July 15, 2024 • 35 mins
🎙️
Join hosts Scott and Jenn as they take you through a vivid recount of D-Day, focusing on the British assault on Gold Beach and the crucial role of Operation Overlord in liberating Europe from Nazi control.
The episode features insights into the strategic importance of securing key bridges, the challenges faced by Allied forces, and the emotional reflections of a British paratrooper and infantryman.
Jenn shares her personal experiences from attending the 80th-anniversary celebrations at Normandy, highlighting visits to prominent memorials such as the British Normandy Memorial and the Standing with Giants silhouettes. Discover the pivotal moments and heroic endeavors that paved the way for Allied victory in World War II.
📍 British Normandy Memorial, France
00:00 The Night Before D-Day
03:38 Introduction
04:34 80th Anniversary of D-Day at Gold Beach
07:22 Overview of the D-Day beaches
13:42 D-Day Landing at Gold Beach
16:09 The British Normandy Memorial
27:16 Standing with Giants
31:00 Liberating a town and what is next
34:47 Post show teaser of new projects
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott (00:00):
This is the BBC Home Service.
Here is a special bulletinread by John Snagg.
D Day has come.
Early this morning, the Allies beganthe assault on the northwestern
face of Hitler's European fortress.
The first official news came justafter half past nine, when Supreme
Headquarters of the Allied ExpeditionaryForce, usually called SHAPE from
(00:21):
its initials, issued number one.
This said, under the command ofGeneral Eisenhower, Allied naval
forces supported by strong air forces.
began landing allied armies thismorning on the northern coast of France.
The roar of the aircraftengines was deafening.
(00:43):
As a British paratrooper, I knew thesuccess of Operation Tonga hinged on
our ability to land and secure keypositions behind enemy lines in Normandy.
The night of June 5th, 1944 was pitchblack, and the only light in the sky.
came from the moon and the distantflashes of anti aircraft fire.
As we approached our drop zone,the tension among us was palpable.
(01:06):
I clutched my rifle tightly,my heart pounding in my chest.
The red light turned green and we jumped.
The air hit me like a wall and I plummeteddown towards the dark fields below.
My parachute opened with ajolt and I began my descent.
I landed awkwardly in a hedgerow,quickly unbuckling my harness
and scanning my surroundings.
The sounds of war were everywhere.
(01:27):
Gunfire, explosions, and thedistant rumbles of tanks.
I quickly regrouped with my fellowparatroopers and we moved towards our
objective, securing the bridges overthe Orne River and the Cane Canal.
Our mission was critical.
If we failed, the Germans could usethe bridges to launch a counterattack
against the beaches where ourcomrades were landing in the morning.
We advanced cautiously, using thecover of darkness to our advantage.
(01:51):
As we approached the first bridge,we encountered heavy resistance.
German soldiers were well entrenched,and a fierce fight ensued.
Despite being outnumbered, wefought with determination and grit.
I fired my rifle, took cover,advanced, and fired again.
The rhythm of combat.
The training kicked in and wemoved as one cohesive unit.
Slowly, we began to push the Germans back.
(02:11):
Keep moving.
We have to secure them.
The bridge was ours,but the cost was high.
Many of my comrades lay wounded or dead.
We moved to the next objective,knowing there was no time to mourn.
The battle for the second bridge wasequally brutal, but we were relentless.
By dawn, we had secured bothbridges, cutting off the German
reinforcements and protectingthe flank of the invasion force.
(02:35):
Exhausted but triumphant, we dug in andprepared for the inevitable counterattack.
Looking at the faces of my fellowparatroopers, I felt a surge of pride.
We had accomplished ourmission against all odds.
The success of Operation Tongaplayed a crucial role in the overall
invasion of Normandy, and I washonored to have been a part of it.
As the sun rose over the battlescarred landscape, I knew
(02:56):
this was just the beginning.
The road to victory would belong and arduous, but we had
taken the first crucial step.
Something glinted outof the corner of my eye.
I thought I could almost seethe horizon lined with ships
as they landed on the beaches.
I said a prayer for my little brother.
He was part of the 50thDivision, landing at Gold Beach.
(03:18):
I had told my mom nothingwould happen to him, and I was
determined to keep that promise.
(03:38):
Welcome to Talk With History.
I'm your host, Scott, here withmy wife and historian, Jen.
On this podcast, we give you insightsto our history inspired world travels,
YouTube channel journey, and examinehistory through deeper conversations
with the curious, the explorers,and the history lovers out there.
Now, Jen, we're just going to jumpright into it because this is a series
(04:02):
we have been anxiously wanting to getout into the world for quite some time.
Quite a few months ago, you made plans.
We, I mean, you for youto get out to Normandy.
So if anybody follows us on our Walkwith Us YouTube channel, they would have
just seen our first video from there.
And you went to the 80th anniversary.
You went to do a multitudeof things out there.
(04:23):
But the day before the actual 80thanniversary day, you were out at the
Gold Beach kind of memorial out there.
Why don't you tell us alittle bit about that?
Jenn (04:34):
Yes, so I went to the 80th anniversary of D Day ceremony
and celebration at Normandy andthere was a lot of people there.
It was.
very busy.
The tour guide said it's thebusiest they have ever seen it.
Scott (04:54):
And, if anybody's listening to this, it makes sense, right?
This being the 80th anniversary,there's not going to be another
kind of big number anniversary,really, where there's going to be any
veterans that'll most likely be there.
Jenn (05:06):
We'll see.
There was a, about 120veterans at this one.
I bet the 85th will be another bigone and we'll see maybe the 90th.
I think those will probablybe our last three big, these
will be our last three big
Scott (05:22):
Yeah, and I think because the majority of the World War II vets
that were there were probably intheir, in the youngest, in their 90s.
Jenn (05:30):
nineties.
Oh, absolutely.
Scott (05:32):
the, at the absolute youngest.
I mean, there's, there's some I've seenrecent interviews with that are 102, 103.
Jenn (05:38):
Exactly.
So it was just a real honor to be there,but because it was so busy, we, the first
day we got there, we were supposed togo to the American Normandy cemetery.
We couldn't get there.
It was too crowded.
They shut it down.
We went to Omaha beach, but we werebarely there for 10 minutes and then that
got shut down for the next three days.
(06:00):
So it really didn't get to makeit back out to Omaha beach again.
We'll talk about it on another podcast.
Thanks.
just the little bit we got to do,which is mostly in reels on Instagram.
I don't even think we can, we can'teven make a full video on YouTube
because we just went there long enough.
Scott (06:16):
Yeah, because you were there, I, I didn't get to go I had to
stay back with the kids and work.
But you got, you got to get out therewith, some Navy, veteran friends of ours.
So when you say we, that's, that's whoyou're talking about for our listeners
Jenn (06:28):
Yeah, I went with two other female Navy veterans
officers that I had served with.
And when Scott says he hadto stay back and work, Scott
had to stay back and, and be.
a naval officer in the United States Navy.
So he couldn't make it to D Day becausehe is actually doing the real deal.
But the first place we were able toreally go and get out and see and
(06:52):
just experience it all was Gold Beach.
Scott (06:55):
Now that one was a little bit unique.
This time, because and I know we'lltouch on this and I'll, I'll let you
walk us through what you saw for the day.
But one of the big things there wasobviously there was like memorial
there, but they also had the standingwith giants silhouettes, which a lot
of people may have seen pictures ofbut talk, walk us through or walk our
(07:17):
listeners through, getting there andwhat all is there at, at gold beach.
Jenn (07:22):
So just just a quick background.
We're not going to go right.
into much of the history of goldbeach, but I'm gonna give you a quick
background so you know what gold beach is.
So remember there are five beachesthat are part of operation overlord
and operation overlord is the entireoperation of the landing on the
(07:43):
French beaches against the Nazis.
