70th Anniversary of D-Day

Normandy Beach 1945



I didn't realize at first that the Normandy Invasion wasn’t just on D-Day, June 6th.  It started that day but soldiers continued to come ashore under fire for the next 6 weeks.

Patton’s Army (1st Army) was under the overall strategy of Operation Bodyguard. It was a “Decoy" like the blow up tanks and jeeps.  The Nazis thought that since it was the “1st” that meant it would lead the invasion. (Stay with me here, there are some of dad’s war stories I have to set up).       


The Allies conducted this operation to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the Allied landings as part of Operation Bodyguard. A part of Bodyguard,  was Operation Fortitude.  It included Fortitude North, a misinformation campaign using fake radio traffic to lead the Germans to expect an attack on Norway.  Fortitude South’s deception was using a fake first Army Group under General George S. Patton supposedly located in Kent and Sussex in England. Fortitude South was intended to deceive the Germans into believing that the main attack would take place at Calais.  Genuine radio messages from the 21st air group were routed to Kent through a land line and then broadcast to give the Germans the impression that most of the Allied troops were stationed there.

A letter Dad wrote to his mother... the only one that remained....he burned the others when he got home.

All eyes as far as the Germans were concentrated, were on Patton.  For ten months Dad’s unit the 455th Battaltion of the 1st (to be come the 3rd) Army was in England at Snetterdon Heath RAFB.  Some of his most memorable stories as an anti-aircraft gunner were here.  Their job was to protect the planes taking off and landing.  They counted the planes out every morning and in every night, and knew which ones did not return.  One plane he told about was called the “Bad Penny”.  He recalled its many missions.  One afternoon it did not come back on time so they waited....finally about 4 hours late it came limping in, badly shot up.  It had made many missons, some quite harrowing.  For weeks it was out of commission then one day it took off again, patched up and like new....that afternoon...it never returned, Dad and the anti-aircraft gunners waited until late into the night.  It never returned and the crew was never found.  

Another time Dad and a buddy had an afternoon off.  One of the pilots saw them hanging around and asked them if they had ever been on a bomber, they hadn’t and weren’t supposed to be.  The pilot was going to test the plane after its overhaul and invited them along.  Dad had duty that evening, but the pilot assured him he would be back in time.  On the test run the plane malfunctioned and had to be set down at another RAFB. All were safe but the time was ticking away and if they didn’t back to Snetterdon in time they would be AWOL.  They got a ride from a guy on the base about half way back, then hitchhiked the other half of the way...arriving minutes before being AWOL.

Everyone on base knew the invasion was coming, just didn’t know when.  On the night of June 5th, 1944, they were all awakened, told to stay on alert, given a mop, a bucket of paint and instructions on how a stripe was to be painted on all of the plane’s wings.   They knew it was on. Many of the planes hadn’t had time for the paint to dry--it was dripping as the anti-aircraft gunners watched them take off. The Normandy Invasion started that morning,  June 6th.  The 455th, a part of Operation Bodyguard, the decoy 1st Army, still had to sit tight. He said all of the guys were itching to get a shot at the Nazis. Genuine radio messages from the 21st Army Group were first routed to Kent on a land line,then broadcast to give the Germans the impression that most of the Allied troops were stationed there.  Patton and the 1st Army, (some at Snetterdon Heath RAFB)stayed in England until July 6th, giving Hitler the impression that a second attack would take place at Calais. July 6th, 1944, the 1st Army under Patton became the 3rd Army when they landed on the beaches at Normandy, bodies were still falling on the sand.... and landings continued in to the first week of August.

Dad in France, close to Calais

The story he only told me parts of was at the end of the war.  Eighty-five men from the 455th battalion were transferred to accompany General Eisenhauer.  Dad would start to tell the story and then bow his head and wipe tears from his eyes.  I later learned the whole story from Jim Chambers, the historian for the 455th.  Fifty five of the men were ambushed by the Nazis, waiting for them in the trees.  My dad was the first of his company to come upon the ambush.  He and the other guys started shooting the Germans down from the trees, Dad found one of the guys alive and called for medics to assist.  They continued on the mission....to Orhdruf concentration camp.  There General Eisenhauer liberated the first of many camps and documented the atrocities on film. He had the townspeople walk through and see what had been going on under their noses.   

