MountainMan Wrote:D-Day - already forgotten.
Post by MountainMan » Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:24 pm
In memory of my father and all of those who went ashore with him on that fateful day. Image
From my facebook page last night:
"June 6th. A date forever known as D-day. On this date 68 years ago Operation Overlord (the allied landing in Normandy) started.
One of the many, many thousands of young men present that day was Sverre Aurstad, the late father of my friend Per Aurstad.
Sverre was an ammunition handler in turret 3 on the Norwegian destroyer KNM Stord, which on D-day was tasked with close in fire support off Sword Beach (one of the three British beaches).
Stords sister ship KNM Svenner was one of only two allied navy ships lost on D-day - the other was the US destroyer USS Corry. "The longest day" was not long for Svenner - at 5:30 am she was hit by torpedoes from German E-boats, the boiler blew up, she broke in two and sank, taking 33 men down with her.
Sverre (and KNM Stord) survived the war, and one year later - on June 7th 1945, both were present in Oslo harbor as king Haakon returned to his country, which again was free and independent.
Sverre is no longer among us - he passed away some years ago of old age - but here is to the memory of the many brave men and women from many nations who fought against Nazi tyranny.
http://home.online.no/~steinjr/aurstad/index.html"
There are plenty of people who remember. Even 68 years later. That's not "already forgotten".
Smile,
Stein