So these are the allies, the,the British, the Americans, the
Canadians, the Polish, the Dutch.
It's everybody who the New Zealand's,if you can think Australians,
everybody who is togethertrying to overcome Nazi Germany.
And they have since been, they'vebeen joined with Italy and Japan.
(08:07):
So they are the Axis powers.
And so they have taken.
France, the entire country of France.
For four years, they'veoccupied this country.
And the British basically have gottenaway back to England and been planning.
And that's what's beengoing on for about a year.
They've been planning this big operation.
(08:27):
And Eisenhower at the time,General Eisenhower is in charge
of all of it, oversees all of it.
So this is the day, D Day.
And when people ask me,what does D Day mean?
It means day, day day.
So D Day is day day.
Scott (08:44):
it's like the
Jenn (08:45):
It's like the day.
So the D doesn't reallystand for anything.
It's the day.
So It's Operation Overlordis the entire operation.
We're going to get Operation Point Blank,where British and American bombers are
going to start bombing at midnight,the night of June 6th, and you're
going to get over 2200 bombers justbombing all of these strategic areas.
(09:08):
on the French soil, which isnow occupied Nazi Germany.
And then Operation Neptunewill be the naval side.
Neptune will start first, becauseNeptune will start with the bombardment,
amphibious bombardment of the coast.
So it always will haveNeptune before the landings.
There's five beaches, basically.
(09:30):
And if you go from east to west,I guess that's the best way to go.
Or maybe from from west to east.
It's going to start with Utah Beach,an American beach, Omaha Beach, another
an American beach, Gold Beach, theone we're talking about is like the
joining beach between the Americanbeaches and the other allied beaches
(09:53):
and Gold Beach will be British.
Then you're going to have Juno, whichwill be a Canadian beach and Sword,
which will be another British beach.
Utah and Omaha are named by the Americans.
The story is that when Eisenhower wasplanning the men who were writing, he
asked, where are you, where are you from?
And the two men who were typing outthe, the operation plans, one was from
(10:18):
Omaha, and one was from the state of
Scott (10:20):
I, I did not know
Jenn (10:21):
So they named the beaches after those two men.
For the Allied side the British sideChurchill went with fish names So
swordfish goldfish and it's supposed to bejellyfish for Juno, but Winston Churchill
couldn't see Men dying on jellyfish
Scott (10:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jenn (10:40):
so he changed it to Juno Beach.
So when you hear gold Beach Sometimes it'sreferred to as gold But it's goldfish.
That's where it comes from.
So again, this is the middlebeach of these five beaches.
It's completely British authority.
It's the British whoare taking this beach.
So what we went to was theBritish Normandy Memorial.
(11:05):
And I don't want it confused with theAmerican Normandy Cemetery because
the American Normandy Cemetery isa cemetery where men are buried.
The memorial men are not buried there.
It's a memorial and itoverlooks the entire gold beach.
Scott (11:23):
Yeah.
And it's, I mean, you guys dida good job of, as, as much as I
love and I'm, I'm biased towardsmy own B roll footage, right?
A little behind the scenes here ofYouTube, you and, and Bonnie and whoever's
holding the camera kind of did a goodjob of kind of really showing what the,
the view look like, it's a, it is abeachhead kind of going uphill, right?
So you can look out.
(11:43):
over this beach and you cansee down to the water, right?
And it's, it's not super steep,right where you guys were.
So it's pretty long.
So there's a long way to go to get allthe way to the top of the beachhead.
Now, when I was doing the editingand putting the video together, the,
the fighting on this speech wasn't,wasn't but this is a very this is
(12:04):
specifically a British memorial, right?
I think you were saying when you werethere, it looked like there, there
were some British soldiers practicingand stuff like that, potentially for
Prince William or somebody like that,
Jenn (12:15):
so I was at the American ceremony.
I was at the American Normandy ceremonyat the American Normandy cemetery.
Scott (12:23):
Oh, the, so that, oh, that was at the cemetery.
That's where the, that'swhere the ceremony was.
Jenn (12:27):
The British ceremony was at that location.
Scott (12:32):
and that's what you saw they were prepping for when you were
there the day before the actual 80th
Jenn (12:37):
And it was Prince William.
Prince William had come Andhe was in, in replace of King
Charles and he, he, he served.
So he, he was the big dignitary there.
So when you think of Gold Beach,it's going to be the British, the
Dutch, the Polish and other allies.
So it's really their militaries thatwere also part of that ceremony there.
(13:02):
And so that's what you see inthe video is those militaries.
Scott (13:06):
can hear the band playing in the background Which is neat because
they were playing old school music and
Jenn (13:09):
It was really neat.
And they're.
Memorial, if you look down fromthe sky, looks like a British flag.
So with the walkways are making thatcrisscross design of the British
flag, and they have names on pillars.
About 300 little over 300 men will dieon Gold Beach that day, they'll land
(13:33):
25, 000 men, the British and allies.
And they'll have a little over a thousandcasualties, but 350 men will die.
Scott (13:43):
It is announced a little later that General Montgomery is in command of
the Army Group carrying out the assault.
This Army Group includes British,Canadian, and United States forces.
The Allied Commander in Chief, GeneralEisenhower, has issued an order of
the day addressed to each individualof the Allied Expeditionary Force.
In it, he said, Your taskwill not be an easy one.
(14:05):
Your enemy is well trained, wellequipped, and battle hardened.
He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944.
The tide has turned.
The free men of the world aremarching together to victory.
I have full confidence in your courage,devotion to duty, and skill in battle.
(14:25):
We will accept nothingless than full victory.
Good luck and let us all beseechthe blessing of Almighty God upon
this great and noble undertaking.
The world seemed to slow down.
Every move I made on this cursedboat felt like a lifetime.
(14:49):
Was that Winston Churchillover the radio earlier?
The only thing I could hearnow was the deafening sound of
gunfire and artillery in the air.
All around me, the sea had red patches.
Never seen that before.
As an infantryman, I was amongthousands of British soldiers.
Landing at Gold Beach on D Day.
(15:12):
Attention on my fellow countrymen'sface was palpable as our landing
craft approached the beach.
We were under heavy fire,but we were determined.
As soon as our landing craft hitthe beach, I jumped out and ran
towards the sand dune for cover,my heart pounding in my chest.
I could see the German bunkers up ahead.
We were outgunned, but we pushed forward.
We were trained for this.
We knew our mission.
(15:33):
I fired my rifle, took cover,advanced, and fired again, a
rhythm of survival and duty.
Despite the chaos around me, Ifelt a strange sense of clarity.
I was fighting for mycountry, for our freedom.
I saw comrades fall, but wekept going, driving the Germans
back, securing the beachhead.
By the end of the day, wehad accomplished our mission.
(15:55):
I was one of the lucky ones who survived.
Looking back at the beach, Ibarely realized the enormity
of what we had just done.
I wondered if my brotherhad made his jump okay.
Jenn (16:12):
Their names are the closest inside the memorial.
And then as you walk outside thememorial, there's names on pillars.
They consider Normandy landingsfrom June 6th to the end of August.
So all of the men who died from June6th to the end of August are listed
as you walk out towards those pillars.
(16:35):
They also honor 20, 000 Frenchcivilians who were killed
during this Normandy landing.
And they're also listed alittle bit farther out as well.
But again, you had thecivilian casualties of war
Scott (16:49):
And that was another interesting thing in in the the listener will
if you're listening to this podcastyou'll hear in some of the vignettes
as we go through this that they wereactually You know, the the Allied
forces were actually making radio kindof announcements, or You know good guy
propaganda trying to announce thingsto the French people via the radio
(17:11):
saying you know, hey, don't fightback, essentially keep your hopes up.
And then they also gavethem a little bit of warning
Jenn (17:19):
to get out into the
Scott (17:20):
to get out into the countryside because it's like it, which makes sense.
