D-Day; Omaha Beach then and now photographs (Updated, 12/3/2011)

Dec, 2011 Update: Normandy, 1944; then and now photos   "Our previous emphases (below) on Omaha Beach gave short shrift to the other landing sites. This should do a bit to fill in some of those gaps with photos. Click on some of the WW2 photos of the site, "Men of D-Day" and you will also see that location as it is today. Don't you love stuff like that?"  TD


Omaha Beach  "Of the invasion beaches, Utah,Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, the issue was in doubt only on Omaha Beach.  Bad Allied decisions could only do so much harm on other beaches, but they nearly resulted in a disastrous defeat on Omaha Beach.  Many lives were needlessly lost, and the whole invasion was threatened with failure by the difficulties there.  In "Omaha Beach - A Flawed Victory", Adrian Lewis convincingly shows this."

jewishvirtuallibrary.org

1. Omaha Beach - Vierville Draw  D-1 Beach exit. The beach featured in the movie, "Saving Private Ryan". It was also the beach that saw the annihilation of 95% of the men in 'A' Company of the 116th RCT of the 29th Infantry Division, including a score of young men from the tiny town of Bedford, Virginia.

Some raw film of the landings..

2. Les Moulins and St Laurent Draws
3. Colleville Draw

4. Cabourg Draw
The above draws pictured on the map below, including the landing zone designations and the
German resistance nests: 
In depth details here.


Much more on this topic in the Tunnel Wall posts for June 5th and 6th.

Our emphasis has been primarily on the struggle for Omaha Beach. This in no way disregards the valiant efforts of the British and Canadians who took Sword, Juno, and Gold Beaches nor the men of the 4th US Infantry Division and the Paratroopers who took Utah Beach.

Many more conservative posts about American history, politics and culture here at the Tunnel Wall

Higher Education and its state

Victor Davis Hanson: Now That’s a Higher Education Bubble  "The point is not to bash the students or the faculty, but to ask the university to reexamine the way it does business.

"Maybe raising admission standards would improve the quality of student, end the trend toward watered-down classes, and encourage those who do not belong at CSU to invest their time more productively in the work place. As it is now, over 50 percent of incoming freshmen in CSU must take remedial classes to qualify for university courses; why are they there in the first place?"

We can't reverse the spiral unless we strike at the causes of decline.
"The situation is rather dire: the products of our education system administer, teach, vote, and otherwise direct the course the country is to take. The social harm inherent in that process is set to continue at an accelerating pace."....
"There are other concerns, too, lest we forget. While they lie at the root, we bemoan their consequences and say little about causes. Truly better education for all who are capable of benefiting from it provides the only realistic path out of the morass." Dan Miller

UC Santa Barbara Student Government Tries to Derail David Horowitz Event, Lies About It "The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) student government has unconstitutionally discriminated against the UCSB College Republicans by twice denying funding for a lecture tonight by David Horowitz because of his conservative views."  Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

David Brooks: It’s Not About You  "...many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself. This is the litany of expressive individualism, which is still the dominant note in American culture.
"But, of course, this mantra misleads on nearly every front. "