[Midnight Oil]

Enjoying watching Surviving D Day on Discovery. To have got through and survived what they went through was some feat!

I heard years ago that only 1 person that landed on D Day survived to the end of the war without ever getting shot. This seems unbelieveable. Does anyone have any other figures?

[KickstartHeart]

Originally Posted by Midnight Oil

Enjoying watching Surviving D Day on Discovery. To have got through and survived what they went through was some feat!

I heard years ago that only 1 person that landed on D Day survived to the end of the war without ever getting shot. This seems unbelieveable. Does anyone have any other figures?

I remember reading in Dick Winters book about Easy Coy 2nd Batt 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (American's in the 101st Airbourne division) in WW2 that they had some startling casualty figures, all wounds like shrapnel and small arms fire etc. I don't have figures but that book will give you a good idea if you want to give it a read. It does completely focus on the experiences of the parachutists though so you won't get much on the guys that landed on the beaches during the invasion.

[Owryan]

Originally Posted by Midnight Oil

Enjoying watching Surviving D Day on Discovery. To have got through and survived what they went through was some feat!

I heard years ago that only 1 person that landed on D Day survived to the end of the war without ever getting shot. This seems unbelieveable. Does anyone have any other figures?

I would be inclined to disregard that belief but it could well be in reference to a specific unit. So instead of it being only 1 person from the entire landing force , maybe it was only 1 person from a certain infantry company (as an example) ?

i remember reading a book about the "Green Howards" and in one passage an officer recalled how when the war in Europe ended their were on 6 men in his company who had come ashore on 6 June, and in the battalion he was the only "D-Day" officer still standing.

[KickstartHeart]

Originally Posted by Midnight Oil

Enjoying watching Surviving D Day on Discovery. To have got through and survived what they went through was some feat!

I heard years ago that only 1 person that landed on D Day survived to the end of the war without ever getting shot. This seems unbelieveable. Does anyone have any other figures?

Sorry I forgot to address that in my last post. That's probably an over all average figure or more likely a figure for a particular unit. One person overall from the whole landings without being shot by the end of the war wouldn't make sense at all.

If you're in university look through academic articles on JSTOR and other history sources and there's an abundance of works on D-Day. You should be able to get some figures there. If not just look through amazon and find a book dedicated totally to operation overlord and you should find a few books with the relevant figures you're looking for!

[The Master of Disaster]

Originally Posted by Owryan

i remember reading a book about the "Green Howards" and in one passage an officer recalled how when the war in Europe ended their were on 6 men in his company who had come ashore on 6 June, and in the battalion he was the only "D-Day" officer still standing.

18 Platoon by Sydney Jary?

[IrishFeeney92]

Originally Posted by KickstartHeart

I remember reading in Dick Winters book about Easy Coy 2nd Batt 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (American's in the 101st Airbourne division) in WW2 that they had some startling casualty figures, all wounds like shrapnel and small arms fire etc. I don't have figures but that book will give you a good idea if you want to give it a read. It does completely focus on the experiences of the parachutists though so you won't get much on the guys that landed on the beaches during the invasion.

Im nearly sure they had a casualty rate of 60%, cant remember exact figures so could be wrong, in fact he talks about it a lot more in his own post-band of brothers book

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Beyo.../9780091941581

[tac foley]

Originally Posted by Midnight Oil

Enjoying watching Surviving D Day on Discovery. To have got through and survived what they went through was some feat!

I heard years ago that only 1 person that landed on D Day survived to the end of the war without ever getting shot. This seems unbelieveable. Does anyone have any other figures?

