I Have A Question

I Have A Question

One of the most important holidays in American history is celebrated on July 4th, every year. An influential group of men agreed to draft a document that would cause concern with their overseas sponsors.

 This decision led to war with England, severing all future supplies and aid from ‘The Mother Country". Truly, a revolutionary act! The ‘colonists’ landed in the 1600’s and struggled until they finally decided to split from England over a hundred years later. Why the delay and why did they come in the first place?

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For some, they had no choice. Other than the religion issue, several were indentured servants sent by English businessmen to "pay back a  debt", find the gold that earlier Spaniards claimed was available, and simply to help the English economy. European farmers had realized that England’s crop and dairy farms were not as profitable as raising sheep to sell the desired wool. Agriculture and food supplies dwindled. Besides, the English church system was being troublesome for English worshipers. Some left for Holland for religious freedom, but found that unfavorable and news of the ‘new world’ possibilities became a chance for a better future. English noblemen offered passage to America as a loan and the travelers were expected to repay the loan. The passenger manifest of military veterans, Scandinavians, Hollanders, Germans as well as citizens being excommunicated found most travelers unprepared for the tasks ahead.

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Workers seemed to lack farm and building skills while arrivals convinced others to search for the

fabled gold. Crops were planted too late and the long winters were unexpectedly fierce. Without the help of the native Americans who watched and aided the newcomers, the outcome was in jeopardy. Why were these people so unprepared? Where did they come from? Everyone knows Germans come from Germany, Swedes from Sweden, etc, but what was their background?

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American became known as a "Cultural Melting Pot". Europe is also a melting pot of genetic lineages from different prehistoric cultures that lived there at various periods of time. Europeans today are a genetic mixture of ancestral populations: hunter-gatherers, and farmers.Genetic science has come a long way! DNA and genomes are revealing much!.

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 Bones and relics have been carbon-analyzed and compared with those of other areas. Early specimens show signs of meat-eaters. These were the early ‘hunters for food’.
"The hunter-gatherers show the greatest similarity to modern-day Finns", says Geneticist Skoglund. "It was a surprise that the farmer and hunter-gatherers were so different. Scandinavia was clearly home to people of very different genetic backgrounds even 5,000 years ago," he says.

Early migratory movements in Europe.

 

 

 

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These ‘hunter-gatherer’ were joined by a group coming from the steppes of Russia!

Modern Europe was formed when a mass migration from southern Russia brought new languages, technology and dairy farming to the continent, according to a recent a study .  

 The hunter-gathering society had no tolerance for milk and ‘Lactose Intolerance’ was born! However, 'Time' created a mutation for the blended new group. With this in mind, modern day people may have Russia to blame for any problem with milk consumption. These migrating farmer-types with cows came from the Russian Causasus region and were called the Yamnaya People. The ‘white man’ became known as a Caucasian. Sounds familiar! But milk-drinking Russians?!
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They brought with them new skills and a language that became the basis of almost every other European language, including Greek and Latin, English and German, as well as spreading their DNA. The Hunters-gatherers remained in Norway, while the southern sections of Sweden became centers of the Yamnaya culture.So, when one claims " I’m all Norwegian, or Swede, or German", they may be omitting genes of Russia, Africa and even Asia in their DNA.

 Geneticists analyzing DNA from Neolithic burial sites in Sweden have made a surprising discovery. The genetic make-up of one individual exhibits a startling similarity to that of modern-day Mediterranean. Modern humans may have picked up key genes from extinct relatives.

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Every European region or country had it’s culture as opposed to that of their neighbor and each had their own customs. As an Army G.I. in Germany, it was common for us to start a car journey in Germany and be able to travel through 6 countries in one day. We would struggle through 6 languages while stopping in each country for gas or food. Here, in the US, we also can travel southerly from New York through a number of states. However, one language will be needed, albeit, with a number of different accents!.

Boston Tea Party

There were differences and arguments among the colonies. Rhode Island settlers had difference of opinions for 40 years. English taxation caused major problems. After months of colonist protests, plans to break from English rule found six colonies refusing to join the drive to independence. Finally. after months of debate, 12 voted to break away while New York voted to abstain.

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       The American Declaration of Independence was not issued until 15 months after the War of Independence had begun. In it, after 1,200 words of self-justification, at the very end of the document the colonists finally declared that these 'united colonies' were to be free and independent states; Even so, The thirteen colonies were not united until after the war was over . Many colonists had no desire to break away from Britain.

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The cultural melting-pot of Europe came to America with their many historical differences. These  differences in each colony were reflected in each colony’s cultural belief. Our Northern colonies and Southern colonies have continued their individual beliefs.Perhaps,even today, some of us would like to be hunter-gatherers while others tend the farms and  business lives.

July 4th, we celebrate, in unity, our Independence.