You'd never really think about it.
You're like, well,aren't they giving away?
What they're doing to the Germans,well, the Germans would have
known long before that, right?
Long before an hourbefore the actual landing.
They would have detected them, they'relike, okay, they're coming, but the
people, the French people wouldn'tknow that, and so they hear it over the
radio, they're like, okay, it's time tohightail it out of here, but of course
(17:42):
there's still going to be casualties.
Jenn (17:44):
So there was a lot of espionage, but there was a lot of what's the
word I'm looking for where you're like
Scott (17:49):
Kind of like gamesmanship,
Jenn (17:51):
gamesmanship.
They were projectingthese false operations.
So to keep the Germans guessing, andthey were doing that for about three
months before they actually did thispretending, I forget what they called
it operation bodyguard, I think, butthese fake operations that they were
doing to keep the Germans on their toes.
(18:11):
And.
Fortunately, I think I remembercorrectly, Hitler had gone to bed.
early on June 5th and told not to beawakened for any reason whatsoever.
Scott (18:23):
Oh my gosh.
Jenn (18:24):
So when things were happening on June 6th, they didn't wake him and tell
him, even though this is a big deal.
They, he was, he was not woken upuntil well into the day on June 6th.
And so he couldn't send evenquick responses because they
were too afraid to wake him.
Lucky for him.
the allies.
(18:45):
Now, like you said, thingsstart at midnight on June 6th.
You're going to get gliders coming infrom the British, which are so accurate.
They're taking out these bigbridges because when you think of
Normandy, I want you to think offarmland and this farmland, the
way that it's fertile is it floods.
Think of the Nile.
(19:05):
Is they flood this farmlandto keep the soil very fertile.
And when they do that, there's noway to connect these areas, but
these big bridges that bring you in.
And the Germans occupiedthese big bridges.
And they also, the Germans hadflooded farmland on purpose to,
to make some roads unusable.
(19:26):
So what the allies had to dowas capture these bridges.
And that's, is what they're going todo for Utah beach and Omaha beach.
That's what our airborne.
They're doing the same thing.
They're trying to capture thesestrategic bridges to get not only the
allies onto the beaches and get allof their material across the bridges
into theater, but to stop the Germansfrom using those bridges to fight back.
Scott (19:48):
Yeah, they're also trying to cut off the, the German
kind of supply and logistics.
Yeah.
Jenn (19:52):
So you get the ally, the Americans are doing it at Utah and
Omaha beach, and then The, the theBritish and the Dutch and the Canadians
are doing it over on Gold Beach andSword Beach and Juno Beach as well.
So they're really the first to go.
It's the airborne and the glidersthat are going to be the first out.
(20:14):
And the bombardment the bombing.
Also of that strategic outside of thatarea, but those gliders are so accurate.
They land right where the bridges are.
They pop open this like 20 minute gliderand they were able to take those bridges
really with no, with no fight back.
So it was really nice for the British.
(20:34):
Now you had said, Gold Beachis not like Omaha Beach.
No beach will be like Omaha Beach.
Scott (20:38):
I mean, there were still casualties.
Jenn (20:40):
still casualties, but no beach of the five are going to encounter as much
resistance and firepower and just theway that the topography of the beaches
are against the allies like Omaha.
It's why it's called bloody Omaha.
You will have more losses onOmaha than any other beach.
(21:01):
And we'll talk about that.
But the topography of Utah andOmaha are not like these nice gold
has a nice straight, clear beach.
Utah and Omaha are very rocky.
And they have the point toHawk is in the middle of them.
So the kind of like cuts off and itit's not as easily The terrain is not
Scott (21:21):
It's easier for the germans to defend right because
because of the terrain yeah,
Jenn (21:26):
So gold beach again, you're going to what happens is the
Navy bombardment starts at 530.
So you're going to get the bomberstarting at midnight, the airborne
and the gliders go at midnight.
And then the Navybombardment starts at 530.
So what does that mean?
The Navy gets as close as theycan to the beach and just starts
hitting the beachhead as hardas they can with their guns.
(21:47):
And what's very lucky is they takeout the three of the four major guns.
They're taken out by 620.
So that's great.
You only got one major gun thenstill manned on Gold Beach.
Now that gun takes a day to get out.
They really don't even get it out toJune 7th, but it's only one major gun.
So the Navy, their Navy ships are.
(22:07):
pretty accurate taking outthose those big artillery guns.
And then the first landingshappened about 725.
Now that's about anhour after Omaha beach.
And the reason why is because of tides.
Scott (22:19):
Oh sure
Jenn (22:20):
So when we talk about these beaches and what they did with the
obstacles on the beaches is youremember in saving pride, right?
And they have all the hedgehogs out.
And those are those.
Weird twisty metal lookingthings that keeps amphibious
craft from landing on the beach.
What it also does is during high tide,when you can't see them, if boats
hit them, it makes boats capsize.
(22:42):
And what they would also do isput mines on the end of those.
So if you also hitthem, you would blow up.
So you had to wait to low tidebecause you had to wait till
you could see all those things.
But low tide, we're Navyofficers also means you have a
huge amount of beach to cover.
Scott (23:00):
Yeah, and it was in Depending on where you're from what beach you're used
to right growing up in california whenthe tide goes out It doesn't it drops off
pretty quickly It's not like beaches inflorida where you can walk out, Or in that
part of the country where you can walkout for a quarter mile You And the water
is only knee deep the entire time, wherein California, it drops off to incredibly
(23:24):
deep water within, 50 yards or lessthan even sometimes even less than that.
The what I saw and you were able toshow a little bit of the of the gold
beach there But you see from some ofthe historical footage that we cut in is
that these are one of those beachheadsJust like you said for farmland is that
the shoreline when the tide goes out.
There's a lot Of beachhead, it's it'sit's long for them to come in from the
(23:50):
ship on all the way up to where it'sessentially dry, where the tide wouldn't
go up any higher, and then get to the,whatever it is, the embankment, the guns,
the, where the Germans actually were.
So that's kind of the,the risk on each side.
It was actually less risky to wait forthe tide to come out so they could land
(24:10):
these landing craft, roll the tanks up,or the soldiers, or whatever it was.
So that they didn't run into thesehedgehogs and mines and things like that.
Jenn (24:18):
Exactly.
And then you think of all that beachyou have to cover with all that gear.
And it's, it's just seems daunting.
I, the only place I really understoodthe expansiveness of it was Omaha because
I happened to be on Omaha when thetide was out and it was a huge beach.
Even when you think from the shore allthe way to the first grassy area, that's
(24:40):
a lot of beach to cover in full gear.
I'm thinking 50 pounds of gear.
Yeah.
when you're taking tons of hostile fire.
So you can imagine this is what'shappening on Gold Beach as well.
Now, like I said, they'relanding 25, 000 men, and they're,
they, they are, they secure thebeachhead by the end of the day.
So they're able to meet their goal.
(25:04):
Now, Gold Beach is instrumentalbecause it has to join Omaha
with Sword and, or with Juno.
So it has to join Omaha with, with Juno.
Like it's the middle beach.
It's,
Scott (25:15):
if people aren't familiar, if you haven't really looked into
the beachheads there, it's over50 miles of continuous beachhead
across these five beaches, right?
So when we say that, like it's all,they're all continuous kind of along the
French coast, but it's a well over 50miles from one end of one beach all the
way to the other end of the other beach.
(25:35):
So it's a pretty expansive, Piece of thecoast that they are they are landing on.
Jenn (25:41):
yeah, it's really beautiful now.
It's really flat now, but at the timeI can imagine it was just overwhelming.
What we got to see was theBritish Normandy Memorial and
they just have recently built it.