Hitler’s Eagles Nest.  Occupation duty at Obersalzberg after the war.

Ed Peden was the one man who had survived the ambush.  He was only 16 years old.  Dad never knew whether he lived or died.  Ed was sent home to recover and discharged from the Army since he was underage.  It wasn’t until 50 some years later when Dad walked into a 455th reunion that he knew Ed was alive.  The two men hugged and cried....then Ed turned to me, grabbed my shoulders and said through tears.... "Your dad saved my life."  Dad told me later.....”I was just doing my job.” We would see Ed at many more reunions in the coming years and his greeting to my dad was always the same.

 Heading home, Dad on the right

Dad's experiences in WWII  became an indelible part of my life, I almost felt if I had lived through some of them.  I heard his stories every day--he said, "WWII was the best, worst experience of my life.” 

My parents did not meet until after “The” war.  In the 1940s teachers only got their pay during the school year, and if the district ran out of money sometimes no pay in May.  Teachers took summer jobs to make ends meet.  One summer during the war, my mother, Faye Emerson, worked at a Japanese internment camp for boys sponsored by the Presbyterian church.  She said on the first day of camp they had all of the little boys line up.  Some were crying because the thought for sure they would be shot--but it was just a roll call.  The Presbyterian church took care of everything the boys wanted to do, if they wanted to learn to play an instrument, the church bought it for them and supplied lessons.  My mom tutored those who were behind in school.  While the experience was by no means good for anyone, there were churches and other entities that tried to make up for the injustices these Japanese American citizens suffered.   Late that summer my mom suffered her own war tragedy, the man she was engaged to, Mulley, an Army Air Corps pilot, was shot down over the sea of Japan.  

The next summer she worked in California at a classified job for the government.   The operation was based at the Ford plant outside of Sacramento. They made the maps for the bombing runs.  A car was sent to their boarding house each morning to pick them up for work.  One afternoon Mom and her roommate decided to take the train into San Francisso to see a movie.  They got off the train in San Francisco, and walked 5 blocks to the movie theater.  Midway through the movie the lights flashed on. The announcer said, “THE WAR IN EUROPE IS OVER!!”  People jumped up and started to yell.  Mom and her friend shoved their way out to the street. There they saw the lights of the city for the first time.  People were shoulder to shoulder passing around bottles of chapagne.  Every person had the same question, “Can you believe it?  The war is over.”!!  There were people who had cimbed the light posts.  Gas stations were open for business, with cars lined up around the block, flashing their lights and honking their horns.  Men were grabbing all the women and kissing them.  It took Mom and her friend from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning to walk the 5 blocks to the train station.  It was, she said,  the most memorable night of her life.  Shortly she was on a train back to Kansas to teach.  (Note:  The Potsdam Agreement was signed on August 2, 1945, a Thursday.  It seems like she said this took place on a Friday night, all I can figure is that the news of the war ending must not have reached the states until the next evening.  It was a 2.5 hour train ride to San Francisco from Sacremento. If this did happen on a Thursday night, they must have taken the train into SF right after work and planned to come back late on the train, after the movie, since they had to work the next day.)  

She met my dad two years later, while teaching in Konawa, Oklahoma. They met in a Sunday School class at First Baptist Church....actually the first singles class, for all the young men returning from war.... and all the young ladies who were still single because of the war.  They married a year later.

The war gave my dad a desire to see the world.  Throughout my life we traveled every summer, by the time I was 10 I had been to 49 of the 50 states. They took me to Hawaii when I was 20, and we spent my 21st summer in Europe.  In their retirement my parents traveled the world, Dad, getting to retrace his WWII journey, meeting people of so long ago, and getting to be in France at the 40th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion.

My parents had been so excited about there finally being a memorial to the veterans of WWII. He and my mother had planned to go.  When he lost his eyesight and my mom, he gave up on everything.  He died on March 24, 2008.  It is on my bucket list.......

Wanna Roomba?

My friend Terry went to spend the weekend with two of her grandchildren while her daughter Kara, and husband were out of town.  The kids were teenagers, so it was a pretty easy job.  

Terry slept in the master bedroom.  Upon going to bed the first night, she heard this purring motor kind of sound, but after listening to it for a few minutes, decided it was just a house sound. One of those things you get used to after living in a house awhile.  She went to bed and didn’t think anymore about it.  

