USA: 75th Anniversary of Normandy Landing 'D-Day'

D-Day 1944: Half Man & Half Boy = Soldier
 
6-6-19, * -- The average age of the military man is 19 years. He’s a tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by most half man and half boy. Not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He's a recent high school graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport, drives an old jalopy and has a steady girlfriend.
 
He’s 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was home because he’s working, training or fighting from dawn til dusk. He can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and – if he must - use either one effectively.
 
He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop. He obeys orders instantly, but is not without spirit and dignity.

He is self-sufficient and has two sets of fatigues uniforms; washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He never forgets to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes and fix his own hurts.  If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low. He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.  He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.  Very often he does twice the work of a civilian, draws half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all. In his short lifetime he has seen more suffering and death than he should have.

He feels every note of the United States National Anthem and when he sees the American Flag raised on its pole, he stands at rigid attention; while tempering the burning desire to' square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.
 
Beardless or not, he is no longer a boy. He’s the American Fighting Man that has kept this country - and others - free for over 200 years. Remember him always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his sacrifice, blood, suffering, sweat and tears.  

Of all the gifts you could give a US military man, prayer is the very best one.

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*Excerpted and adapted author unknown by me source http://www.reconnections.net/military_pics.htm
More photos here: allthatsinteresting.com/world-war-2-photos#67