William Stroock (as in Stroock's Books)
Showing posts with label D-Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D-Day. Show all posts
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Thursday Musical Intervention
Normandy Invasion edition, brought to you by the West Point Glee Club:
D-Day 75: The Writing
We very deliberately re-created the Normandy Invasion in World War 1990: Polish Storm.
Advancing north into Poland are three army corps, the American VII and XI Corps and Commonwealth Corps of three British and one Canadian division.
We flirted with the idea of turning Schwarzkopf's Army of the Danube into a 20th century version of Sherman's Army of the Tennessee, singing Glory, Glory Hallelujah as they liberated the Poles. But doing so risked purple prose and ultimately seemed out of place. Sherman's men were on an existential crusade to save the Union.
So we conveyed the grandness of the thing by making the liberation of Poland a job for the English speaking peoples. The French are off in the southeast corner about Krakow, but the main action is in the center, fought by the same peoples who landed in Normandy 75 years ago today.
Advancing north into Poland are three army corps, the American VII and XI Corps and Commonwealth Corps of three British and one Canadian division.
We flirted with the idea of turning Schwarzkopf's Army of the Danube into a 20th century version of Sherman's Army of the Tennessee, singing Glory, Glory Hallelujah as they liberated the Poles. But doing so risked purple prose and ultimately seemed out of place. Sherman's men were on an existential crusade to save the Union.
So we conveyed the grandness of the thing by making the liberation of Poland a job for the English speaking peoples. The French are off in the southeast corner about Krakow, but the main action is in the center, fought by the same peoples who landed in Normandy 75 years ago today.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Battle Extraordinaire: D-Day editon
What's your favorite combat sequence in The Longest Day?
Post in comments.
Post in comments.
D-Day-75: We speak English
All the bad, rotten, horrid, no good ideas of the 20th century were birthed in the solons of Europe.
They were all vanquished by the inventors of the Magna Carta, Parliamentary Democracy, the Bill of Rights and capitalism.
Three armies landed at Normandy, British, Canadian and American. They all spoke English. In the rods of Churchill, these were The Great Democracies.
This blog remains in awe of the European and his grand ideas about internationalism and the European super-state.
Big idea, isn't it?
How did your other big ideas work out?
They were all vanquished by the inventors of the Magna Carta, Parliamentary Democracy, the Bill of Rights and capitalism.
Three armies landed at Normandy, British, Canadian and American. They all spoke English. In the rods of Churchill, these were The Great Democracies.
This blog remains in awe of the European and his grand ideas about internationalism and the European super-state.
Big idea, isn't it?
How did your other big ideas work out?
Monday, June 3, 2019
D-Day 75: the Passage of Time
Seventy-five years ago this week came the Normandy invasion.
It's D-Day week all week here at William Stroock dot blogspot dot com.
Where to begin?
The invasions seventy-fifth anniversary means it's been thirty-five years since President Reagan's Boys of Pointe du Hoc speech. The speech marked the invasion's passage into legend, no?
Back then nobody talked about The Greatest Generation. Every old man in the country had served in some way. Our father's father was in a medical triage unit slated to go ashore with the first wave in Japan. Our mother's father was a radar operator in the 407th AAA Battalion in France. Our maternal grandmother's brother was in Merrill's Marauders. Our uncle Herman was a sergeant stationed in Florida.
Every weekend the war was commemorated through movies. We've all seen them a million times. The Longest Day was a marathon, a special occasion for which one had to plan. The film is four hours long, after all.
World War Two wasn't history yet. World War Two just was, part of the feel and flavor of everyday life.
We vaguely recall watching Reagan's speech, which means it was considered important enough for the three television networks to broadcast live.
Thirty-five years later, here are The Boys of Pointe du Hoc:
It's D-Day week all week here at William Stroock dot blogspot dot com.
Where to begin?
The invasions seventy-fifth anniversary means it's been thirty-five years since President Reagan's Boys of Pointe du Hoc speech. The speech marked the invasion's passage into legend, no?
Back then nobody talked about The Greatest Generation. Every old man in the country had served in some way. Our father's father was in a medical triage unit slated to go ashore with the first wave in Japan. Our mother's father was a radar operator in the 407th AAA Battalion in France. Our maternal grandmother's brother was in Merrill's Marauders. Our uncle Herman was a sergeant stationed in Florida.
Every weekend the war was commemorated through movies. We've all seen them a million times. The Longest Day was a marathon, a special occasion for which one had to plan. The film is four hours long, after all.
World War Two wasn't history yet. World War Two just was, part of the feel and flavor of everyday life.
We vaguely recall watching Reagan's speech, which means it was considered important enough for the three television networks to broadcast live.
Thirty-five years later, here are The Boys of Pointe du Hoc:
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