She awoke suddenly to the sound again. Only this time....it was in the room !! Terry did not tell me anymore about the situation but, having been to the movies with her many times, I am sure there was screaming involved...probably lots of screaming. 

Terry discovered it was her daughter’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.  Kara set it up to charge during the day and vacuum at night after everyone had gone to sleep.  Kara had forgotten to tell her mom it would be vacuuming at night....

With my border collie (BC), Skye.....vacuuming is an every day affair.  I vacuum up enough hair every day to start a new dog.  Skye thinks vacuuming IS a sport.  She dives at the vacuum and snaps at the front of it, and occasionaly snags it and picks it up....so in her puppy years I got in the habit of locking her in the bathroom when I vacuumed.  

I happened to see an ad on the “New Improved” Roomba, which reminded me of Kara vacuuming her house.  “New quieter, version, improved sensor to sense the animal hair and dust.”  How nice it would be to have my house vacuumed every single day, without me having to do it.   I checked on the price of the series 800......a whopping $699.  After seeing the price I gave up on the idea.

Fast forward a year.......

Through a friend, I happened to hear about a lady who was trying to sell an 800 series Roomba for half price, it had only been used once. I called her, she said it worked great but it just “Didn’t work out for her family”.  When I inquired further about its operation, once again she said, “It worked perfectly, but just didn’t work out for their family.”  Which I thought was an odd reason, but inquired no futher. She told me it was packed and in the box, just as it had been when purchased. 

When I got to her house she asked me if I had any pets.  I told her about my BC, she gave me kind of a startled  look and then said, “Well just keep all the packing and put it back in the box like it came, if it doesn’t work out for you.  I won’t cash your check until you call me.” I told her I would call in a day or so to tell her to cash the check. I headed home with my bargain, knowing full well it would be perfect for our family.

Once at home I set it up, docked it and waited for it to charge.  Skye watchED me carefully, but she wasn’t terribly curious. She was a dog, she had no idea what this thing even was.....it looked nothing like my old vacuum.  With my Roomba all set, I went to bed. 

I drifted off to sleep to be awakened suddenly by a crash and then vicious barking. I tore through the door, down the hall...there in my entry was an overturned lamp table, a lamp on the floor and the dog dancing and barking at the little Roomba, which was tightly cornered and beeping.  I put Skye in the bathroom....still barking, now clawing at the door, then I went back to the entry. I put Little Roomba back at her dock, cleaned up the broken light bulb, put the lamp back together again, set the lamp table back up and went back to bed.

Skye had settled down in the bathroom, and all was once again quiet.  Skye would get used to the little Roomba and she would be the dream appliance I had thought  she would be. I went back to bed.

But.....once again I was awakened by barking.  This time I could hear vicicous barking, from the bathroom.  Over the barking I could hear Little Roomba’s motor churning like she was stuck.  I tore out of our room and down the hall.  There was Little Roomba grinding and pulling. From under the bathroom door was a hairy arm.....a hairy dog arm with her claws firmly curled around the little Roomba, holding her to the wall, and all the while, barking as loud as a dog could bark.

Jim was wiped still out on his Parkinson’s meds, still sleeping and missing out on all the excitement.  By now, badly in need of sleep, I took the  little Roomba, turned her off, and simply left her on the table for the night.  Skye had pretty much done away with the paint on the inside of the bathroom door.  This time I locked her in the laundry room.  I was afraid if she saw Roomba, even turned off, it might set her off again.

The next morning, Jim asked how Roomba had done, I told him I was still working out the kinks.  After surveying the damage of the night before, I decided that since it was going to be warm tonight, Skye could sleep in the back yard.  I would give the little Roomba one more chance to do her magic on my floors. I painted the inside of the bathroom door and set Roomba on her dock to be ready for the evening.

What I didn’t think about was that our laundry room door to the outside is a French door, so Skye, even though she was outside, could still look in and see what was going on down the hallway.  When Roomba started to do her magic, Skye once again went crazy, this time outside.  I was once again awakened....but now by my phone, our neighbor ws calling, telling me our dog’s barking woke them up.

After painting the outside of the laundry room door, I packed Little Roomba back in her box with all the packing just like she had come, I felt like I was taking a pet to the pound. Then....I called the lady.....she had not cashed my check......I told her “Little Roomba just didn’t work out for our family.......either.”

