future.

Scott: 00:34:58

So if you're listening, if you made it to the end of this particular episode I've

Scott: 00:35:02

got some stuff in the works and we're going to talk a little bit more about

Scott: 00:35:05

the, the, the travel aspects of things.

Scott: 00:35:08

And I've got a newsletter and kind of more to follow.

Scott: 00:35:11

So if you're one of our loyal listeners, this is something that you, you most

Scott: 00:35:15

definitely will be interested in.

Scott: 00:35:17

And, and again, I'll tease it a little bit more.

Scott: 00:35:19

And we'll talk a little bit more about, about that kind of stuff.