It just was unveiledJune 6th, 2021 for the
Scott (25:58):
wow
Jenn (25:59):
anniversary.
Well, the British felt like theydon't have their place, right?
Like the American cemetery at Normandyis like where we had the ceremony.
It's our place.
It's also a cemetery.
Now there is this, there is this WorldWar Two cemetery for the British.
It's a little farther inland, but Butit doesn't have the place on the beach.
(26:21):
So they wanted something toshow the memorial of what the
men did where you can see it.
And it lists over 22, 000 names from morethan 30 countries under British command
who were killed at Normandy from June6th, again, to the end of August 31st.
And as you move from the centerout, their names will be listed
(26:42):
as the days go out from June 6th.
So you can look on thepillars and find names.
And I found Benny'sand I found Mitchell's.
And so it was really neat tosee all those names on there.
But yeah.
The centerpiece is a bronze statue ofthree British soldiers attacking the beach
and it was made by David William Ellis.
It really is reminiscent tome of the one at Omaha Beach
(27:06):
and the one we saw at Bedford.
Again, just about you withyour comrades together.
handling it together
Scott (27:13):
they're they're it's a classic kind of world war ii soldiers charging it
Jenn (27:16):
yes.
And you would know they weredifferent because of their helmets.
They have differenthelmets than the Americans.
Now the standing with giant silhouettesis what's really impressive there as well.
Scott (27:27):
Those were really cool and it's it's the thumbnail Yeah, we used one
of them a picture of one of them as thethumbnail of this particular video, but
they have They're displaying all thesedifferent kinds of soldiers and airmen
and sailors that were involved in this.
Jenn (27:45):
Yeah, so it depicts 1475 giants who are the number of servicemen who
died under British command on D Day.
So not at Gold Beach, but ofall And all the beaches and
the airborne and the bombers.
So anyone who died that day under Britishcommand is depicted with a silhouette.
(28:08):
And that's why there's 1475 of them.
And they all look differentbecause they're different.
doing different jobs in the military.
And so it's very neat to see pilotsor naval officers or army officers.
It's very neat to see how they look, theirsilhouettes look different and that people
(28:30):
have little placards with quotes on them.
And we found Dick Wintersat those placards will
Scott (28:38):
Oh, okay.
Jenn (28:39):
but the silhouettes will go.
Scott (28:41):
they were only there for the basically for the 80th
Jenn (28:43):
Yes, they're supposed to leave the The end of August, but there's two women
depicted There's two army nurses sisterever shed and sister field They died on
deed on D day trying to save men on asinking hospital ship So they're also
their silhouettes are also depicted there.
(29:03):
So that's very neat to see
Scott (29:04):
Yeah, theirs was cool because it had that cut out.
Like the from the waist down, you couldsee the metal kind of silhouette of them.
And then there was like that hollow soyou could see the sky as there, they
would fill in, the rest of the gaps.
It was really neat how they did it.
Jenn (29:17):
Yeah, they were really neat and it's a and to have women depicted.
They're the only two women of thefourteen hundred seventy five You I
think it's such a neat memoir, I reallydon't want them to take it down at all.
I think it would just be great.
It doesn't really impede on the view.
And I thought it was justan amazing thing to see.
It really feels like it'scalled standing with giants.
And I really feel like youare standing with them.
(29:39):
And it gives a real to me,humanization of the area.
And I almost I don't want to see it go.
But it was really neat to be there andto see that and you can walk among them,
you're allowed to walk out in there,it wasn't cut, and the grass was high.
But you're allowed to walk in there andtake pictures and Find ones that maybe
(30:00):
could be dedicated because each of them issupposed to be a certain person to maybe
your ancestor or somebody that you knewfrom your family or something like that.
So that was really neat to see,but I'm happy we got to go there.
It is an impressive monuments.
And again, this is the middle beach.
So when you think of the fivebeaches, this is the middle beach.
(30:22):
If you do make it out to goldbeach, gold beach is one of the
few beaches that has preserved alot of those big guns and a lot of
those what do they call those, babe?
Scott (30:32):
little bunkers.
Jenn (30:33):
they preserve the bunkers there.
So you can actually go and see them.
They're, they're really well preserved.
And so if you make it out to GoldBeach, it's one of those places
that if you walk the beach, you canreally see a lot of the history still
there for you to participate in.
So I'm happy we got to go there.
I never thought about it as an American.
I was like, Oh, it's like, it's I mean,after Omaha and Utah, you're kind of
(30:54):
like, Oh, what are the other beaches?
So for me, I learned a lot.
I got to see it.
I really did appreciate it.
So I'm happy we went.
Scott (31:01):
People in enemy occupied territory who lived near the coast were warned
to leave their homes as soon as theyreceived a warning of the coming attack.
It would come about an hour before theattack, and then they ordered once to make
it with all speed for the open country.
After Communique No.
1 had been issued, General Eisenhowerbroadcast to the people of Western
Europe announcing the landing aspart of the concerted United Nations
(31:24):
plan for the liberation of Europe.
He asked them to wait for thesignal to rise and strike the enemy.
The day will come, he said, whenI shall need your united strength.
Until that day, I call on you for thehard task of discipline and restraint.
Addressing the French people especially,General Eisenhower expressed his
(31:45):
pride at having under his commandthe gallant forces of France.
As the initial landing was Beingmade in France, he emphasized the
importance of his warning message.
A premature rising of all Frenchmen,he tell them, may prevent you
from being of maximum help to yourcountry in the critical eye, be
patient, prepare great battles.
(32:06):
Lie ahead.
The
sun was beginning to set as I walkedthrough the narrowest streets of the
French town we had just liberated.
The air was filled with a mixtureof relief and apprehension.
The residents, though cautious,peeked out from their homes, some
offering smiles of gratitude.
(32:26):
It felt surreal to be standing here inAramajus, a town that had been under
German occupation just hours before.
Gold Beach had been acrucible of fire and steel.
As an infantryman in theBritish 50th Division, I had
faced the fiercest resistance.
The memory was still fresh.
The roar of the guns, the whizzing of thebullets, and the cries of my comrades.
(32:50):
We had pushed through, determinedto secure the beach and move inland.
Our objective was clear, to link upwith the Americans on Omaha Beach
to the west, and the Canadianson Juneau Beach to the east.
Now as I stood in the heart of this Frenchtown, I reflected on what we had achieved.
The Mulberry Harbors were already beingconstructed, an engineering marvel that
would allow us to bring in the supplieswe needed for the rest of the campaign.
(33:13):
The liberation of this townwas just the beginning.
We had paved the way for Allied forcesto establish a foothold in Normandy,
but our mission was far from over.
The road ahead was fraughtwith danger, but Germans were
not going to give up easily.
Kane, a major objectivelate of the southeast.
We had to push forward, liberate moretowns, and secure critical supply routes.
(33:33):
The success of Operation Overlord dependedon our ability to maintain momentum.
As I looked around, I saw my fellowsoldiers, weary but resolute.
Subconsciously, I think I waslooking for my older brother.
His unit should have jumpedin the middle of the night.
God willing, I will see him soon.
I found a moment of solace knowingthat today we had made a difference.
(33:57):
Tomorrow, we would continue the fight forfreedom, for peace, and for a future where
such a conflict would never happen again.
General Eisenhower concluded, I call uponall who love freedom to stand with us.
Keep your faith staunch,our arms are resolute.
Together, we shall achieve victory.
(34:19):
And that is the end ofthis special news bulletin.
Thank you for listening to the Talk WithHistory podcast and please reach out
to us at our website, talkwithhistory.
com.
But more importantly, if you knowsomeone else that might enjoy this
podcast, please share it with them.
Shoot them a text andtell them to look us up.
(34:40):
We rely on you, our community, to growand we appreciate you all every day.
We'll talk to you next time.
Thank you.
, I'm debating over whether or not totalk about this on Talk with History.
