Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "How Rescue Flotilla One saved more than 400 men on D-Day" video.

It's interesting how often some of the most important roles are carried out by people who are not there to fight, such as in this example or the medic/corpsman. I remember watching an American documentary about the US Coast Guard in Viet Nam. Many dismissed the coast guards involvement because they did not understand what they were doing and thought they were just covering things like making sure dangerous stores, such as artillery shells, were handled properly when being unloaded from the ships. What the people back home did not know was that when they watched film footage of airmen being rescued by helicopters in North Viet Nam was that many of the helicopter crews were coast guards. And when you watched the films of landing craft in the Delta region working with the special forces they were also coast guard. The special forces preferred working with them. They were also tasked with stopping North Viet Nam's supplies being shipped into the Delta. More supplies were sent to the Delta then down the Ho Chi Min Trail. I did knew something about the US Coast Guards involvement in Viet Nam, such as the helicopters and the landing craft with the special forces, but much of it I did not know. Nor the extent of their involvement in the things I did know about. Ironically I did not know about their involvement in health and safety in the posts, the one thing most Americans know about the coast guards involvement in Viet Nam. Have you ever come across the British Commando unit the Combined Operations Pilotage parties. One of their roles was to survey the beaches in Normandy to make sure they could take all the vehicles coming ashore, as well as surveying the beach defences. It was because of them the landings took place when the tide was out as the landing craft would have had to deal with all the booby trapped beach obstacles. They also served on D-Day itself as they were tasked with guiding in the landing crafts. More then one of them lost their lives doing that.
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Andy Lord Whatever they called it we British knew we were fighting next to some great men. Just as we did in 1918 when Canadians were part of the British 4th Army, along with the Anzac's as well as the Americans when we all chased the Germans across France in the 100 Day Campaign.
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lee Maxwell They actually fought as Allied troops, the same as the British and Americans were. Hence they had their own beach and objectives, just like the British and Americans.
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Gods Skypig1 You have to admire any group who go out into sea in conditions which make the rest of us glad we don't have to. And I have seen what it is like at Spurn Point in winter so I have a good idea what it's like. Just for the record the River Humber is the second most difficult river in the world to navigate. I think the Amazon is supposed to be the worst, but I think it's something to do with them having piranhas. The sand banks change from tide to tide and if a Humber Pilot is away from the river for more then eight to ten days they have to relearn where they all are. In the past even the Humber Ferry would occasionally get caught out, and they cross the Humber several time a day.
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I did my archaeology decree at Hull University so I know about the lost towns. I also believe there may have been a Roman Villa up near Spurn Point a very large Roman rubbish pit was found near there. And to be that size would suggest a large villa would be an obvious choice. In the Medieval period the Plain of Holderness was more often called the Isle of Holderness. This is because the River Hull flooded so extensively in the winter that it was cut off. If you stand in Hull where the old pier used to be and look across the Humber to the other side, now imagine it three times that width then you will understand how wide the Hull was in winter. The only thing crossing it was ferry boats. It is thought that William the Conqueror's Harrowing of the North did not get to Holderness because they could not cross the river as all the ferries stayed on the other bank.
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Pezfeo There is a small plot of land at Runnymede dedicated to John F Kennedy which is actually American soil. It was given to America in perpetuity to commemorate the late president.
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