June 6,1944

Every generation knows the horrors of warring enemies. The first territorial conflict in “The Timetable of Wars” records The Battle of Kadesh around 1274 BC. This battle involved Egyptian forces under Rammes II and the Hittite Empire  in battle over the land now known as Syria.

 Time has marched on, but that territory is still a battleground to this very day! Rare are days between Kadesh  and our current days that would be called ‘peaceful’ while  battles  continue and actually overlap somewhere on our planet.

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June 6th marks one of our most recent national conflicts involving American armed service people. Following “The War To End All Wars”, one defeated nation felt humiliated. One surviving soldier believed the politicians lost the war that the soldiers were capable of winning. This ‘one person’ convinced his downtrodden brethren to rise up, recover their pride and lost territory. World War II began. Hitler blasted across western Europe and threatened to conquer Britain.

Nazi German troops were stationed in France and watched for British and American allies to come to the attack. French western beaches looked peaceful in 1944, although under German occupation. Things were about to change.

Normandy Beach, France

 American military plans as well as French, British and representatives from other countries were busily

Ike and  Allied planners

planning an ‘over the channel’ military action to battle the Nazi advances. The weather had been unusually stormy for this spring and finding a time to ferry all needed personnel and supplies was a difficult task. After several meetings, a  Royal Air Force Captain  met with the American general Eisenhower on the evening of 4 June. He and his meteorological team predicted that the weather would improve sufficiently so that the invasion could go ahead on 6 June, 1944. Naval operations for the invasion were described by historian Correlli Barnett as a "never surpassed masterpiece of planning".

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  The intricate planning involved aerial and naval bombardment, an airborne assault, plus the landing of 24,000 British, US, and Canadian airborne troops to be landed shortly after midnight on the coast of France. Due to the very unsettled weather and stormy seas, the Germans, who expected the attack somewhere were convinced that this would not be the time and relaxed their vigilance.

                                                         

But June 6th, 1944 was the time. The code name for the operation was “D-Day”. There apparently is no significance for the term ‘D-Day’ other than the need for secrecy.It was simply code for ’The Day”. The weather cleared for a short time and Operation Overlord was underway. Armored divisions began landing  on the coast of France at 06:30 ( 6:30AM). The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the French beaches that were mined and covered withstakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of  beach clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at “Omaha Beach” with its high cliffs. Several fortified towns had to be cleared in house-to-house fighting, and major gun emplacements  were disabled using specialized tanks as soldiers  attacked their enemy on beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. Allied infantry were unable to achieve all of their goals on the first day and several villages were heavily defended by German occupiers, causing heavy casualties among allied troops who fought and died in the battle. The beachhead was not cleared from the enemy until  July 21st and the cost of this invasion was high. About 9,000 were reported killed or wounded in this battle that began June 6th, 1944.

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An underground newspaper team in Norway

Europe, as a whole had been  occupied since the Nazi war-machine had overrun country after country, but as the news of D-Day spread around the world, resistance to the Nazi occupiers began to intensify. Armed resistance, in the form of sabotage, commando raids, and other special operations during the occupation continued while being occupied' Armed resistance, in the form of sabotage, commando raids, assassinations and other special operations during the occupation, being discovered often meant death or concentration camp, but civil disobedience and unarmed resistance continued. Norway citizens devised many ways to practice their national pride while aiding downed allied pilots and maintaining  contact with England.

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Milorg fighters parade in public

.The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany had begun in 1940 , sending information to help the D-Day allied forces before finally  ending in 1945. Norway’s Milorg, or underground fighters maintained approximately eighty concealed radio stations to aid the invasion in June.These forbidden radio stations contributed a key role in the invasion, due to the fact that the majority of Allied forces information came through Norway’s Milorg's radio network.

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A cricket

Countless details were devised to aid the scattered D-Day invaders. Communications among the parachutists had to be established in silence. This was done using a child’s toy that made the sound of a cricket. When pressed twice, the sender waited for an answering sound. Joining together, the soldiers finally were able to reform their units and get underway in the darkness and early morning light. 

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 By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring, the Allies had defeated the Germans.      General Dwight Eisenhower once said “Andrew Higgins  is the man who won the war for us”. 

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Higgins is the man who designed and built LCVPs ( military for landing craft, vehicles, personnel), the

The  LCVP

amphibious vehicles that enabled the Allied forces to cross the channel. Eisenhower is reported to have said, “If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.” These motorized wooden boats could carry approximately 39 soldiers and were able to transport them from ship to shore.

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Since this epic battle, the scenes of war have changed. Large concentrations of troops have been discontinued and changed to  that of  smaller attacking stealth groups, resulting in fewer casualties. D-Day resulted in approximately 9,000 men killed or wounded in one day.

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This year is the 71st year in remembrance of D-Day in Europe.

At least six memorial events will be observed in the area of France’s Normandy beach to honor those who gave their lives, recognizing the few still alive veterans, and  to commemorate the event known as            “The beginning of the end” of WWII, June 6, 1944.