My Father’s Patriots Month

Memorial Day in our family marked the beginning of what my dad called “Patriot’s Month.”  It included Memorial Day, DDay Invasion Anniverary on June 6th, Flag Day, June 14th and Independence Day, July 4th.  The flag flew on our front porch for that entire month.

Memorial Day
As I went through the pictures my dad had of WWII, I noticed a name and then an additional note, killed, a date and the location.  I know it was for those buddies he shed a tear, every time he said the Pledge, or heard the National Anthem. I would  see him bow his head, take off his glasses and wipe the tears away.  For many years I didn’t understand.  While in Luxembourg we went to the American Cemetery there.   As we walked through the gate, facing the graves was a line of men my father’s age, quietly kneeling with heads bowed.  Dad silently joined them.  I could not even imagine the horrors of war they had all experienced.

DDay, June 6th
I had heard stories about my dad, driving his Model T on the sidewalks, filling a guy’s gas tank with water and many more ornery stories.  That was not, however, the man who returned from the Army after WWII in the in fall of 1945.

Upon the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he and all young men he knew in Konawa, Oklahoma, went down to enlist in the Army.  Most of his friends were accepted, but weighing 145 lbs and being 6 feet tall, he was told to gain some weight and come back.  In the next few months people would spit on him and ask him,”Why didn't you go to war?”  In his frustration he went to his good friend, Roy Stevens, who he had worked for at the service station.  Roy knew someone on the draft board and he assured Dad he could get him into the Army, which he did.

Within a few months he was off to Basic Training.  He left thinking he would never return, since most who had left for WWI had never returned.  Knowing my dad, he must have thought that he was off on the greatest adventure of his life.  He had never been out of the state of Oklahoma and now he was off to see the world. The thing I most remember him saying about WWII was, “It was the best, worst experience of my life.”

Training in Ft. Benning Georgia.....Dad is the one looking back int he dark hat.  Mosquitos stories....

Omaha Beach, 1944.  The 455th Battalion went in on July 6, 1944, a month after the initial invasion but still under fire.

He told stories about “the” war every day of his life.    One story I remember was of his platoon finding a house, in  “U” shape connected to a barn on the river in Germany.  They asked the resident if they could stay in the barn.  The center of the “compound” had a huge pile of manure.  They went into the barn and started to check the place out.  While checking it out, Dad found a picture of the male resident of the house in a Nazi uniform.  They radioed for back-up, then took the man into custody. The man had defected from the Germans.  While in Germany I saw this house on the Mainz river that I imagined could have been the  same place, it wasn’t of course....but it piqued my imagination.

The U shaped house I saw in the Mainz River.

                                           The house.

The Barn.

 The windows on the house.

Flag Day
In 1973 my parents and I spent most of the summer touring Western Europe.  We had been traveling for several weeks and had just arrived in Rome.  As we drove to our hotel, the driver told us all to just sit tight, we would be held up in the bus for a few minutes.  There was a communist demonstration going on in the street that we had to wait to pass.  It wasn’t violent,  just lots of signs and shouting.  When it turned onto another street we went on our way.  As I turned to look out the front of the bus, the first thing I saw was the American flag flying in front of the American Embassy.  It struck me that I hadn’t seen the flag in several weeks, I got goosebumps and felt a lump in my throat.  At the same time I noticed the talking on the bus had stopped.  I looked around the bus....it seemed everyone had been stricken with the same emotion as me at seeing the flag.

July 4th
When we lived in Beaumont, the city park was on the Neches River.  The park was fenced to the river on each side.  There was one way in and out, under a little walking bridge.  The land, shaded with large oaks, sloped gently down to the river’s edge.   The city had a barge they docked in the river at the middle of the park.  On the barge was the Beaumont Symphony along with a choir made up of people from various churches and school choirs from all over town.  Around 4 PM the symphony would start to play.  Various people and ensembles sang and in the beauty of the moment, just about everyone joined in.  Virtually everyone in town came to the celebration.  We listened to music as the sun set behind us. As darkness descended the fireworks lit up the sky from across the river.  It was magic.  It was as close to being on the Charles River and listening to the Boston Pops was we could possibly get.

I think Dad had a great idea about his Patriot’s month.....so in his memory there will be bunting on my porch, and my flag will fly every day.....thanks Dad!