Ray’s Rock - Omaha Beach
On the morning of June 6, 1944, 23 year old Staff Sergeant Arnold “Ray” Lambert came ashore with the first wave of the 1st Infantry Division on the eastern side of Omaha Beach. At this small patch of concrete he saved nearly 20 lives:
The division came under intense fire from several German bunkers surrounding the entrance to the Colville Draw (one of two exits off Omaha Beach). Ray, a medic, immediately went to work.
He was shot in the arm. Moments later he was hit by shrapnel in the leg, but Ray kept pulling men to safety. He pulled nearly 20 wounded soldiers to cover behind this 8ft wide obstacle, treating each soldier before going out in search of others.
After several hours under fire, while pulling a wounded soldier from the ocean, he was struck by a landing craft. It dropped its ramp on top of him, breaking his back. He fell face down in the water, drowning. The craft backed up and nearby soldiers pulled an unconscious Ray to safety, eventually evacuating him off the beach.
Remarkably, Ray had already earned two Silver Stars and three Purple Hearts in Sicily and North Africa, prior to landing in France. But here in Normandy his war would end.
He awoke in a hospital back in England a day later. In the next bed over was his brother, who had also been wounded at Omaha.
When asked about his work on D-Day, Ray simply said, “I did what I was called to do.”
Ray Lambert passed in 2021 at 100 years old. He exemplified the best of American grit and why remembering this day is so important.
This is Lance Corporal Garland Ray ‘Buddy’ Mann.
20 years old.
Watch this video for a minute and you’ll notice something.
He doesn’t look like a history book.
He looks like a kid.
A kid who should’ve had another 50 years ahead of him.
Buddy was killed in action shortly after this interview.
Every now and then it’s worth remembering that the freedoms we argue about online were often paid for by young men who never got the chance to come home and argue with us.
Semper Fi, Buddy.
🇺🇸 James Bailey served as a helicopter door gunner, one of the most exposed positions in the war.
His job sounded simple. Keep the aircraft alive. But in reality it meant something else. Protect the pilots. Protect the soldiers below. Protect the wounded trying to get out. Every landing could become the last. Every mission meant uncertainty.
Door gunners watched tree lines. Watched rooftops. Watched movement. And when helicopters entered dangerous zones, they became the shield standing between everyone else and disaster. Bailey flew into places where visibility disappeared and pressure never stopped. He helped cover extractions. Protected evacuations. Stayed exposed so helicopters could lift people out and leave. Again. And again.
Over time, recognition came. The Purple Heart. The Silver Star. The Bronze Star. Awards that looked impressive in photographs but usually meant something harder. Pain. Loss. Moments people survived because someone else accepted more risk. Bailey returned home. Like many veterans, he did not build his identity around the war.
James Bailey protected people in the air. Then quietly carried the weight back home.
#TheVietnamWar
@anfieldforge Look what Wirtz does every time he goes on international duty, he’s not the issue. A coach that doesn’t know how to use him is the problem.
A doorbell camera captures two Soldiers—one a battle-hardened Sergeant Major, the other an officer—standing at a family’s door in full dress uniform. They wait with quiet dignity, heads up, eyes steady. The weight of what they’re there to do is written on their faces.
They’re not delivering good news.
As we approach Memorial Day, it’s easy to post flags and barbecues. But this is the real cost. Since our nation’s founding, as many as 1.4 million American service members have made the ultimate sacrifice—fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters—who never came home.
Every Gold Star family knows that knock. Every folded flag, every name on a wall, every empty seat at the table carries a story of love, duty, and unbearable loss.
Tonight I’m praying for every family who’s ever answered that door. For every name we must never forget. And for the brave men and women in uniform who still carry the hardest mission of all: telling a family their hero is gone.
We owe them everything.
Freedom isn’t free. It’s given by the blood of patriotic heroes.
Jeff Bezos on America's spending and taxes:
"We don't have a revenue problem in this country. We already have the most progressive tax system in the world. The Top 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all taxes. The bottom 50% pay just 3%. We have a spending problem."
A $1 billion US-Israel partnership is bringing Israeli desalination technology to Texas to solve America’s water crisis.
IDE Technologies (Israel) and US Desalination LLC formed RGV-Desal LLC to build a massive seawater desalination plant in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.
The facility will produce up to 50 million gallons of fresh water per day from the Gulf of Mexico, with potential to expand significantly.
It uses proven Israeli reverse osmosis technology, among the most efficient in the world.
This joint project directly addresses drought and population growth in one of America’s fastest-growing regions.
When Israeli water expertise meets American scale and need, entire communities get a reliable future water supply.
Proud of this US-Israel alliance every single day. 🇺🇸 🇮🇱
#StartupNation #WaterTech #Desalination #USIsrael
"Wanted to give a shout-out to this girl — I don’t know her name, but I won’t forget what I saw.
We were on the rooftop at Old Crow Smokehouse in Wrigleyville when I noticed a blind Cubs fan trying to hail a cab. For several minutes, no one stopped.
Then this young woman walked up, asked if he needed help, and stood beside him until a cab finally pulled over.
No cameras. No attention. Just pure kindness.
In a world where headlines often focus on hate, it’s moments like this that remind us — compassion is still everywhere.
Let’s make this kind of story go viral."
[Rashawn Copeland via IG]