A Happy Father’s Day Wine Twist

0 Beaches of Normandy, Event, Personal Story, Wine

June 13, 2025

Introduction To Happy Father’s Day Wine Twist

I began Wine-Blog in 2005. In fact I’ve only written about wine ever since, all dedication to the topic. Today, I’m breaking my rule. It’s not fair to attribute any specific brand to this story, because wine for me is a good day at the beach, although not the Beaches of Normandy, June 6, 1944.

David E. and Dorothy H. Clarke, August 3, 1943

Happy Father’s Day Wine Twist

A Happy Father’s Day Wine Twist is my answer to Father’s Day for this coming weekend. In my life, each year it parallels with so many other personal events, and this year is really very poignant. These events are all dealing with men (not wine) in my life. Most of us know about D-Day; however, people personally impacting on this day are now the ones dying off. I could become the oldest person still alive, as I watch so many schoolmates returning to the spirit world. (I’m not intending to be morbid. It’s just a random thought, as I keep getting notices of how many are gone from my high school yearbook.)

Utah Beach, WW II

Question

How many of you can say this along with me? “My father was a WW II Vet, who landed on the Beaches of Normandy and survived?” And how many of those who landed there actually ever told anyone else their stories? You know, a good dose of reality is very sobering, even though I’m having a glass of wine right now. Wine versus a glass of spirits is what I want to have to push through this story. It’s not fair to attribute any specific brand to this story, either. Wine is a good day at the beach; however, it’s just not about being the Beaches of Normandy, in 1944.

Facebook

I Took This To Facebook

I just posted the following on Facebook, this past June 6, 2025. My insights tell me that views are 29,362, 4665 engagements, and certainly still growing. It’s been shared by 347 people, including a few WW II vets, who were also on the Beaches of Normandy. Imagine. I also know that there are people saving this story, still I had no idea the impact would make. Sadly, many people have forgotten history, and we know what happens when people forget. For instance, where did Adolf Hitler go with Eva Braun Hitler, and what was their relationship?

American military World War Two Cemetery, Ardennes, Belgium

My father was on the Beaches of Normandy

World War II … My father was on the Beaches of Normandy. He survived, but his entire unit didn’t. His story, as told to one of my sisters, when she walked into my parents’ home. Former Lieutenant David Emerson Clarke was watching a WW II movie, and he was sobbing uncontrollably.

Paraphrasing: “That was me, I was on the Beaches of Normandy. I was the leader of a motorcycle brigade. I was with all my buddies. We all trained together. When we started to leave our Higgins boat, I led them, then the shots rang out. My buddies all fell on top of me.” (They were trained to protect their leader.) “They all died. I was the only one left alive.”

PTSD For David E

That tormented David E., for the rest of his life with PTSD, and he never recovered from it. Of five children, I was the one he took it out on.

Questioning Motives

So there… You think a man who admires Hitler is good for anything? Maybe those of you who adore him need to think about it. Maybe you will need to fight a battle for your own life or your own sanity. D-Day is no joke. Despots are no joke. PTSD is no joke.

Make Love, Not War

I’m off My Style

I’d like to make this funny, becasue being funny is my joie de vivre. Sadly, I can’t. D-Day is a reminder for me (every year) of those who fought for our freedom, the freedom we currently enjoy. It took me years to also recover from the unnecessary beatings from my father, and I have (somewhat). But, D-Day brings it back each year. Deep sigh, people. Deep sigh. I’d like to sugar coat it for y’all, but we’re needing a reality check, and I’ve held this in my heart since birth, just so I could release it when most needed.

Be kind to each other, war is not what we need in the age of nuclear warhead bombs. It only take SIX of them to destroy earth, according to Major General Jack Kidd, whom I interviewed when I had a radio program in Maine. (Another story to tell, another time.)

So, I’m not wishing you a “Happy D-Day.” I’m wishing you “Sanity” to make sure it never happens again.

NORMANDY, FRANCE – July 4, 2017: Monument to the Brave on the Historic beach called Omaha Beach in Vierville-sur-Mer, from the battle of the Normandy landings during the Second World War.