So we are going to start kind of a, a,a premium podcast and, and I'll talk
about more about this in the future.
So if you're listening, if you made it tothe end of this particular episode I've
(35:02):
got some stuff in the works and we'regoing to talk a little bit more about
the, the, the travel aspects of things.
And I've got a newsletterand kind of more to follow.
So if you're one of our loyal listeners,this is something that you, you most
definitely will be interested in.
And, and again, I'll teaseit a little bit more.
And we'll talk a little bit moreabout, about that kind of stuff.
This is the BBC Home Service.
Here is a special bulletinread by John Snagg.
D Day has come.
Early this morning, the Allies beganthe assault on the northwestern
face of Hitler's European fortress.
The first official news came justafter half past nine, when Supreme
Headquarters of the Allied ExpeditionaryForce, usually called SHAPE from
(00:21):
its initials, issued number one.
This said, under the command ofGeneral Eisenhower, Allied naval
forces supported by strong air forces.
began landing allied armies thismorning on the northern coast of France.
The roar of the aircraftengines was deafening.
(00:43):
As a British paratrooper, I knew thesuccess of Operation Tonga hinged on
our ability to land and secure keypositions behind enemy lines in Normandy.
The night of June 5th, 1944 was pitchblack, and the only light in the sky.
came from the moon and the distantflashes of anti aircraft fire.
As we approached our drop zone,the tension among us was palpable.
(01:06):
I clutched my rifle tightly,my heart pounding in my chest.
The red light turned green and we jumped.
The air hit me like a wall and I plummeteddown towards the dark fields below.
My parachute opened with ajolt and I began my descent.
I landed awkwardly in a hedgerow,quickly unbuckling my harness
and scanning my surroundings.
The sounds of war were everywhere.
(01:27):
Gunfire, explosions, and thedistant rumbles of tanks.
I quickly regrouped with my fellowparatroopers and we moved towards our
objective, securing the bridges overthe Orne River and the Cane Canal.
Our mission was critical.
If we failed, the Germans could usethe bridges to launch a counterattack
against the beaches where ourcomrades were landing in the morning.
We advanced cautiously, using thecover of darkness to our advantage.
(01:51):
As we approached the first bridge,we encountered heavy resistance.
German soldiers were well entrenched,and a fierce fight ensued.
Despite being outnumbered, wefought with determination and grit.
I fired my rifle, took cover,advanced, and fired again.
The rhythm of combat.
The training kicked in and wemoved as one cohesive unit.
Slowly, we began to push the Germans back.
(02:11):
Keep moving.
We have to secure them.
The bridge was ours,but the cost was high.
Many of my comrades lay wounded or dead.
We moved to the next objective,knowing there was no time to mourn.
The battle for the second bridge wasequally brutal, but we were relentless.
By dawn, we had secured bothbridges, cutting off the German
reinforcements and protectingthe flank of the invasion force.
(02:35):
Exhausted but triumphant, we dug in andprepared for the inevitable counterattack.
Looking at the faces of my fellowparatroopers, I felt a surge of pride.
We had accomplished ourmission against all odds.
The success of Operation Tongaplayed a crucial role in the overall
invasion of Normandy, and I washonored to have been a part of it.
As the sun rose over the battlescarred landscape, I knew
(02:56):
this was just the beginning.
The road to victory would belong and arduous, but we had
taken the first crucial step.
Something glinted outof the corner of my eye.
I thought I could almost seethe horizon lined with ships
as they landed on the beaches.
I said a prayer for my little brother.
He was part of the 50thDivision, landing at Gold Beach.
(03:18):
I had told my mom nothingwould happen to him, and I was
determined to keep that promise.
(03:38):
Welcome to Talk With History.
I'm your host, Scott, here withmy wife and historian, Jen.
On this podcast, we give you insightsto our history inspired world travels,
YouTube channel journey, and examinehistory through deeper conversations
with the curious, the explorers,and the history lovers out there.
Now, Jen, we're just going to jumpright into it because this is a series
(04:02):
we have been anxiously wanting to getout into the world for quite some time.
Quite a few months ago, you made plans.
We, I mean, you for youto get out to Normandy.
So if anybody follows us on our Walkwith Us YouTube channel, they would have
just seen our first video from there.
And you went to the 80th anniversary.
You went to do a multitudeof things out there.
(04:23):
But the day before the actual 80thanniversary day, you were out at the
Gold Beach kind of memorial out there.
Why don't you tell us alittle bit about that?
Jenn (04:34):
Yes, so I went to the 80th anniversary of D Day ceremony
and celebration at Normandy andthere was a lot of people there.
It was.
very busy.
The tour guide said it's thebusiest they have ever seen it.
Scott (04:54):
And, if anybody's listening to this, it makes sense, right?
This being the 80th anniversary,there's not going to be another
kind of big number anniversary,really, where there's going to be any
veterans that'll most likely be there.
Jenn (05:06):
We'll see.
There was a, about 120veterans at this one.
I bet the 85th will be another bigone and we'll see maybe the 90th.
I think those will probablybe our last three big, these
will be our last three big
Scott (05:22):
Yeah, and I think because the majority of the World War II vets
that were there were probably intheir, in the youngest, in their 90s.
Jenn (05:30):
nineties.
Oh, absolutely.
Scott (05:32):
the, at the absolute youngest.
I mean, there's, there's some I've seenrecent interviews with that are 102, 103.
Jenn (05:38):
Exactly.
So it was just a real honor to be there,but because it was so busy, we, the first
day we got there, we were supposed togo to the American Normandy cemetery.
We couldn't get there.
It was too crowded.
They shut it down.
We went to Omaha beach, but we werebarely there for 10 minutes and then that
got shut down for the next three days.
(06:00):
So it really didn't get to makeit back out to Omaha beach again.
We'll talk about it on another podcast.
Thanks.
just the little bit we got to do,which is mostly in reels on Instagram.
I don't even think we can, we can'teven make a full video on YouTube
because we just went there long enough.
Scott (06:16):
Yeah, because you were there, I, I didn't get to go I had to
stay back with the kids and work.
But you got, you got to get out therewith, some Navy, veteran friends of ours.
So when you say we, that's, that's whoyou're talking about for our listeners
Jenn (06:28):
Yeah, I went with two other female Navy veterans
officers that I had served with.
And when Scott says he hadto stay back and work, Scott
had to stay back and, and be.
a naval officer in the United States Navy.
So he couldn't make it to D Day becausehe is actually doing the real deal.
But the first place we were able toreally go and get out and see and
(06:52):
just experience it all was Gold Beach.
Scott (06:55):
Now that one was a little bit unique.
This time, because and I know we'lltouch on this and I'll, I'll let you
walk us through what you saw for the day.
But one of the big things there wasobviously there was like memorial
there, but they also had the standingwith giants silhouettes, which a lot
of people may have seen pictures ofbut talk, walk us through or walk our
(07:17):
listeners through, getting there andwhat all is there at, at gold beach.
Jenn (07:22):
So just just a quick background.
We're not going to go right.
into much of the history of goldbeach, but I'm gonna give you a quick
background so you know what gold beach is.
So remember there are five beachesthat are part of operation overlord
and operation overlord is the entireoperation of the landing on the
(07:43):
French beaches against the Nazis.
So these are the allies, the,the British, the Americans, the
Canadians, the Polish, the Dutch.
It's everybody who the New Zealand's,if you can think Australians,
everybody who is togethertrying to overcome Nazi Germany.
And they have since been, they'vebeen joined with Italy and Japan.
(08:07):
So they are the Axis powers.
And so they have taken.
France, the entire country of France.
For four years, they'veoccupied this country.
And the British basically have gottenaway back to England and been planning.
And that's what's beengoing on for about a year.
They've been planning this big operation.
