The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 23, June 6, 2004, Article 2

"SCRIP POKER" AND THE LONGEST WAIT

  Today is the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the 6th of June,
  1944.  On that day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a
  proclamation to the assembled Operation Overlord armada
  as it departed for the invasion of the beaches of Normandy,
  France. France was at the time occupied by Nazi forces and
  the collaborationist French Vichy government. The following
  are excepts from Eisenhower's short proclamation:

  "Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary
  Forces!  You are about to embark upon the great crusade,
  toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes
  of the world are upon you, the hopes and prayers of liberty-
  loving people everywhere march with you.  In company with
  our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts you will
  bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the
  elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
  Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."

  "I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, skill
  in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!"

  "Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God
  upon this great and noble undertaking."

  Gene Jannuzi of Beaver Falls, PA, a veteran of the invasion,
  wrote a remembrance in today's issue of the Pittsburgh
  Post-Gazette.   He calls the period leading up to Eisenhower's
  order "The Longest Wait".  He writes:

  "Among my memories of that English springtime before June 6,
  1944, one of the strongest is my recall of the strain of the long
  wait for the assault on the Nazi-held Normandy beaches of
  France."

  "D-Day at Normandy has been called, in novel and film, "The
  Longest Day."  The stretch of days from February to June 6,
  1944, I call "the longest wait."

  "During that part of the wait, the days passed swiftly. The troops
  boarded the ship on June 2. We held gas mask drills and church
  services -- Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. The troops passed
  their waiting time playing poker on a blanket on deck with scrip
  currency they had been issued for use on the far shore. We
  called it "scrip poker."

  "As we neared Point Zebra, my eyes were on the beach. German
  .88s sent up geysers of water and sand at the shoreline. I stopped
  engines and waited for a signal from the control vessel. It was the
  last wait. From the vessel came a one-word semaphore message:
  PROCEED.

  I looked at the commander and he nodded. I got my ship under
  way and headed toward the beach.

  "All engines ahead full," I said into the voice tube. "Steady as you
  go."

  To read the full article, see:Full Article

The invasion was the beginning of the end of WWII in
  Europe.  The war generated the creation of thousands of
  different numismatic items which serve as reminders of the
  great conflict.   The 1995 book,  World War II Remembered,
  by Fred Schwan and Joseph Boling, is a comprehensive
  864-page catalog of WWII numismatics.   Fred Schwan's
  "MPC Gram" is an email newsletter for devotees of
  military numismatics.  An archive of past issues is located
  at MPC Gram Archive

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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