Backlighting Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 What a nightmare that must have been.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landingshttp://www.stripes.com/news/europe/d-day-memorial-in-france-serves-as-reminder-of-wwii-sacrifices-1.351106 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 What a nightmare that must have been.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landingshttp://www.stripes.com/news/europe/d-day-memorial-in-france-serves-as-reminder-of-wwii-sacrifices-1.351106It actually gets beyond what the mind can absorb.Many had no clue what it would be like.I will tell you what frosts me. Yogi Berra, the greatest catcher to ever play baseball, a veteran and a tremendous human being has been denied the Medal of Freedom. There is a petition that has to have 100,000 signatures by Monday.You can sign the petition online inside this link there is a link to the petition: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/06/01/petition-ask-for-yogi-berra-to-receive-medal-of-freedom/Yankees legend and D-Day veteran Yogi Berra honored at his New Jersey museum.Berra, a 19 year old kid from the Hill in St. Louis, was part of a 6-man crew operating a 36-foot LCSS boat, the letters standing for landing craft support, small. Berra previously joked that the letters stood for 'landing craft s uicide squad.'Berra did not speak during the ceremony. But he told The Associated Press afterward that D-Day was “amazing” and “awful,” as he fired at the Nazis from 300 yards offshore.“You saw a lot of horrors,” he said in a voice now grown soft with age. “I was fortunate. It was amazing going in, all the guys over there.”He told another interviewer a few years ago that he stood up over the top of the LCSS to see all the rockets lighting up the sky because it looked like the 4th of July.His Sgt. "asked" him if he intended to use his head again?Point was made.A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backlighting Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Thanks Adam. Didn't know that about Yogi.As a young teen I saw him play several times at The Stadium.My favorite drink back then was Yoohoo. If you recall it was a chocolate drink that came in a small glass bottle. If I recall correctly, it had a picture of Yogi on it.http://www.yoo-hoo.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I did not know either Joe. Just found out last night about the "President" not moving on Yogi...here is the list: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/MLB_Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom.shtmlI was browsing a book of World War II history during the time Berra was managing for George Steinbrenner. I came across this mention of Berra on the Bayfield. Steinbrenner's bluster did not frighten him. "Being there at Omaha may have changed my life a little," Berra said.There was some question of how frightened he was even then. Berra was on the Bayfield, the Coast Guard flagship, waiting to go over the side into a 36-foot LCSS, formally known as a landing craft support small. "We called it landing craft suicide squad," Berra recalled. It was a wooden-hulled craft with steel plating topside. Six sailors and an officer would clamber aboard and the Bayfield's cranes would lower them into the Channel. There were eight LCSS on the big boat, each of them named PA 33 for the Bayfield."We went out to rendezvous for the landing on the 5th and we had to zig-zag out there until the next morning," Berra said. "Then we went in with the first wave."He had just turned 19 and had been permitted to finish his minor-league season at Norfolk in 1943 before being called to active duty. As rough as the Channel was, Berra recalled that he hadn't been seasick. "Was seasick one time," he said. That was going from Bayonne to Boston and it was smooth as glass, but Berra, the kid from St. Louis, had never been on the water before.Berra's job was manning a battery of twin 50-caliber machine guns and loading for a rocket launcher. They were supposed to sit 300 yards off the beach to lend fire support for the landing and anti-aircraft fire, and to pick up downed fliers. But first the big ships bombarded the beach, shells flashing over the heads of Berra and shipmates. "Like the Fourth of July," Berra said. "It was loud."He recalled that there wasn't much for him to do that day. Instead of keeping below the armor plating with shot and shell whizzing all around, Berra -- being Berra -- watched. "The officer told me, 'Better get your damn head down,' " Berra said. "I wanted to watch. I wasn't scared; I don't know why. For some reason I wasn't. It was amazing to see all those ships there."He recalled that his craft drew very little fire from the Germans on the beach or from the air. In supporting the landing, they were also to bring in downed German fliers for interrogation."Only guy we fished out, the only plane that came down in our sector, we shot down," Berra said. "It was one of our guys."But the officer directing fire said: "That's a German," and