Wednesday, June 06, 2007

FYI - DDAY


XM is doing something really unique next week and I can't wait to listen. Beginning Wednesday, June 6, XM is going to air the original radio news bulletins from NBC Radio for the D-Day invasion, in real time almost exactly how the reports were heard 63 years ago. It will begin at 12:41 am Eastern time on Channel 4, The 40s, to correspond when the actual first reports were going live.

LIVE COVERAGE
Map
  • Germans are attacking in the air. Numerous dog fights between Typhoons and Messerschmidt are reported. ...
  •  Hitler is rushing to Paris to try his intuition
  • President Roosevelt leads nation on prayer via radio broadcast (12:13)
  • German opposition less than expected.
  • Germans report they have handled out parachutists and captured many of them (12:18)
  • We don't know exactly where our forces have landed, but the Germans say it's  Le Havre. (12:22)
  • House convened at 11:10 - instead of usual prayer members stood in silent prayer. (12:32)
  • Republican House leader Sen White (Maine)  does not call this a quagmire, (12:39)
  • Bulletin from IKE's HDQTRS - As evening approaches we have overcome the top 5-6 hurdles (12:41) ...
  • Goering announced he has a fleet of 15,000 planes ready to battle our 11,000 when he wants to. (12:46)
  • Our airborne troops have captured several important bridges and are holding (HV Kaltenborn 1:01)
  • Goering told his pilots that "this invasion must be fought off, even if it means the death of the Luftwaffe."(1:06)
  • Some of our best information is coming from German radio.  We did not know that Rouen was engaged until their report.
  • Lt. Col Ret, James Stevenson - NBC military analyst reports the landing at LeHavre was a stroke of genius. Because we must have those harbors. (1:09)
  • Prime Minister Churchill's second statement of the day: "This operation is proceeding nicely"" (1:39)
  • King George stated that the operation is proceeding with an amazingly low loss of life.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is no way to understand what the men who made the assault on June 6th, 1944 experienced, but I can understand the value of their efforts. I do not deserve the freedoms I enjoy, but I am unfailingly grateful for those who have protected the United States from enemy action, and I make a daily prayer for the safety of those who presently serve. A televised interview with a veteran of WWII produced this remark: "..we left the heros on the beach", and it is an eloquent summary of the sacrifice made for our liberty.

The days of WWII must have been dark and desperate, though today those scenes are sometimes romantic and mostly nostalgic. The struggle fought then is a similar one to today's, but the enemy is subtle and coniving; the threat to liberty is as great as ever and our resolve to defend it must be as well.

My thanks to all who've served and to all who continue to protect liberty. For my part I will say a special prayer for those who were part of the landing on Normandy June 6th, 1944.

Dan Patterson
Arrogant Infidel

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Listening to the "live" commentary here, and I'm aught up in the drama ... the updates are real.

Anonymous said...

I went to Normandy back in 1978. I stood on the beach at low tide and looked up at the bluffs. I then walked up there and looked down at the beach. My only statement was "Holy Shit!" I served a tour in Vietnam in the infantry and think if I'd have been at Normandy on 6 June, you would have had to drag me kicking and screaming off the landing craft. I can only salute a whole lot of men who were braver than I think I could have been.

Anonymous said...

Today, I wished I had XM radio. 'Would love to listen.

Anonymous said...

Juice - you can sign up for your FREE trial today and you can listen online over the net, Channel 4.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I tried the net and they have different broadcasting on 4. You're getting it?

Anonymous said...

Rodger's right. It's playing 40 music. Not that there's anything wrong with that. ;)

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Channel 4 is always '40 music, but on the radio they are playing the original music (I guess) with the actual bulletins breaking in as they occurred in 1944.

Anonymous said...

If you go here:
http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20040531,00.html
you can see a clearer version of that famous picture. There's a guy named Bill X that I used to shoot with some years ago, and one day one of the other shooters told me Bill was the guy on the ramp in that picture, the one with his head slightly turned to the left. I asked Bill why he turned just as the pic was snapped, making him immortal, and he jokingly said he was thinking about getting back in the boat. Actually, he didn't know why he turned or that a pic was being taken. Bill is one of two men I've known who went over that beach that day, and both are salt of the earth and very modest about their courage that day.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

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