(08:27):
And Eisenhower at the time,General Eisenhower is in charge
of all of it, oversees all of it.
So this is the day, D Day.
And when people ask me,what does D Day mean?
It means day, day day.
So D Day is day day.
Scott (08:44):
it's like the
Jenn (08:45):
It's like the day.
So the D doesn't reallystand for anything.
It's the day.
So It's Operation Overlordis the entire operation.
We're going to get Operation Point Blank,where British and American bombers are
going to start bombing at midnight,the night of June 6th, and you're
going to get over 2200 bombers justbombing all of these strategic areas.
(09:08):
on the French soil, which isnow occupied Nazi Germany.
And then Operation Neptunewill be the naval side.
Neptune will start first, becauseNeptune will start with the bombardment,
amphibious bombardment of the coast.
So it always will haveNeptune before the landings.
There's five beaches, basically.
(09:30):
And if you go from east to west,I guess that's the best way to go.
Or maybe from from west to east.
It's going to start with Utah Beach,an American beach, Omaha Beach, another
an American beach, Gold Beach, theone we're talking about is like the
joining beach between the Americanbeaches and the other allied beaches
(09:53):
and Gold Beach will be British.
Then you're going to have Juno, whichwill be a Canadian beach and Sword,
which will be another British beach.
Utah and Omaha are named by the Americans.
The story is that when Eisenhower wasplanning the men who were writing, he
asked, where are you, where are you from?
And the two men who were typing outthe, the operation plans, one was from
(10:18):
Omaha, and one was from the state of
Scott (10:20):
I, I did not know
Jenn (10:21):
So they named the beaches after those two men.
For the Allied side the British sideChurchill went with fish names So
swordfish goldfish and it's supposed to bejellyfish for Juno, but Winston Churchill
couldn't see Men dying on jellyfish
Scott (10:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jenn (10:40):
so he changed it to Juno Beach.
So when you hear gold Beach Sometimes it'sreferred to as gold But it's goldfish.
That's where it comes from.
So again, this is the middlebeach of these five beaches.
It's completely British authority.
It's the British whoare taking this beach.
So what we went to was theBritish Normandy Memorial.
(11:05):
And I don't want it confused with theAmerican Normandy Cemetery because
the American Normandy Cemetery isa cemetery where men are buried.
The memorial men are not buried there.
It's a memorial and itoverlooks the entire gold beach.
Scott (11:23):
Yeah.
And it's, I mean, you guys dida good job of, as, as much as I
love and I'm, I'm biased towardsmy own B roll footage, right?
A little behind the scenes here ofYouTube, you and, and Bonnie and whoever's
holding the camera kind of did a goodjob of kind of really showing what the,
the view look like, it's a, it is abeachhead kind of going uphill, right?
So you can look out.
(11:43):
over this beach and you cansee down to the water, right?
And it's, it's not super steep,right where you guys were.
So it's pretty long.
So there's a long way to go to get allthe way to the top of the beachhead.
Now, when I was doing the editingand putting the video together, the,
the fighting on this speech wasn't,wasn't but this is a very this is
(12:04):
specifically a British memorial, right?
I think you were saying when you werethere, it looked like there, there
were some British soldiers practicingand stuff like that, potentially for
Prince William or somebody like that,
Jenn (12:15):
so I was at the American ceremony.
I was at the American Normandy ceremonyat the American Normandy cemetery.
Scott (12:23):
Oh, the, so that, oh, that was at the cemetery.
That's where the, that'swhere the ceremony was.
Jenn (12:27):
The British ceremony was at that location.
Scott (12:32):
and that's what you saw they were prepping for when you were
there the day before the actual 80th
Jenn (12:37):
And it was Prince William.
Prince William had come Andhe was in, in replace of King
Charles and he, he, he served.
So he, he was the big dignitary there.
So when you think of Gold Beach,it's going to be the British, the
Dutch, the Polish and other allies.
So it's really their militaries thatwere also part of that ceremony there.
(13:02):
And so that's what you see inthe video is those militaries.
Scott (13:06):
can hear the band playing in the background Which is neat because
they were playing old school music and
Jenn (13:09):
It was really neat.
And they're.
Memorial, if you look down fromthe sky, looks like a British flag.
So with the walkways are making thatcrisscross design of the British
flag, and they have names on pillars.
About 300 little over 300 men will dieon Gold Beach that day, they'll land
(13:33):
25, 000 men, the British and allies.
And they'll have a little over a thousandcasualties, but 350 men will die.
Scott (13:43):
It is announced a little later that General Montgomery is in command of
the Army Group carrying out the assault.
This Army Group includes British,Canadian, and United States forces.
The Allied Commander in Chief, GeneralEisenhower, has issued an order of
the day addressed to each individualof the Allied Expeditionary Force.
In it, he said, Your taskwill not be an easy one.
(14:05):
Your enemy is well trained, wellequipped, and battle hardened.
He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944.
The tide has turned.
The free men of the world aremarching together to victory.
I have full confidence in your courage,devotion to duty, and skill in battle.
(14:25):
We will accept nothingless than full victory.
Good luck and let us all beseechthe blessing of Almighty God upon
this great and noble undertaking.
The world seemed to slow down.
Every move I made on this cursedboat felt like a lifetime.
(14:49):
Was that Winston Churchillover the radio earlier?
The only thing I could hearnow was the deafening sound of
gunfire and artillery in the air.
All around me, the sea had red patches.
Never seen that before.
As an infantryman, I was amongthousands of British soldiers.
Landing at Gold Beach on D Day.
(15:12):
Attention on my fellow countrymen'sface was palpable as our landing
craft approached the beach.
We were under heavy fire,but we were determined.
As soon as our landing craft hitthe beach, I jumped out and ran
towards the sand dune for cover,my heart pounding in my chest.
I could see the German bunkers up ahead.
We were outgunned, but we pushed forward.
We were trained for this.
We knew our mission.
(15:33):
I fired my rifle, took cover,advanced, and fired again, a
rhythm of survival and duty.
Despite the chaos around me, Ifelt a strange sense of clarity.
I was fighting for mycountry, for our freedom.
I saw comrades fall, but wekept going, driving the Germans
back, securing the beachhead.
By the end of the day, wehad accomplished our mission.
(15:55):
I was one of the lucky ones who survived.
Looking back at the beach, Ibarely realized the enormity
of what we had just done.
I wondered if my brotherhad made his jump okay.
Jenn (16:12):
Their names are the closest inside the memorial.
And then as you walk outside thememorial, there's names on pillars.
They consider Normandy landingsfrom June 6th to the end of August.
So all of the men who died from June6th to the end of August are listed
as you walk out towards those pillars.
(16:35):
They also honor 20, 000 Frenchcivilians who were killed
during this Normandy landing.
And they're also listed alittle bit farther out as well.
But again, you had thecivilian casualties of war
Scott (16:49):
And that was another interesting thing in in the the listener will
if you're listening to this podcastyou'll hear in some of the vignettes
as we go through this that they wereactually You know, the the Allied
forces were actually making radio kindof announcements, or You know good guy
propaganda trying to announce thingsto the French people via the radio
(17:11):
saying you know, hey, don't fightback, essentially keep your hopes up.
And then they also gavethem a little bit of warning
Jenn (17:19):
to get out into the
Scott (17:20):
to get out into the countryside because it's like it, which makes sense.
You'd never really think about it.
You're like, well,aren't they giving away?
What they're doing to the Germans,well, the Germans would have
known long before that, right?
Long before an hourbefore the actual landing.
They would have detected them, they'relike, okay, they're coming, but the
people, the French people wouldn'tknow that, and so they hear it over the
radio, they're like, okay, it's time tohightail it out of here, but of course
(17:42):
there's still going to be casualties.
