America's Freedom Fighters

Being that it's Veterans Day today I wanted to mention my Dad, Lee T. Bashore who served in the navy in WWII as an Ensign on an LST #264 (Landing Ship Tank). He was involved in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 1944 (Golds Beach). Here is an excerp from his journal, "As dawn broke on the invasion beach about 0600, we were looking for our assigned anchorage while shells from the battle wagons roared over our heads and hundreds of allied planes continued to bomb and strafe the beach heads. Bodies of unfortunate soldiers and sailors floated by in the relatively calm sea. From horizon to horizon in every direction were ships of every size and description from all allied countries. Some were large (battleships) and some were so small one would not expect to see them out of their home harbors. The only planes we saw were allied with their freshly painted wing stripes of black and white which served to identify them......Shells illuminating us brighter than day and a German dive bomber buzzing around overhead waiting for the kill. Finally he was ready and although we could not see him, he could surely see us! The suspense of the long slow dive was the greatest of my life and I was sure that given these conditions he could not miss. He dropped two big ones and the explosions lifted the ship out of the water - but there was no fire and no screams of pain, just silence, dead silence. After a thorough inspection we discovered, to our amazement, that the only damage was in the galley - the cooks cakes had fallen"! (Thank goodness the cake was the only thing that had fallen, or I would not be here today). Ricks' father Frank Green was also in WWII as a top gunner on a B24 Liberator. His job was stationed in India from 1944 to 1945 flying eight missions over the hump into China delivering gasoline to bases. He had experienced some harrowing experiences too and severe sicknesses. Today I took my dad some flowers and told him he was a Great American. I'll always remember the biggest grin he got on his face and we both felt proud. Proud to live in this great beautiful country that stands for Freedom. God Bless America.