Courage and Honor and Other Things I Thought I Knew

I have written previously in this blog about the influence my grandfather has had on my story. Every once in a while, and interaction or conversation I had with him comes back to me, particularly when dealing with the internal struggles my character is having. On the topic of courage and honor, I remember sitting at grandpa's kitchen table talking about what my friends meant to me and of course I would be willing to lay down my life for them. I was so dramatic at that age.

He looked at me and smiled, shaking his head. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about. When you're in a war and getting shot at all the time you want to save yourself and that's about it."

I went away in a huff, thinking he had questioned my honor. Boy was I stupid.

D Day Plus 57 Years

Today marks the 57th Anniversary of D Day. There were many "D" days before, but none after that earned such and iconic name.

"D" actually marked the secret "date" for any planned military operation, and H stood for the "hour." There was a "D" day and and "H" hour for North Africa, Italy, etc., as well as for the beginning of significant military operations, including invasions, attacks, counterattacks, etc. These were used to mark not only the date and hour, but the planned objectives. For instance, in Operation Overlord, the British were to take a certain bridge at H hour plus 5 (H+5), or a certain town at D day plus 2 (D+2). (Under Montgomery, the British almost NEVER achieved their objectives on time.)

Their use also allowed military planners to set objectives and fill in the actual date and hour later.

Following Operation Overlord, the allied forces never regularly used "D Day" in reference to another significant event or battle. Overlord was so important and iconic that the name "D Day" actually eclipsed "Overlord" in the minds of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who took part before, during, and after. It stuck with the American public as well.

In France, the term Embarkation Day is used. The destruction in Normandy and Brittany that resulted from the invasion was so significant that there remains a degree of heartbreak over the event.

Wrapping up one plot line

At close to 24,000 words, I am getting ready for a climax and resolution to one plot line, and will be turning my attention to the second one. I have felt stuck at about 25% complete for some time now, but the more I think about it, I cam closer to a third done with the first draft.

I have mentioned before that my grandfather provided inspiration for part of the book. There is only one of his letters that I am quoting nearly verbatim. It was written in Germany in 1944, about two weeks after four of his friends were killed by a shell blast:

. . .after reading your letters, I want to tell you that you are too, too tense about my safety here. Don’t worry – I’m pretty careful and anyway we are usually several miles behind the front lines where rifle, machine gun, & hand-to-hand combat is carried out. We are only subjected to shell, mortar fire, and now and then a plane flits over us and drops a bomb or two and strafes vehicles on the road. And if a guy’s pretty careful and not trying to take chances he has a darn good chance of never getting hurt at all.

Take a few days ago. We had our trucks on the road ready to convoy. A shell whistled over & I saw the burst of white phosphorus several hundred yards behind us but in line with us. So I says to the boys as long as we aren’t actually moving let’s just high-tail it down the cellar (we were standing by a house). So come of us do. Not 20 seconds later there was a scramble of fellows all trying to come in with ust at once. Shells were coming in & of course that is what I surmised and was safe. I cannot comment on casualties ever, Mother. It is better they are forgotten anyhow.