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NORTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL FAN PAGE (Not affiliated with Athletic Department) JACKSONVILLE, NC (EST: 2001-02) *2016-17 NCHSAA 2A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS (30-0) * 2016 NCHSAA 2AA STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP *2017-21 REALIGN 3A COASTAL CONFERENCE (HAVELOCK, JACKSONVILLE, NORTHSIDE, SWANSBORO, WEST CARTERET, WHITE OAK) *2017-18 NCHSAA 3A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP (29-1/59 CONSECUTIVE WINS) *2021-25 Realign Big CAROLINA 3A/4A Conference (Havelock, Jacksonville, JH Rose, Norths

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Monarch Athletics

NORTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL FAN PAGE (Not affiliated with Athletic Department) JACKSONVILLE, NC (EST: 2001-02) *2016-17 NCHSAA 2A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS (30-0) * 2016 NCHSAA 2AA STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP *2017-21 REALIGN 3A COASTAL CONFERENCE (HAVELOCK, JACKSONVILLE, NORTHSIDE, SWANSBORO, WEST CARTERET, WHITE OAK) *2017-18 NCHSAA 3A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP (29-1/59 CONSECUTIVE WINS) *2021-25 Realign Big CAROLINA 3A/4A Conference (Havelock, Jacksonville, JH Rose, Norths

Monarch Athletics

NORTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL FAN PAGE (Not affiliated with Athletic Department) JACKSONVILLE, NC (EST: 2001-02) *2016-17 NCHSAA 2A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS (30-0) * 2016 NCHSAA 2AA STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP *2017-21 REALIGN 3A COASTAL CONFERENCE (HAVELOCK, JACKSONVILLE, NORTHSIDE, SWANSBORO, WEST CARTERET, WHITE OAK) *2017-18 NCHSAA 3A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP (29-1/59 CONSECUTIVE WINS) *2021-25 Realign Big CAROLINA 3A/4A Conference (Havelock, Jacksonville, JH Rose, Norths

Monarch Athletics


NORTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL FAN PAGE (Not affiliated with Athletic Department) JACKSONVILLE, NC (EST: 2001-02) *2016-17 NCHSAA 2A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS (30-0) * 2016 NCHSAA 2AA STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP *2017-21 REALIGN 3A COASTAL CONFERENCE (HAVELOCK, JACKSONVILLE, NORTHSIDE, SWANSBORO, WEST CARTERET, WHITE OAK) *2017-18 NCHSAA 3A STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP (29-1/59 CONSECUTIVE WINS) *2021-25 Realign Big CAROLINA 3A/4A Conference (Havelock, Jacksonville, JH Rose, Norths



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4.0 years ago by Mike Smith

Heroism - Sacrifice - Patriotism: 75 Years Ago 6/6/44 D-Day Normandy Landing-Operation Overlord

* Know the History?: https://www.history.com/news/d-day-normandy-wwii-facts   Click on:  (Films/Photos/Interactives of D-Day)

* RECOMMEND 2 MOVIES: "The Longest Day" & "Saving Pvt Ryan" (WARNING: The first 30 min are extremely graphic in showing what the combat was like during the D-Day landing)

* Heroism ‘will not be forgotten’

‘Thank you’: Queen honors D-Day veterans at moving ceremony

 

Queen Elizabeth II, President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, from left, applaud at the end of an event to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day on Wednesday in Portsmouth, England. [MATT DUNHAM/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

PORTSMOUTH, England — Queen Elizabeth II and world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump gathered Wednesday on the south coast of England to honor the troops who risked and sacrificed their lives 75 years ago on D-Day, a bloody but ultimately triumphant turning point in World War II.

Across the Channel, American and British paratroopers dropped into northwestern France and scaled cliffs beside Normandy beaches, recreating the daring, costly invasion that helped liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

 

With the number of veterans of World War II dwindling, the guests of honor at an international ceremony in Portsmouth were several hundred men, now in their 90s, who served in the conflict — and the 93-year-old British monarch, also a member of what has been called the “greatest generation.”

The queen, who served as an army mechanic during the war, said that when she attended a 60th-anniversary commemoration of D-Day 15 years ago, many thought it might be the last such event.

