German vets will attend D-Day Ceremony

[Dan M]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06...cmp=latestnews

[Thorsten B.]

That is actually very good news!!

[Josh Cowell]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06...cmp=latestnews

Glad he and other German vets are being not only asked to join in the ceremonies at Normandy but also being accepted in general by the allies. The German vets need this as they do not have much longer and it is good they get to reconcile with their past.

It's good the article relates how he took an ami prisoner. It is good that the world knows Germans were not monsters as portrayed by Hollywood, history books.

But the Allies were no angels and many killed surrendering Germans so the fact that the news article makes it seem like a given that he was lucky to have been in Normandy as he was taken POW is misleading.

Also telling is that he was warned by the French villagers to get lost as the allies had landed. It speaks volumes. If the Germans had all treated the French badly, I am sure the French would not have wanted to warn and save him.

[Jonathan M]

Great news

[PaulW]

Thanks

Thanks for posting the link Dan. Around 20 years ago a work colleague told me that his father and his friends (British Army NW Europe 44/45) always took SS prisoners 'for a walk in the woods' from which they never returned. I'm sure both sides murdered prisoners and the whole period was utterly grim. It's a long time ago now, perhaps time to heal some wounds.

[crowback]

Germans

Good news. After all, they made D Day possible!!!

[Dan M]

My late father saw D-Day from the air. He was a Tech Sgt with the 366th Fighter group. He was a camera tech. and shot a lot of footage from the air. I still remember him, as a child, telling a family friend who was an infantryman during WWII about all the bodies he saw floating in the water and on the beaches. He never did tell my brother or me much but would discuss his experiences with other vets. I would always try to listen in. One of his most interesting stories was his experience after the War while working for Graves Registration. He was part of a group that exhumed General Patton's body and moved it to the US military cemetery in Luxemburg. The casket was opened to verify the remains as being Patton's. He had been dead for a year but my father stated that his body was still in good shape.

[Gary Jucha]

r

We could have done without them then, We can do without them now ...

"They Made D-Day possible" !! .....

....... They were rid of at D-Day ...

Once you clear rats out of the barn, you don't then invite them back.

Good news. After all, they made D Day possible!!!

[Volksgrenadier 44]

Gary,
Im English too mate but i must say i dont agree.Yes they were the enemy but its time to move on and let these old men come together one last official time.

Ross

[Josh Cowell]

Gary,
Im English too mate but i must say i dont agree.Yes they were the enemy but its time to move on and let these old men come together one last official time.

Ross

Well said Ross. Let those who actually participated be the ones to judge each others worth. Judging those who were there by those who weren't is not only wrong, but irritating. Let those who were there be able to finally reconcile with each other and within one's self. After all they are old men now and why be so petty as to begrudge them their redemption.