Morning report 2024-06-06

June 6, 1944
D-Day
80 years ago today more than 150,000 Allied troops, transported and supported as best they could by the largest naval operation in the history of the world, landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to begin the retaking of France and eventually all of Europe from the grip of the Nazi tyrant. We honor their memory, and hope for a future where such an awesome and horrible triumph of human will and conviction never has to happen again.

And if you get the chance, visit the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. It's a little off the beaten path, but well worth the time and effort to experience it. www.dday.org/
BTW, the Memorial contains the work of Lawrence sculptor Jim Brothers ((August 15, 1941 – August 20, 2013), which is how we initially learned of it. It was slow goings in its early years, but the works of Brothers and other contributing artisans that make up the National D-Day Memorial are marvelous in telling the story of those who risked all in the fight against tyranny.
Other Brothers/D-Day links:
Washington Post: Jim Brothers, Kansas sculptor who memorialized military heroism, dies at 72
KCUR.org: Kansas Sculptor Jim Brothers Dies At 72



How many days until LATE NIGHT in The PHOG! ?
and other dates of interest... *Estimate based on first Friday in October. Official announcement expected in July 2024.

✦ KU MEN'S HOOPS -
• As noted yesterday on the RCB by sasnak, Elmarko Jackson is out for this season after tearing a patellar tendon in his knee.
KUSports.com - Greenstein: Jackson suffered torn patellar tendon in camp scrimmage, will undergo yearlong rehab process
KUSports.com - Greenstein: Five ways Elmarko Jackson’s injury changes the outlook for KU’s roster

• Figuratively on the heels of the Jackson injury and medical redshirt news comes the news that Self & Co filled the open 12th scholarship with Mississippi State transfer G Shakeel Moore. Reports are Moore is a solid if unspectacular offensive player, but an excellent defender. Definitely a solid pick-up by KU, and one that could prove critical in the upcoming season with the loss of Jackson, who was expected to make a big step up in his sophomore campaign.
KUSports.com - Greenstein: KU adds transfer guard Shakeel Moore

OTHER KU ATHLETICS NEWS -

✦ KUFB - KUSport.com - Greenstein: ‘Some questions’ at defensive end, Leipold says, but young players could provide answers

✦ KUVB - KUAthletics.com: Postcards from Europe Highlights of the Volleyball team's Europe trip.

✦ ELSEWHERE -
ESPN - Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: Lakers preparing massive offer to UConn's Dan Hurley
Will he stay or will he go?
I hope he goes. Anything to blunt the Huskies impact in college hoops.
ESPN - Thamel: Dan Hurley, a UConn dynasty, LeBron's Lakers and a fascinating decision
(Yeah, I'm guilty. I don't like UConn, and I want its presence in college hoops neutralized ASAP. Hurley leaving could be a big start to that.)


It is currently raining in Lawrence. Projections are for widely separated morning thunderstorms, but then sunny to partly cloudy later in the day with a high of 86 F (30.0 C) and a low tonight of 54 F (12.2 C) under clear, dark skies.

That is all for now.

Hope you have a GREAT day!

ROCK CHALK!

✦ Remembering D-Day
from historyonthenet.com: D-Day Quotes: From Eisenhower to Hitler

Two kinds of people are staying on this beach—the dead and those who are going to die.
—Col. George A. Taylor, commanding the Sixteenth Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division, on Omaha Beach. (In The Longest Day, this statement is delivered by Robert Mitchum as Brig. Gen. Norman D. Cota of the Twenty-ninth Infantry Division.)

I am prepared to lose the whole group.
—Col. Donald Blakeslee, commanding the Fourth Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force, briefing his P-51 Mustang pilots on 5 June.

They’re murdering us here. Let’s move inland and get murdered.
—Col. Charles D. Canham, commanding the 116th Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division, on Omaha Beach.

You get your ass on the beach. I’ll be there waiting for you and I’ll tell you what to do. There ain’t anything in this plan that is going to go right.
—Col. Paul R. Goode, addressing the 175th Infantry Regiment, Twentyninth Infantry Division, before D-Day.

We’ll start the war from right here.
—Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., assistant commander of the Fourth Infantry Division, upon finding that his force had been landed in the wrong place on Utah Beach.

Nobody dashed ashore. We staggered. With one hand I carried my gun, finger on the trigger; with the other I held onto the rope-rail down the ramp, and with the third hand I carried my bicycle.
—Cpl. Peter Masters, 10 Commando, Sword Beach.

I took chances on D-Day that I never would have taken later in the war.
—First Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

I am firmly convinced that our supporting naval fire got us in; that without the gunfire we positively could not have crossed the beaches.
—Col. Stanhope B. Mason, chief of staff, First Infantry Division.

I’m sorry we’re a few minutes late.
— Lord Lovat, arriving with his commandos to relieve the British airborne troops holding the Orne River bridges, 6 June.

We have a sufficiency of troops; we have all the necessary tackle; we have an excellent plan. This is a perfectly normal operation which is certain of success. If anyone has any doubts in his mind, let him stay behind.
—Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery, commanding Twenty-first Army Group.

It was something which you just can’t imagine if you have not seen it. It was boats, boats, boats and more boats, boats everywhere.
—Jacqueline Noel, recalling the British beaches. She met her future husband on D+4.

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
—Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, 6 June 1944.

Four years ago our nation and empire stood alone against an overwhelming enemy, with our backs to the wall. . . . Now once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause. . . .At this historic moment surely not one of us is too busy, too young, or too old to play a part in a nation-wide, perchance a world-wide vigil of prayer as the great crusade sets forth.
—King George VI, radio address, 6 June 1944.


Words attributed to the Enemy on D-Day --

Well, is it or isn’t it the invasion?
— Adolf Hitler to Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel on the afternoon of 6 June.

We shall see who fights better and who dies more easily, the German soldier faced with the destruction of his homeland or the Americans and British, who don’t even know what they are fighting for in Europe.
—Gen. Alfred Jodl, operations chief of the German high command, early 1944.

The Anglo-Saxons have set foot on our soil. France is becoming a battlefield. Frenchmen, do not attempt to commit any action which might bring terrible reprisals. Obey the orders of the government.
—Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, 6 June, hero of World War I but subsequently a traitor as he rose to be the chief of state of the occupied France Vichy government. After the war he was tried for his actions and sentenced to death before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

This is the end for Germany.
—Maj. Werner Pluskat, 352d Infantry Division at dawn on 6 June.

We’re going in alone and I don’t think we’re coming back.
—Lt. Col. Josef ‘‘Pips’’ Priller, Kommodore of JG-26, to his wingman before their strafing attack on Sword and Juno beaches.

The first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive. . . . [T]he fate of Germany depends on the outcome. For the Allies as well as Germany, it will be the longest day.
—Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, 22 April 1944.

I put the Jayhawk sticker next to the VII Corps insignia as VII Corps was known as "Jayhawk" and Corps members to this day are called Jayhawks!


I bought this years ago at the National D-Day Memorial.
Sadly I do NOT see it listed on its STORE page today.