“But the wartime generation — my generation — is resilient,” she said, striking an unusually personal note.

“The heroism, courage and sacrifice of those who lost their lives will never be forgotten,” the monarch said. “It is with humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country — indeed the whole free world — that I say to you all, thank you.”

Several hundred World War II veterans, aged 91 to 101, attended the ceremony in Portsmouth, the English port city from where many of the troops embarked for Normandy on June 5, 1944.

Many will recreate their journey, with less danger and more comfort, by crossing the Channel by ship to Normandy overnight. They are due to attend commemorations Thursday in Bayeux, the first major town liberated by Allied troops after D-Day.

Mixing history lesson, entertainment and solemn remembrance, the ceremony in Portsmouth was a largescale spectacle involving troops, dancers and martial bands, culminating in a military fly-past. But the stars of the show were the elderly veterans of that campaign who said they were surprised by all the attention: They were just doing their jobs.

“I was just a small part in a very big machine,” said 99-year-old John Jenkins, a veteran from Portsmouth, who received a standing ovation as he addressed the event.

“You never forget your comrades because we were all in it together,” he said. “It is right that the courage and sacrifice of so many is being honored 75 years on. We must never forget.”

The event, which kicked off two days of D-Day anniversary observances, paid tribute to the troops who shaped history during the dangerous mission to reach beachheads and fight in German-occupied France.

D-Day saw more than 150,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in northwest France on June 6, 1944, carried by 7,000 boats. The Battle of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, was a turning point in the war, and helped bring about Nazi Germany’s defeat in May 1945.

Wednesday’s ceremony brought together presidents, prime ministers and other representatives of more than a dozen countries that fought alongside Britain in Normandy.

The leader of the country that was the enemy in 1944 , German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also attended— a symbol of Europe’s postwar reconciliation and transformation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attended 70th anniversary commemorations in France five years ago, has not been invited. Russia was not involved in D-Day but was instrumental in defeating the Nazis on the Eastern Front.

The ceremony sought to take people back in time, with world leaders, reading the words of participants in the conflict.

Trump read a prayer that President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered in a radio address on June 6, 1944, extolling the “mighty endeavor” Allied troops were engaged in.

British Prime Minister Theresa May read a letter written by Capt. Norman Skinner of the Royal Army Service Corps to his wife, Gladys, on June 3, 1944, a few days before the invasion. He was killed the day after D-Day.

Opinion-JDN Column 6/6/19:

* The men who changed history, 75 years ago

We tend to pay more attention to, and view as more significant, those anniversaries that happen to fall on years ending in zero — 10 years of marriage — or the silver and gold milestones — 50 years since the Moon landing.

This week, generations of Americans and Europeans arew paying closer attention to a particular 75th anniversary of events that changed the course of human history: The D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944.

Is the 75th any more reason to mark an occasion than, say, last year’s 74th or next year’s 76th? Not really. But what is significant is that each passing year, there are fewer among us who were there, who fought in this Second World War and bore witness to this dark chapter in our nation’s history. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, fewer than 500,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were still alive in 2018. An estimated 348 die each day.

D-Day marked a turning point in the war. In the early hours, more than 160,000 troops from the Allied nations boarded more than 5,000 vessels and landing craft that ferried them to the heavily fortified beaches of France. More than 300 C-47s carrying 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers descended over land. Nearly 2,500 U.S. troops died the first day; more than 9,000 total Allied soldiers were killed or wounded. Those who survived the assault were in for a long and treacherous journey that would not end until the surrender of Germany almost a year later.

Memories fade over time. With distance, we lose an emotional connection. But on Thursday’s 75th anniversary of D-Day, and every year to follow, we can never forget the men who gave their lives to literally save the world.

President Franklin Roosevelt told the nation about D-Day on the radio. He choose to do it by prayer. In reading his words today, one can sense the uncertainty of what was to come, and the gravity of what was at stake:

“My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

“They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without restuntil the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

“And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice... .

“Give us strength, too— strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee, faith in our sons, faith in each other, faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters, of but fleeting moment, let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

“Thy will be done, Almighty God.

“Amen.”

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