Jenn (17:44):
So there was a lot of espionage, but there was a lot of what's the
word I'm looking for where you're like
Scott (17:49):
Kind of like gamesmanship,
Jenn (17:51):
gamesmanship.
They were projectingthese false operations.
So to keep the Germans guessing, andthey were doing that for about three
months before they actually did thispretending, I forget what they called
it operation bodyguard, I think, butthese fake operations that they were
doing to keep the Germans on their toes.
(18:11):
And.
Fortunately, I think I remembercorrectly, Hitler had gone to bed.
early on June 5th and told not to beawakened for any reason whatsoever.
Scott (18:23):
Oh my gosh.
Jenn (18:24):
So when things were happening on June 6th, they didn't wake him and tell
him, even though this is a big deal.
They, he was, he was not woken upuntil well into the day on June 6th.
And so he couldn't send evenquick responses because they
were too afraid to wake him.
Lucky for him.
the allies.
(18:45):
Now, like you said, thingsstart at midnight on June 6th.
You're going to get gliders coming infrom the British, which are so accurate.
They're taking out these bigbridges because when you think of
Normandy, I want you to think offarmland and this farmland, the
way that it's fertile is it floods.
Think of the Nile.
(19:05):
Is they flood this farmlandto keep the soil very fertile.
And when they do that, there's noway to connect these areas, but
these big bridges that bring you in.
And the Germans occupiedthese big bridges.
And they also, the Germans hadflooded farmland on purpose to,
to make some roads unusable.
(19:26):
So what the allies had to dowas capture these bridges.
And that's, is what they're going todo for Utah beach and Omaha beach.
That's what our airborne.
They're doing the same thing.
They're trying to capture thesestrategic bridges to get not only the
allies onto the beaches and get allof their material across the bridges
into theater, but to stop the Germansfrom using those bridges to fight back.
Scott (19:48):
Yeah, they're also trying to cut off the, the German
kind of supply and logistics.
Yeah.
Jenn (19:52):
So you get the ally, the Americans are doing it at Utah and
Omaha beach, and then The, the theBritish and the Dutch and the Canadians
are doing it over on Gold Beach andSword Beach and Juno Beach as well.
So they're really the first to go.
It's the airborne and the glidersthat are going to be the first out.
(20:14):
And the bombardment the bombing.
Also of that strategic outside of thatarea, but those gliders are so accurate.
They land right where the bridges are.
They pop open this like 20 minute gliderand they were able to take those bridges
really with no, with no fight back.
So it was really nice for the British.
(20:34):
Now you had said, Gold Beachis not like Omaha Beach.
No beach will be like Omaha Beach.
Scott (20:38):
I mean, there were still casualties.
Jenn (20:40):
still casualties, but no beach of the five are going to encounter as much
resistance and firepower and just theway that the topography of the beaches
are against the allies like Omaha.
It's why it's called bloody Omaha.
You will have more losses onOmaha than any other beach.
(21:01):
And we'll talk about that.
But the topography of Utah andOmaha are not like these nice gold
has a nice straight, clear beach.
Utah and Omaha are very rocky.
And they have the point toHawk is in the middle of them.
So the kind of like cuts off and itit's not as easily The terrain is not
Scott (21:21):
It's easier for the germans to defend right because
because of the terrain yeah,
Jenn (21:26):
So gold beach again, you're going to what happens is the
Navy bombardment starts at 530.
So you're going to get the bomberstarting at midnight, the airborne
and the gliders go at midnight.
And then the Navybombardment starts at 530.
So what does that mean?
The Navy gets as close as theycan to the beach and just starts
hitting the beachhead as hardas they can with their guns.
(21:47):
And what's very lucky is they takeout the three of the four major guns.
They're taken out by 620.
So that's great.
You only got one major gun thenstill manned on Gold Beach.
Now that gun takes a day to get out.
They really don't even get it out toJune 7th, but it's only one major gun.
So the Navy, their Navy ships are.
(22:07):
pretty accurate taking outthose those big artillery guns.
And then the first landingshappened about 725.
Now that's about anhour after Omaha beach.
And the reason why is because of tides.
Scott (22:19):
Oh sure
Jenn (22:20):
So when we talk about these beaches and what they did with the
obstacles on the beaches is youremember in saving pride, right?
And they have all the hedgehogs out.
And those are those.
Weird twisty metal lookingthings that keeps amphibious
craft from landing on the beach.
What it also does is during high tide,when you can't see them, if boats
hit them, it makes boats capsize.
(22:42):
And what they would also do isput mines on the end of those.
So if you also hitthem, you would blow up.
So you had to wait to low tidebecause you had to wait till
you could see all those things.
But low tide, we're Navyofficers also means you have a
huge amount of beach to cover.
Scott (23:00):
Yeah, and it was in Depending on where you're from what beach you're used
to right growing up in california whenthe tide goes out It doesn't it drops off
pretty quickly It's not like beaches inflorida where you can walk out, Or in that
part of the country where you can walkout for a quarter mile You And the water
is only knee deep the entire time, wherein California, it drops off to incredibly
(23:24):
deep water within, 50 yards or lessthan even sometimes even less than that.
The what I saw and you were able toshow a little bit of the of the gold
beach there But you see from some ofthe historical footage that we cut in is
that these are one of those beachheadsJust like you said for farmland is that
the shoreline when the tide goes out.
There's a lot Of beachhead, it's it'sit's long for them to come in from the
(23:50):
ship on all the way up to where it'sessentially dry, where the tide wouldn't
go up any higher, and then get to the,whatever it is, the embankment, the guns,
the, where the Germans actually were.
So that's kind of the,the risk on each side.
It was actually less risky to wait forthe tide to come out so they could land
(24:10):
these landing craft, roll the tanks up,or the soldiers, or whatever it was.
So that they didn't run into thesehedgehogs and mines and things like that.
Jenn (24:18):
Exactly.
And then you think of all that beachyou have to cover with all that gear.
And it's, it's just seems daunting.
I, the only place I really understoodthe expansiveness of it was Omaha because
I happened to be on Omaha when thetide was out and it was a huge beach.
Even when you think from the shore allthe way to the first grassy area, that's
(24:40):
a lot of beach to cover in full gear.
I'm thinking 50 pounds of gear.
Yeah.
when you're taking tons of hostile fire.
So you can imagine this is what'shappening on Gold Beach as well.
Now, like I said, they'relanding 25, 000 men, and they're,
they, they are, they secure thebeachhead by the end of the day.
So they're able to meet their goal.
(25:04):
Now, Gold Beach is instrumentalbecause it has to join Omaha
with Sword and, or with Juno.
So it has to join Omaha with, with Juno.
Like it's the middle beach.
It's,
Scott (25:15):
if people aren't familiar, if you haven't really looked into
the beachheads there, it's over50 miles of continuous beachhead
across these five beaches, right?
So when we say that, like it's all,they're all continuous kind of along the
French coast, but it's a well over 50miles from one end of one beach all the
way to the other end of the other beach.
(25:35):
So it's a pretty expansive, Piece of thecoast that they are they are landing on.
Jenn (25:41):
yeah, it's really beautiful now.
It's really flat now, but at the timeI can imagine it was just overwhelming.
What we got to see was theBritish Normandy Memorial and
they just have recently built it.
It just was unveiledJune 6th, 2021 for the
Scott (25:58):
wow
Jenn (25:59):
anniversary.
Well, the British felt like theydon't have their place, right?
Like the American cemetery at Normandyis like where we had the ceremony.
It's our place.
It's also a cemetery.
Now there is this, there is this WorldWar Two cemetery for the British.
It's a little farther inland, but Butit doesn't have the place on the beach.
(26:21):
So they wanted something toshow the memorial of what the
men did where you can see it.
And it lists over 22, 000 names from morethan 30 countries under British command
who were killed at Normandy from June6th, again, to the end of August 31st.
