theme: history

Tomorrow is the Anniversary of D-Day

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The military uses the codes, D-Day and H-Hour when the day and hour have not been decided or announced. That was the case in 1944 when the Allies were planning their invasion of the European continent. There were deception plans in place and troops were either moved or left in places to make the deception plans remain secretive and on the Nazi’s “radar”.

They were getting their plans ready for an assault of Nazi forces who were invading and taking over Europe with executions, concentration camps, and new laws forcing their sovereignty across the landscape.

That began to change with the amphibious attacks on the French coast in 1944.

Planning for the invasion began long before a date had been thought of, let alone set. So much depended on so many factors that the plans needed to be set, the logistics considered, alternatives, at what point to go ahead or abort. In the case of this preparation, the phases of the moon and tides were a major consideration as well as the time of day. This limited how many opportunities they had to make their assault. Preceding the landings were airstrikes, naval bombardments and an air assault just after midnight.

June 6, 1944. The Allied Invasion of Normandy during Operation Overlord during World War II. Now it is commonly known as D-Day. It was (and continues to be)  the largest seaborne invasion in history, landing 24,000 British, US, and Canadian forces at 6:30am.

Out of 156,000 troops, there were at least 10,000 casualties with 4414 confirmed dead.

I can’t give this decisive victory the proper justice it deserves on my own, so please, please visit the D-Day website and support the national museum.

Or begin your reading about the Normandy landings and invasion, but remember Wikipedia is a starting point.

The USS Slater is the only remaining destroyer class ship that fought Nazi U-boats during World War II that remains afloat. It is a national historic landmark and museum ship moored on the Hudson River in the port of Albany, the capital of New York State.

More than 70 years later, there continues to be a profound gratitude to the American Servicemen and Women who liberated the Dutch and who sacrificed their lives: Washington Post article: Americans Gave their LIves to Defeat the Nazis. The Dutch Have Never Forgotten.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
– Winston Churchill

Intro to History

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If you asked my kids what their feelings on history is, I’m pretty sure they’d answer: “Don’t care,” “Hate it,” “Eh” in that order.

However if you asked child #1 what she thinks of poodle skirts or headbands of the seventies, she’d be on Google faster than The Flash.

If you asked child #2 about the first comic book ever printed, or who holds the record for the most breakouts of Arkham Asylum, he’d tell you. In infinite detail.

My third child could tell you the history of his fire department, and if you asked him the difference between a pumper truck and a medical unit, he’d know.

History is one of those things that we either love it or we don’t know we love it. All three of them are blase about their social studies and history classes, but ask them about something they’re interested in, and they can give you the rundown from ancient times until the present day, up until the point you cry ‘uncle’ or lose yourself in their droning.

My love of history is primarily American and European focused with more interest on the American Revolution and Civil War and the Middle Ages, respectively. I’ve studied the history of language, of writing, of The Celts, Law, Drinks, the Civil Rights Movement, Catholic Church, and quite frankly the list goes on and on. I’ve made historically accurate garments, made and ate historically accurate food, played games, brewed and infused, embroidered, etc.

With the seventy-first anniversary of D-Day approaching at the end of the week, I thought we would take a peek this week at our own views of history: what we think of it, what we think of as history, which histories we’re interested in learning more about, plus some reading recommendations that I’ve personally found enlightening and of course, interesting.

Let’s start with our usual Monday prompt:

Think about your view of history. If you like/love it, great! Which is your favorite historical period? If you don’t like it, think about what you do like and if you might be interested in how it came to be.

Other prompts for this week to think about:

Your State’s (City’s/Town’s/Etc.) History

Family History – who are you named for? Why? What happened to that person? How did your parents meet? What’s your first memory?

When was your house built? Talk about that time period and what your street/community might have looked like.

What’s your favorite hobby? Who started that? How long have you been doing it? How long have others been doing it? (Remember this one for next week’s theme of collections.)