D-Day Rememberance

 Want to honor my dad with D-Day.. he went in at Omaha Beach 6-6-44.. had MUCH more to say about his time in England before.. and the total destruction of St Lo, France....

He never really talked about his experience.. Just a long walk :) and since he drove log truck they had him driving trucks  of  the Holocaust camp survivors when they were found/released (can't think of the word)

He said they did what they had to do, then came home and 'got on with it' which i assume means life/marriage/work/kids...

Wish i had sat him down and recorded things. altho i did get him a couple books, one was a Spielberg one of Saving Private Ryan, where i underlined things i wanted to say to him and inserted pictures he had of the guys on leave... he only read a couple pages and couldn't do any more , he started crying... this was much later in his life and things were hitting him, about his own mortality. 

This is on their honeymoon in June, 1946 at Rockaway Beach... We always went back there and still do to this day!!  This 4th of July fam going again, renting a airbnb... wish i had those sunglasses... mom was a dark brunette and dad had red hair!! the area where they are at, behind them, is now all forested.

There have been many changes in the years that even I have been going there, but it still retains an old world, 50's sort of vibe and not as popular as Lincoln City or Seaside area.. which is fine with me... depending on the time you go, sometimes you can be on the beach and be the only one there...

This picture looks like it is deteriorating.  This was before they married, day was always proud that he took this picture!! (he had a camera he got in Germany, which i still have, hanging on the wall of my closet, as he always kept it that way)

One more... this was Fathers Day 1957... At Cape Lookout near Tillamook. By this time 3 kids 10, 5 and 2... and he went for an early morning walk on the beach and came back with a HUGE glass ball.. it was very exciting!!! don't know where that went, probably one of the brothers has it.

These pictures were in photo album mom had put together, the only one, and the black pages were falling out and the little black  corners all coming off the page, so i took it and redid it and not have a nice memory of the early black and white years!!!  and so very glad i have them.

They were both great people, worked hard all the time.  Dad drove log truck for most of his life, Mom went back to school when i was in the 5th grade, graduated the same year i did from middle school, then started teaching 4th grade, which she did for most of her career..

They were faithful followers of Culver sports when both boys were in high school..

Love them both dearly... they would be so amazed at their great grands and the changes in Redmond and Bend...

Take Care and God Bless All