WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2022 - BETH FALEN’S BIRTHDAY

 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2022 - BETH FALEN’S BIRTHDAY

(Beth is my fantastic sister!!!)

In a few days, we’ll celebrate the 78th anniversary of D-Day - June 6, 1944.

So, what might have been going on behind the scenes on June 1, 1944? 

June 1, 1944 was a Thursday.  On next Tuesday (June 6th, 1944).

On D-Day:

5,333 Allied ships and landing craft embarking nearly 175,000 men. The British and Canadians put 75,215 troops ashore, and the Americans 57,500, for a total of 132,715, of whom about 3,400 were killed or missing.  Yes, about 2.6% died - meaning that about 97.4% made it across the English Channel.

*****

So, we’ll pick on John Doe, an army kid who enlisted after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  John is from Iowa. His grandparents were immigrants from Germany who left for the new world to find a better life.  His grandfather, Gottfried Doe,, was the third boy in his family and his older brother, Jakob, got the family farm.  Gottfried worked as a farmhand/carpenter for a neighbor’s farm but with his wife, Mary, decided that America would give them a better life.  They saved their money for passage to the United States and they made their way to Iowa where some other German immigrants from Saxony were living.  Gottfried worked as a carpenter and he and Mary had eight children.  

John’s father, William, grew up in a home where English was generally spoken.  (Gottfried and Mary did learn English and in a new country knew their children would need to speak English).  William and Julia had five children.  John worked on his father’s farm, and was saving his money for his own farm.  

After he enlisted, his younger brother, George (who was 16 when John enlisted), took over helping his dad on the farm.

John went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and was assigned to an Army unit that was located in North Africa.  For a kid from Iowa who had been to Chicago once before he enlisted (to sell a truck load of hogs at the Chicago Stockyards), going to basic training with recruits from all around the country was a bit mind boggling.  Then taking a train (with his unit) to Norfolk Virginia and a military ship to Morocco North Africa was beyond his craziest dreams.  

In Africa his unit was a backup fighting Rommel - “the desert fox”.  When Rommel withdrew, John's unit was sent to England (for Operation Overlord).  

The training was intensive - boarding a boat, crossing the English Channel, into landing craft and spit out on a beach - probably under German fire - and then climb cliffs to secure the position.  John’s unit (and pretty much all units) ran at least ten miles every day to be physically fit.  They climbed cliffs -both with ropes and by climbing rocks and finding toe holds - all while carrying a rifle and carrying a backpack weighing about 70 pounds.  For sure, this was not like herding the cows on the Doe farm to the barn for milking!!!  

Today, June 1, 2022 was a typical day.  There was an hour-long briefing in the morning - with maps, aerial reconnaissance, tactics, then the ten mile run - through an obstacle course, with crawling through culverts, jumping over streams and rocks, and climbing a 100 foot cliff.  Today, like the last five days, the run was increased to fifteen miles and the backpacks were loaded to 80 pounds.  

John was average when he joined the army, but now he was truly physically fit.  His legs were strong, doctors checked all the soldiers to verify they had the stamina and ability to complete the activity.  While the army said “No man left behind”, in this case the only way to achieve that was to get to the top of the cliff and knock out the machine gun nests, then when it was safe go back for any survivors.

This evening, June 1, 1944, they had a church service and then they wrote letters to their families, wives, girlfriends and others.  John was a member of the Evangelical United Brethren church in Alburnett Iowa.  Some of the Catholic men went to confession before going on this mission.  Even the Protestant clergy had time for confessions and personal discussions.  

The training had been exhaustive - and very thorough.

*****

The Allied Forces anticipated there could be many deaths.  John, like the others, knew there was a chance he would be killed.  It might be that his body could be lost in the English Channel and there would be no funeral back at the EUB church in Alburnett.  

He might be captured and even tortured.  He knew that he didn’t know much for that exact reason.  He knew the plans for D-Day but not beyond that.  He anticipated that the Allied Forces would slowly retake France and then head into Germany.  

He knew some German and in his training received some enhanced German language skills so he could approach the enemy if needed.  He hoped he never needed the ability to say “I surrender” in German (“Ich gebe auf”), but hoped he could ask “Du bist umzingelt, gib auf.” (you are surrounded, surrender).  

What would it be like?  John was a praying man - and he took time every night for his faith.

*****

Could you have done it?  I’m not sure I could.  I would know that the war needed to be stopped but could I have carried my 70 pound backpack, a gun and climbed sheer cliffs?  

LOVE WINS!!!

War isn’t fun - shooting to kill another human being while that person was trying to kill you is unnerving.

Karen

June 1, 2022