And as you move from the centerout, their names will be listed
(26:42):
as the days go out from June 6th.
So you can look on thepillars and find names.
And I found Benny'sand I found Mitchell's.
And so it was really neat tosee all those names on there.
But yeah.
The centerpiece is a bronze statue ofthree British soldiers attacking the beach
and it was made by David William Ellis.
It really is reminiscent tome of the one at Omaha Beach
(27:06):
and the one we saw at Bedford.
Again, just about you withyour comrades together.
handling it together
Scott (27:13):
they're they're it's a classic kind of world war ii soldiers charging it
Jenn (27:16):
yes.
And you would know they weredifferent because of their helmets.
They have differenthelmets than the Americans.
Now the standing with giant silhouettesis what's really impressive there as well.
Scott (27:27):
Those were really cool and it's it's the thumbnail Yeah, we used one
of them a picture of one of them as thethumbnail of this particular video, but
they have They're displaying all thesedifferent kinds of soldiers and airmen
and sailors that were involved in this.
Jenn (27:45):
Yeah, so it depicts 1475 giants who are the number of servicemen who
died under British command on D Day.
So not at Gold Beach, but ofall And all the beaches and
the airborne and the bombers.
So anyone who died that day under Britishcommand is depicted with a silhouette.
(28:08):
And that's why there's 1475 of them.
And they all look differentbecause they're different.
doing different jobs in the military.
And so it's very neat to see pilotsor naval officers or army officers.
It's very neat to see how they look, theirsilhouettes look different and that people
(28:30):
have little placards with quotes on them.
And we found Dick Wintersat those placards will
Scott (28:38):
Oh, okay.
Jenn (28:39):
but the silhouettes will go.
Scott (28:41):
they were only there for the basically for the 80th
Jenn (28:43):
Yes, they're supposed to leave the The end of August, but there's two women
depicted There's two army nurses sisterever shed and sister field They died on
deed on D day trying to save men on asinking hospital ship So they're also
their silhouettes are also depicted there.
(29:03):
So that's very neat to see
Scott (29:04):
Yeah, theirs was cool because it had that cut out.
Like the from the waist down, you couldsee the metal kind of silhouette of them.
And then there was like that hollow soyou could see the sky as there, they
would fill in, the rest of the gaps.
It was really neat how they did it.
Jenn (29:17):
Yeah, they were really neat and it's a and to have women depicted.
They're the only two women of thefourteen hundred seventy five You I
think it's such a neat memoir, I reallydon't want them to take it down at all.
I think it would just be great.
It doesn't really impede on the view.
And I thought it was justan amazing thing to see.
It really feels like it'scalled standing with giants.
And I really feel like youare standing with them.
(29:39):
And it gives a real to me,humanization of the area.
And I almost I don't want to see it go.
But it was really neat to be there andto see that and you can walk among them,
you're allowed to walk out in there,it wasn't cut, and the grass was high.
But you're allowed to walk in there andtake pictures and Find ones that maybe
(30:00):
could be dedicated because each of them issupposed to be a certain person to maybe
your ancestor or somebody that you knewfrom your family or something like that.
So that was really neat to see,but I'm happy we got to go there.
It is an impressive monuments.
And again, this is the middle beach.
So when you think of the fivebeaches, this is the middle beach.
(30:22):
If you do make it out to goldbeach, gold beach is one of the
few beaches that has preserved alot of those big guns and a lot of
those what do they call those, babe?
Scott (30:32):
little bunkers.
Jenn (30:33):
they preserve the bunkers there.
So you can actually go and see them.
They're, they're really well preserved.
And so if you make it out to GoldBeach, it's one of those places
that if you walk the beach, you canreally see a lot of the history still
there for you to participate in.
So I'm happy we got to go there.
I never thought about it as an American.
I was like, Oh, it's like, it's I mean,after Omaha and Utah, you're kind of
(30:54):
like, Oh, what are the other beaches?
So for me, I learned a lot.
I got to see it.
I really did appreciate it.
So I'm happy we went.
Scott (31:01):
People in enemy occupied territory who lived near the coast were warned
to leave their homes as soon as theyreceived a warning of the coming attack.
It would come about an hour before theattack, and then they ordered once to make
it with all speed for the open country.
After Communique No.
1 had been issued, General Eisenhowerbroadcast to the people of Western
Europe announcing the landing aspart of the concerted United Nations
(31:24):
plan for the liberation of Europe.
He asked them to wait for thesignal to rise and strike the enemy.
The day will come, he said, whenI shall need your united strength.
Until that day, I call on you for thehard task of discipline and restraint.
Addressing the French people especially,General Eisenhower expressed his
(31:45):
pride at having under his commandthe gallant forces of France.
As the initial landing was Beingmade in France, he emphasized the
importance of his warning message.
A premature rising of all Frenchmen,he tell them, may prevent you
from being of maximum help to yourcountry in the critical eye, be
patient, prepare great battles.
(32:06):
Lie ahead.
The
sun was beginning to set as I walkedthrough the narrowest streets of the
French town we had just liberated.
The air was filled with a mixtureof relief and apprehension.
The residents, though cautious,peeked out from their homes, some
offering smiles of gratitude.
(32:26):
It felt surreal to be standing here inAramajus, a town that had been under
German occupation just hours before.
Gold Beach had been acrucible of fire and steel.
As an infantryman in theBritish 50th Division, I had
faced the fiercest resistance.
The memory was still fresh.
The roar of the guns, the whizzing of thebullets, and the cries of my comrades.
(32:50):
We had pushed through, determinedto secure the beach and move inland.
Our objective was clear, to link upwith the Americans on Omaha Beach
to the west, and the Canadianson Juneau Beach to the east.
Now as I stood in the heart of this Frenchtown, I reflected on what we had achieved.
The Mulberry Harbors were already beingconstructed, an engineering marvel that
would allow us to bring in the supplieswe needed for the rest of the campaign.
(33:13):
The liberation of this townwas just the beginning.
We had paved the way for Allied forcesto establish a foothold in Normandy,
but our mission was far from over.
The road ahead was fraughtwith danger, but Germans were
not going to give up easily.
Kane, a major objectivelate of the southeast.
We had to push forward, liberate moretowns, and secure critical supply routes.
(33:33):
The success of Operation Overlord dependedon our ability to maintain momentum.
As I looked around, I saw my fellowsoldiers, weary but resolute.
Subconsciously, I think I waslooking for my older brother.
His unit should have jumpedin the middle of the night.
God willing, I will see him soon.
I found a moment of solace knowingthat today we had made a difference.
(33:57):
Tomorrow, we would continue the fight forfreedom, for peace, and for a future where
such a conflict would never happen again.
General Eisenhower concluded, I call uponall who love freedom to stand with us.
Keep your faith staunch,our arms are resolute.
Together, we shall achieve victory.
(34:19):
And that is the end ofthis special news bulletin.
Thank you for listening to the Talk WithHistory podcast and please reach out
to us at our website, talkwithhistory.
com.
But more importantly, if you knowsomeone else that might enjoy this
podcast, please share it with them.
Shoot them a text andtell them to look us up.
(34:40):
We rely on you, our community, to growand we appreciate you all every day.
We'll talk to you next time.
Thank you.
, I'm debating over whether or not totalk about this on Talk with History.
So we are going to start kind of a, a,a premium podcast and, and I'll talk
about more about this in the future.
So if you're listening, if you made it tothe end of this particular episode I've
(35:02):
got some stuff in the works and we'regoing to talk a little bit more about
the, the, the travel aspects of things.
And I've got a newsletterand kind of more to follow.
So if you're one of our loyal listeners,this is something that you, you most
definitely will be interested in.
And, and again, I'll teaseit a little bit more.
And we'll talk a little bit moreabout, about that kind of stuff.
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