Both my uncles went ashore on D-Day - both were in the Princess Pats CLI. Both survived the war without a scratch. Tom, the oldest, is still with us - he is a compére at the Calgary Stampede most years, but Geoff died in a farming accident back in '74.

tac

[IrishFeeney92]

Originally Posted by tac foley

Both my uncles went ashore on D-Day - both were in the Princess Pats CLI. Both survived the war without a scratch. Tom, the oldest, is still with us - he is a compére at the Calgary Stampede most years, but Geoff died in a farming accident back in '74.

tac

What I would give to meet that man!! This reminds me of a friend of mine actually, his Girlfriend is Austrian. Her grandfather fought with the resistance back in World War 2. He would always want to tell story's and speak about what happened, then his family would haggle him to be quiet, then on the other hand her other grandfather was part of the German army who never spoke a world about what happened, understandably to! But its a shame to see somebody who would speak about a different aspect of the war and not let it be heard by others.....Anybody who fought with the Allies is a hero in my eyes

[Midnight Oil]

Originally Posted by IrishFeeney92

Anybody who fought with the Allies is a hero in my eyes

And anyone that fought with the Axis are what? Just because they lost doesnt make them any less heroic in their actions.

Not everyone in the German Army was a Nazi nor were many people involved in the atrocities that went on in comparison to the grand scheme of things

[goldie fish]

Originally Posted by Midnight Oil

And anyone that fought with the Axis are what? Just because they lost doesnt make them any less heroic in their actions.

Not everyone in the German Army was a Nazi nor were many people involved in the atrocities that went on in comparison to the grand scheme of things

Revisionist much?

Those who served in the wehrmacht and survived would disagree with you. There is a reason Germany does not celebrate or commemorate the non nazis who served in WW2. They don't even celebrate Oskar Schindler.
Everyone in the German army between 1939-1945 has a lot to be ashamed of. Everyone in germany knew and supported the forced deportations. Everyone knew they invaded Poland, Czechslovakia, Belgium, Luxumborg, France, Holland etc for no other reason than settling old scores and promoting the aryan way. Their options were (a) Object (and end up in the camps) (b) Support actively, Join the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe etc, and be prepared to die for your beliefs, (c) Leave, Like Einstein and others did when they realised what hitlers greater plan was.
Allowing the mob to carry you along was the easy option..

[Midnight Oil]

remember the victors write the history books.

I am not pro Nazi by any stretch of the imagination just saying there were many heroic acts carried out by their soldiers. Not all were Jew murderers

[IrishFeeney92]

Originally Posted by Midnight Oil

And anyone that fought with the Axis are what? Just because they lost doesnt make them any less heroic in their actions.

Not everyone in the German Army was a Nazi nor were many people involved in the atrocities that went on in comparison to the grand scheme of things

Misguided.

[BlaasForRafa]

Originally Posted by goldie fish

Revisionist much?

Those who served in the wehrmacht and survived would disagree with you. There is a reason Germany does not celebrate or commemorate the non nazis who served in WW2. They don't even celebrate Oskar Schindler.
Everyone in the German army between 1939-1945 has a lot to be ashamed of. Everyone in germany knew and supported the forced deportations. Everyone knew they invaded Poland, Czechslovakia, Belgium, Luxumborg, France, Holland etc for no other reason than settling old scores and promoting the aryan way. Their options were (a) Object (and end up in the camps) (b) Support actively, Join the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe etc, and be prepared to die for your beliefs, (c) Leave, Like Einstein and others did when they realised what hitlers greater plan was.
Allowing the mob to carry you along was the easy option..

The Germans doe not commemorate the non-nazis who served in WW2?

The Uboat memorial at Kiel would suggest you are at least partially wrong



Naval Memorial at Laboe, Kiel



There is also a fighter pilot memorial

[goldie fish]

The Laboe memorial commemorates those who died and was built in 1936. Before WW2.
The U-Boot memorial also commemorates those who died. It was built in 1930. It also commemorates bundesmarine U-Boat sailors who have died.
They commemorate those who died, it does not celebrate their acts.

[BlaasForRafa]

Originally Posted by goldie fish

The Laboe memorial commemorates those who died and was built in 1936. Before WW2.
The U-Boot memorial also commemorates those who died. It was built in 1930. It also commemorates bundesmarine U-Boat sailors who have died.
They commemorate those who died, it does not celebrate their acts.

The U-boat and Laboe memorials were changed after WW2 to include sailors who had died in that war.

YOU are the only one who mentioned anything about celebrating their acts, stop trying to put words in other peoples mouths.