Berra's guncrew fired. "You did what you were ordered," he said. "When we got there to him in the water, he was cursing like hell. I would have been angry, too. We fished him out and he's yelling: 'If you shot down as many of theirs as you shoot down of ours, the war would have been over long ago.' "Berra spent two weeks off the beach on the LCSS shuttling messages between Omaha and Utah beaches and looking for magnetic mines the Germans may have dropped overnight.Then they were lifted out of the sea and packed off to Bizerte in North Africa to prepare for another landing. That was in southern France in what came to be called the Champagne Campaign. "It was at some resort," Berra said. "We stayed one day; it was an easy landing."It was there, Berra said, that he fired his machine guns at the enemy. "There was a machine-gun nest in a hotel," he said. "We knocked it down. We could see two guys running out. We must have got something because it stopped firing."http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-07/sports/sp-1198_1_yogi-berra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turkeyfoot Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 My wifes "Uncle" Henry Romanek landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was shot in the chest before he hit water, dragged up to the first shingle. His medic wasnt as lucky. Henry went to England, got patched up and returned to the battlefield. We interred his ashes to the grave of his first wife at USMA in '08. He was the subject of Lars Andersens, The All Americans, a history of 4 men who played the Army Navy game in '41.http://www.amazon.com/The-All-Americans-Lars-Anderson/dp/0312308884 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 The Greatest Generation is almost gone now......while ungrateful entitled unproductive immoral failures piss away the freedom and economic opportunity the Greatest Generation sacrificed to secure for America.(...and thanks for the Yogi heads up. I also signed.)Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 My favorite drink back then was Yoohoo. If you recall it was a chocolate drink that came in a small glass bottle. If I recall correctly, it had a picture of Yogi on it. Some did. Link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 As a kid and young man, we used to go to a Masonic picnic in NJ [via my father's lodge which was mostly Italian] every year.Yogi and Carmen would attend. Probably a lot more however he was the one that I admired. He had infinite patience with us kids.Tireless, happy and really smart. He helped a lot of us with our swings. He was known as a "bad ball hitter" and he would explain to us kids that if you can see the ball, you probably can hit it. However, when it is your pitch, in your zone you can't miss it. Also, and this was golden to me, depending on the game and the score, you can hit a bad pitch and get a good result by getting an RBI. He explained that you give yourself up to win the game when you are playing for a team.Life is pretty simple when you understand that.A great man.A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9thdoctor Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Yogi Berra, the greatest catcher to ever play baseball, a veteran and a tremendous human being has been denied the Medal of Freedom. There is a petition that has to have 100,000 signatures by Monday. You can sign the petition online inside this link there is a link to the petition:I signed after seeing this, and was number 50 some odd thousand out of the 100K needed, with only one day to go. The word must have gotten out, since 100K was exceeded: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/award-yogi-berra-presidential-medal-freedom-his-military-service-and-civil-rights-and-educational-activism?partnerId=as_mlb_20150601_46776666&adbid=605411041825058816&adbpl=tw&adbpr=18479513 Just to pick a nit, I don't see why you write that he has been "denied" the Medal. Had he been "nominated" before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Link: "The Medal of Freedom was a decoration established by President Harry S. Truman to honor civilians whose actions aided in the war efforts of the United States and its allies" [my bold]. Also, note the Eligibility and Awarded-for criteria. Yogi's military service is not relevant, but the petition cites it anyway. On the other hand, there are probably many who have been awarded it that did not meet the same criteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Just to pick a nit, I don't see why you write that he has been "denied" the Medal. Had he been "nominated" before?Me emotions and distaste for what is in the White House caused me to be "read into" the issue and imply motives to the President.Good pick up, I did not even realize that I bought into the "talking points."A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 No one is denied an award. You simply don't get it.--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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