<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[D-Day, Normandy and Beyond World War II articles]]></title><description><![CDATA[Articles]]></description><link>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/</link><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright D-Day, Normandy and Beyond World War II articles]]></copyright><generator>sNews CMS</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Welcome to the Articles]]></title><description><![CDATA[
Welcome to the new D-Day, Normandy and Beyond Articles pages.
Here a growing number of articles concerning the Veterans of World War
II and the war itself. I hope you will enjoy yet another service and
please start to send in your articles.
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:35:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/website-news/welcome-to-the-articles/</link><guid>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/website-news/welcome-to-the-articles/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New footage material]]></title><description><![CDATA[    New footage releasedNew footage releasedNorman G. Igo, shot this wind-up 8mm camera footage of Normandy during Operation Overlord. Also in this video is VE day in Paris, Ally air drops, Ally Bombing, Captured artillery, German POWs, and pontoon bridge crossing/building.     
  Norman passed away FEB 6, 2007 in Plano, TX. He graduated from Texas Tech with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1943 and he received a B.S. in Architectural Engineering in 1948 from the University of Texas at Austin.   He served in the 35th Combat Engineer Battalion in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. He reached the rank of Captain. As a professional engineer, he supervised the construction of many major projects at the campus at Texas Tech University, including The Medical School, the Library, the Museum, the Architecture Building, the Law School, and he also worked on updating the football stadium. Be sure to check this out in the newsreels section of this website.  
      ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:47:20 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/website-news/new-footage-material/</link><guid>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/website-news/new-footage-material/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[2008 505 RCT  Family &amp; Friends Reunion]]></title><description><![CDATA[    
Well, the holidays are behind us and we now start thinking of what we are planning for the new year. Well It's not too early to think about our 2008 505RCT and Family &amp; Friends reunion this fall. Plans are well underway for another great reunion with our 505 veterans, families and friends. Colorado is the place to be in '08 and Colorado Springs will be the site of our annual get together. Duke Boswell will be our host and he and his committee is already hard at work planning the activities and the meeting site. If you have never been to one of our reunions you are in for a special treat. The reunion at Ft. Bragg this past October was great and this one will be just as good or better. Colorado is a beautiful state and especially the Colorado Springs area.  
  Everything from Pike's Peak to the Flying W Ranch in Manitou Springs and their chuck wagon dinner and western show. The US Air Force Academy and many other sites are nearby. These are just a few of the interesting places you may want to visit. It is a wonderful place to plan a vacation before or after the reunion.  
  A definite date has not been set as yet but the second week of September has been suggested. What we need to know is how many of our members plan on attending? I know it is hard to make plans that far in advance but our reunion chairman Duke Boswell needs some idea in advance to ask about hotels and rooms and rates etc. We would especially like to have some of our members from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium and The Netherlands to attend.  
  If you will please return this email with an X beside the choices listed below. This does not obligate you In any way. It will only give&nbsp; them some idea to help in their planning. Let's give Duke and his committee all the help we can.&nbsp; We understand plans change so this will just give us an idea to work with. Lets show these WWII Airborne heroes how much we appreciate them. We hope you will be able to fellowship with our fine airborne veterans this September. You will be richly blessed.    
  Thank You  Jim Blankenship     ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:27:11 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/wwii-veteran-reunions/2008-505-rct-family-friends-reunion/</link><guid>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/wwii-veteran-reunions/2008-505-rct-family-friends-reunion/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Last WWII &#039;code talker&#039; dies]]></title><description><![CDATA[

    Charles Chibitty, the last surviving member of the group of 17 who served in World War II as the Comanche "code talkers" died in a Tulsa, Oklahoma nursing home July 20. He was 83. Chibitty was among the 14 Comanches who landed with the D-Day invasion of Normandy Beaches where they reported by radio to division headquarters on the progress of the landings. The Comanche were dubbed code talkers because the American Indian language has no written record, and it was never broken by the Germans during the war.  
  One of the first messages transmitted in Comanche language during the landings was "right beach, wrong place". It warned soldiers they landed about a half mile from their intended target. Chibitty served with a unit that landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.  
  Mr.Chibitty served with the rank of a Corporal in the 4th Infantry Division that engaged in the breakthrough of the Siegfried line in Hurtgen Forest. His division also saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and the rescue of the "Lost Battalion". His division was among the first to undertake the liberation of Paris. Then later, the 4th Infantry was the first to enter Germany.  
  The Comanches, who came from the Lawton area in Oklahoma, heard rumors of a military plan to organize a native speaking unit. He enlisted in 1941, and along with 19 others, they were trained for special duty by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. All were sent to Fort Benning, but three remained state-side because they had dependents and deployment in the mission was dangerous.  
  The U.S. declassified the code talker program in 1968. Only three remained living at the time. The French Government gave special honors to the Comanches by bestowing them with the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit in 1989. Mr. Chibitty was honored in 1999 when the Pentagon bestowed on him the Knowlton Award.  
  In a 1999 interview with the Armed Forces Information Center, Chibitty said: "The Navajo did the same thing. The Navajos became code talkers about a year after the Comanches, but there were over a hundred of them because they had so much territory [in the Pacific Theater] to cover."  
  Joe Holley of the Washington Post recalled this quote from Mr. Chibitty in 2002:    "It’s strange, but growing up as a child I was forbidden speak my native language at school. Later my country asked me to. My language helped win the war, and that makes me very proud. Very proud."    
  The funeral service was held Tuesday at 10 a.m. He has three surviving grandchildren.
  ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:45:21 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/wwii-related-news/last-wwii-code-talker-dies/</link><guid>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/wwii-related-news/last-wwii-code-talker-dies/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[UK makes final WWII payments]]></title><description><![CDATA[    Great Britain has paid off the last of the loans it received to rebuild the country after World War II, sixty years ago. The last payment of US$83.25 million was transferred electronically to the United States on the last business day of 2006, along with an additional US$22.7 million to clear a similar debt owed to Canada.  
  The original loan of US$4.34 billion, equivalent to about $27 billion in today's dollars, was negotiated in 1945 by John Maynard Keynes to protect the country from bankruptcy. Canada contributed US$1.2 billion, or an equivalent of about $7.5 billion today. The loan was required after the U.S. terminated grants in aid to Britain under the Lend Lease Act, signed by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. On 2nd September 1945, with the decision to terminate aid, some of the goods were still in transit and it was necessary for Britain to arrange new loans to finance reconstruction.  
  The loan was negotiated at a 2% interest rate, payable over 50 years starting in 1950. The final payment was actually six years late, the British Government having suspended payments due in the years 1956, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1976 because of financial difficulties at those times.
  ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:41:21 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/wwii-miscellaneous-news/uk-makes-final-wwii-payments/</link><guid>http://www.normandy1944.info/php/sNews16/wwii-miscellaneous-news/uk-makes-final-wwii-payments/</guid></item></channel></rss>