 |
| George Buster Singleton |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “D-Day, the 6th of
June, is a day we should never forget,” was originally published in the June 7,
2001 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)
We Americans are a lucky people, but sometimes we tend to
let slip by many events that did much to mold our lives and our society.
We forget as the years begin to grow in number and times
passes into the pages of the past. This date, June 6, 1944, is one of those
dates that we need never to forget. On this date, the greatest invasion force
that man has ever assembled stormed ashore on the beaches of Normandy.
On this date in 1944, during the frightful days of World War
II, the allied forces launched the largest invasion force the world had ever
known in hopes of defeating for all times the evil forces of Hitler’s army.
On June 5, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower set into motion a plan to
lay the groundwork for the Normandy Invasion to be launched the following day.
This day would be recorded in history as “D-Day” throughout the known free
world.
Let us look back in time and try to visualize the magnitude
of this invasion force. On June 5, 1944, over 3,000 American and British
bombers, protected by the famed P-51 fighter planes, dropped thousands of tons
of bombs on the Nazi forces that were dug in on the high cliffs that overlooked
the beaches of Normandy.
The following day, ships from a hundred ports, numbering
over 4,000 began crossing the English Channel. These ships would put ashore
over 176,000 men in the first wave that landed on the sandy beaches. In less
than three weeks that followed, over 1 million men and 170,000 vehicles made their way across the bloody
sands of the Normandy beachhead.
Thousands of young men, many no more than 18 or 19 years
old, never reached the sandy beaches. Many of these young men had no combat
experience, except less than eight weeks of basic training, before they were
shipped to overseas ports to help make up the other thousands of the allied
invasion force.
As the landings of troops increased, so many died there on the
beach until bulldozers were used to push the dead bodies aside, so that the men
and equipment yet to come ashore would have open space to maneuver as they
fought for the high ground.
Should you visit the many military cemeteries that dot the landscape
throughout Europe and see the thousands upon thousands of white crosses that
mark the graves of our fallen sons and brothers, then you will realize the
price we paid that fateful day.
In 1986, I had by chance, to visit one of such cemeteries.
The row upon row of snow-white crosses in the Luxembourg Cemetery gave witness
to the many thousands who sleep there. As I searched for the grave of a cousin
who fell in the heavy fighting of the invasion, I remembered being told that he
had not reached his 19th birthday prior to his death.
I remember that day as a student in high school when the principal
of the school called an assembly. This was the day after school had started in
September. Mr. Johnson, a World War I veteran, read out the names of those who
had gone to school there at Sweet Water and had fallen in battle that fateful
day of June 6.
I remember that the old man wept as he called the names of
seven young men from a prior graduating class that had fallen there on the
bloody beaches of Normandy. This class would lose a total of eight young men,
both in the Pacific and Europe, before the dreadful war’s end.
There are those who say that we should bury the past and let
bygones be bygones. But, I believe we should remember those brave young men who
gave their lives for the freedom that we enjoy today. We should hold in high
esteem the memories of those who died in battle so that we can continue to live
as a free people. We should forever remember those who never knew the joys of
raising a family and having the chance to grow old with their children and
grandchildren.
We, as a nation cannot know where we are going unless we
know where we have been. We must not forget those who gave their all for our
way of life that we so often take for
granted.
As we remember the millions who died in our past wars, we
should remember that they too wanted to live a full and happy life. They didn’t
want their lives to end there on the blood soaked sands of Normandy, or on some
unknown island in the Pacific.
They didn’t want it to end on some frozen hillside in far
off Korea, or the steaming jungles of Vietnam, or in the parched deserts of the
Middle East.
We Americans are a forgiving people; for the want of wealth,
we sell our homeland and even our souls to the very ones who tried so hard to
destroy that which we cherished. We turn a deaf ear to the cries of the
millions slain who tried to protect us from the armies of the aggressor.
The jingle of money pushes from our ears the cries of the
dead who also wanted to live and enjoy a part of our tomorrow. We allow our
sacred flag to be burned in public places by deadbeats who have contributed
nothing to the freedom we enjoy.
One day we must learn that freedom is not free. Freedom has
to be wanted. It has to be cherished. And, then there comes a time when it has
to be fought for and protected.
So, this past Wednesday, June 6, 57 years since the sands of
Normandy beach turned red with the blood of our brave young men, we need to
stop again and remember. It doesn’t take much time. Find a quiet spot and raise
your arms to the heavens and thank God that you have been allowed to live in
this great land of ours. You will be heard if you are sincere, and those who
sleep beneath the white crosses in those forgotten cemeteries in some far off
land will know that they are remembered.
Do not let the spirits of those young men who fell in battle
on a thousand battlefields wander forever on the winds of oblivion. Take time
to be proud and let the world know that you are proud to be an American. Our
country is approaching the crossroads of history. We must stand up and be proud.
We cannot let that which we love cross over the point of no return.
There is a graveyard far, far away.
Where a forgotten soldier lies.
No flowers there are sprinkled,
Nor tears from mourners eyes.
I stood there no so long ago
In remembrance for these brave,
When suddenly I heard a soft faint voice
Speak out from the depts of a grave.
“Did we really win our freedom
That we battled so hard to achieve?
Do we still respect that tiny flag
Above that empty sleeve?”
“Wonder if those who planned it
All are really satisfied?
As they sing and dance and live it up
After many thousands died.
“I am that forgotten soldier
And maybe I died in vain
But, if I were alive, and my
County called, I’d do it all over again.”
(Singleton, the author
of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of
79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime
resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances
Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in
Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a
U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand,
lived for a time among Apache Indians, was bitten at least twice by venomous
snakes, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator
of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987.
He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For
years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere
in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of
articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s
believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The
Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical
Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in
Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s
other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the
Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented
here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort
to keep his work and memory alive.)
_steaming_off_the_Firth_of_Clyde_in_September_1952.jpg)
