“We’ll start the war from right here!”

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 06/06/2019 at 11:53 • Filed to: None

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(US Army)

Theodore Roosevelt Jr., eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and First Lady Edith Roosevelt, was the only general on D-Day to land by sea with the first wave of troops. At 56, he was the oldest man in the invasion, and the only one whose son also landed that day; Captain !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was among the first wave of soldiers at Omaha Beach.

Brigadier General Roosevelt was one of the first soldiers, along with Captain Leonard T. Schroeder Jr., off his landing craft as he led the 8th Infantry Regiment and 70th Tank Battalion landing at Utah Beach. Roosevelt was soon informed that the landing craft had drifted south of their objective, and the first wave of men was a mile off course. Walking with the aid of a cane [due to arthritis] and carrying a pistol, he personally made a reconnaissance of the area immediately to the rear of the beach to locate the causeways that were to be used for the advance inland. He returned to the point of landing and contacted the commanders of the two battalions, Lieutenant Colonels Conrad C. Simmons and Carlton O. MacNeely, and coordinated the attack on the enemy positions confronting them. Opting to fight from where they had landed rather than trying to move to their assigned positions, Roosevelt’s famous words were, “We’ll start the war from right here!”

These impromptu plans worked with complete success and little confusion. With artillery landing close by, each follow-on regiment was personally welcomed on the beach by a cool, calm, and collected Roosevelt, who inspired all with humor and confidence, reciting poetry and telling anecdotes of his father to steady the nerves of his men. Roosevelt pointed almost every regiment to its changed objective. Sometimes he worked under fire as a self-appointed traffic cop, untangling traffic jams of trucks and tanks all struggling to get inland and off the beach. One GI later reported that seeing the general walking around, apparently unaffected by the enemy fire, even when clods of earth fell down on him, gave him the courage to get on with the job, saying if the general is like that it can’t be that bad.

When Major General Barton, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, came ashore, he met Roosevelt not far from the beach. He later wrote:

By modifying his division’s original plan on the beach, Roosevelt enabled its troops to achieve their mission objectives by coming ashore and attacking north behind the beach toward its original objective. Years later, Omar Bradley was asked to name the single most heroic action he had ever seen in combat. He replied, “Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach.”

Following the landing, Roosevelt utilized a Jeep named “Rough Rider” which was the nickname of his father’s regiment raised during the Spanish–American War.

[Stolen from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ]

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. at Ste. Mere-Eglise shortly before his death. (US Army)

Roosevelt died of a heart attack in Normandy just one month after the invasion. For his heroism on D-Day, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:00

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Ms. Montana dropping paratroopers in France a couple of days ago. They flew this DC-3 all the way from Missoula to France! With a lay over in England. 

ttyymmnn > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 06/06/2019 at 12:03

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Such an epic journey for those C-47s from the US to France. Somebody last night posted about 90+ -year -old veterans who jumped this year.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:04

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When men were men. 

Nibby > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:04

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ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 06/06/2019 at 12:06

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Many years ago I read Stephen Ambrose’s remarkable D-Day , along with the follow up Citizen Soldiers . Both fantastic reads . I recall Ambrose writing about Roosevelt on the beach, and about how he never took more than three steps without halting or changing direction. This made it so that German snipers couldn’t draw a bead on him. I’d say it worked.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:08

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https://missmontanatonormandy.com/miss-montana-2/

vondon302 > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:15

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Now there's a leader of men.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:45

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My favorite picture of my maternal grandfather is similar to that one. He’s standing outside their encampment somewhere in Europe. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 06/06/2019 at 12:52

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Some men still are, and some aren’t.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:52

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Thank you for this.

lone_liberal > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:54

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I thought he looked more like Henry Fonda!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 12:57

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The boots are well broken in, but also shiny. I have a theory that heros are perhaps not only about their character — that most folks are of the fiber to be heros — but that they do what makes the most sense, being put in a situation or given an opportunity. And the situations and opportunities can be the mundane.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 13:19

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Carried o n his father’s legacy I see.

Big stick indeed.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 06/06/2019 at 13:38

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I wrote heart attack, but he actually died of a pulmonary embolism. Same thing I guess, but he wasn’t necessarily in bad health. Great men rise to meet the occasion. We desperately need a great man or woman to rise  now.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 14:30

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Grand writup, made my day. 

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 14:35

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I like to think they are still around us. Maybe even within us. Unfortunately, it often  takes huge catastrophe to bring them forth.

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 14:37

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My grandpa chilling outside of what I believe is a glider. He received a purple heart in WWII.

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 06/06/2019 at 15:47

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It’s an absolute cut and paste from Wiki, but it’s a great story. He was a hell of a guy.

ttyymmnn > DipodomysDeserti 06/06/2019 at 15:58

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Almost certainly a Waco CG-4A . Those things were nicknamed Flying Coffins . A lot of guys made it to Normandy only to die when their glider crashed.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 06/06/2019 at 16:24

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And some aren’t more than others...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 06/06/2019 at 16:26

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Cleverly said.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 16:27

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Did he indicate how many tried? Lots of work for snipers on that day, I should think.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 18:01

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Still thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the read. PS. I recommend Omar Bradley’s biography. It’s a first person narrative of the battle in Europe. 

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 06/06/2019 at 18:11

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Steven Ambrose writes a lot in his accounts of WWII about how American officers were much more likely to improvise (adapt, and overcome) than the Germans. While the Germans were better trained fighters, that training was often inflexible, where the Americans could adapt to the situation more easily. This is an excellent example of just that. 

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 18:19

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His unit was still in training during D Day, but they were quickly called out of training to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 19:29

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By the way, any of Ernie Pyle’s WW2 books are good reads. Brave men is memorable. I am sure you can find them on Amazon.

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 06/06/2019 at 19:52

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As is The Good War , by Studs Terkel.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 06/06/2019 at 20:02

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I will get it, thanks!

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 06/06/2019 at 20:33

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I don’t think so. It’s been a long time since I read it.