December 7th, June 6th, & more recently September 11th are important days for our country and days that I hope are never forgotten. Today at Back in Black, we paid tribute to the amazing bravery that took place 75 years ago today:
75 years ago today, really not that long ago in the scheme of things, 150,000 Allied troops began hitting the beaches of Normandy, France. It was the beginning of largest amphibious invasion ever known to mankind. It was a force for good — to liberate occupied France.
Many of the soldiers were young Americans in their late teens or early 20s that had never experienced anything close to combat, let alone the fortified German defenses that have been built up over the course of almost 2 years.
On D-Day, June 6th, 1944 the boys landing on Omaha Beach faced and overcame horrific challenges & losses. If their landing craft actually made it close, they faced a 200 yard run across a wide flat beach into mortar and machine gun fire. At the end of the beach is a cliff 35 to 60 yards high, after getting to the top of that cliff they would finally be in a position to engage the German soldiers.
By August, 225,000 Allied soldiers (134,000 American) would be dead in this campaign along with 400,000 German soldiers. Those are not numbers, they are men.
Today, we salute and pay tribute to the incredible bravery & selfless sacrifice of those men 75 years ago.
Thank God they had the resolve to overcome all odds to win the day, continue on to defeat evil, and change the course of history.
It’s amazing what those men accomplished & thank God they succeeded. We salute them today at Back in Black.
10 PAX gathered in the gloom including one FNG! Here’s what went down:
F3 intro given to FNG & took a lap around the pickle back to the flag – I told a brief story of D-Day & what we’d be doing, pledge, then mosey up to the big office parking lot….BUT we had to stop for 5 burpees after the 2nd mention of tapering for Crazy Train!
Finally make it up to the lot … circle up for:
The Warm Up
Circle up for good mornings, Abe Vigodas, calf stretch w/merkins, mountain climbers, imperial walkers, hillbillies, SSH, etc. Warm enough for:
Thang 1 –
To simulate the 200 yard beach assault, we did modified 7’s working opposite ends of the big parking lot. ‘Merican Ger-Ups on one end, stop at each light pole for a “GET DOWN” burpee, then WWII’s at the other end. Tough work there….
Mosey back to the flag and down to the bottom of the small lot for :
Thang 2 –
Simulating the cliff climb we did bear crawls up the 9 parking lot markers for 9 merkins, mosey back to the start, doing 8-7… etc. you get it. The Lifetime Fitness crew got to see some real work going on….Another mosey around the pickle for:
Mary – of course American Hammers, PAX choice from there: Dying Cockroaches, LBCs, and side plank star crunches, & a very sweaty H-A-N-D, whew….
COT
Count-o-rama – 10 PAX.
Name-o-rama - 2 respects, & 8 mehs, including FNG Bagels
Announcements
- Crazy Train – everybody’s doing it! Check our Slack or hit up Hermes for the details. Option for EC run in DTC to see the boys off – Hello Kitty for details there.
Praises & Prayers
Chinese Downhill’s brother for heart surgery recovery
Bagels Dad for complications with knee replacement surgery
Unsaid prayers on everyone’s minds
Wrapped with CoT – I’m honored to be part of it on this special day.