TRIBUTE TO THE AMERICAN COMBAT GLIDER PILOTS OF WORLD WAR II

2011 Reunion of the National WWII Glider Pilots Association - Click here for full details

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NORMANDY - OPERATION NEPTUNE

"United in this determination and with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory. "

GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

        "Operation Neptune" was the code name for the airborne assault behind German lines that launched the Normandy invasion, known as "Operation Overlord."  Operation Neptune launched Operation Overlord and was the first major action of the invasion.

Click on the thumbnails to see a larger picture.

CG-4As in crates and being assembled in preparation for the Normandy invasion.  (From The Glidermen of Neptune page 24 - U.S. Air Force Photo Collection - USAF Neg. No. 51194 AC)

Crossing Utah Beach (From The Glidermen of Neptune page 36 - U.S. Air Force Photo Collection - USAF Neg. No. 91812 AC)

"Glider Attack on D-Day.  Some American glidermen in both Horsas and CG-4As having already landed, more gliders continue to cut loose to commence their attack." (From The Glidermen of Neptune page 70 - Photo from National Archives)

Horsas over Utah Beach

Les Dunes de Madeline

"Stars and Stripes" headline 8 June 1944

Ike with airborne troops before the landings

"Stars & Stripes" 8 June 1944 

"Stars and Stripes" 8 June 1944 Front Page

"Air Train 200 Mi. Long Takes Troops to France."

"Stars and Stripes" 8 June 1944 - Normandy Map

"C-47s and Wacos pass the naval assault force crossing the English Channel to Normandy on D day."  From The Glider Gang by Milton Dank.

Over the beaches - From Charles Day

Members of the 301st Troop Carrier Squadron just prior to Operation Neptune (the airborne phase of Operation Overlord).  Photo courtesy of Mary Martin and Troy Wynne - From Donald D. Martin's collection.  If anyone can identify the men in this photograph, please email the website owner at this link.

1944The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

RONALD REAGAN
Omaha Beach, 40th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion June 6, 1984  

Ike's D-Day Speech.

Link to the National D-Day Memorial, Bedford City, Virginia

YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON NORMANDY INVASION:

WW2 US Glider prep for Normandy

US Gliders at Normandy

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Copyright 2000-2011 by T. J. Brennan - All rights reserved.  This website has been set up solely as a memorial to the Glider Pilots of World War Two and has no commercial intent.  Unless otherwise noted, material on this website may be downloaded or copied with prior permission from the website owner for educational and other non-profit purposes.  Any material used from this site must appear in published form (online or otherwise) with proper attribution which must include the full URL link to this website.  Use of any of the material on this website for commercial, economic or for any other similar purpose is prohibited.  For permission, please contact the website owner.