Two Clicks

Quick answer: What was the D-Day cricket clicker?

A tin clicker made by a British firm, J. Hudson, in Birmingham in 1944 and issued to the men of the 101st Airborne a few days before the Normandy jump. One click asked “Are you an Ally?” Two clicks answered “Yes!” Only the 101st were issued them.

At North Hill, a retirement community in Needham, Massachusetts, two residents built a year-long program on how the war was actually won. Twenty-two people said they'd come to the first session. Forty-three showed up. They asked John to open with D-Day. He asked four questions. Eight in ten had been to Normandy. Nine in ten had served. Every hand went up for a parent or relative who served in WWII. But when he asked whether silence stood in for the stories at home, the nods came from every seat. That silence, John writes, is the program's real subject. Then he told them how the day came to exist: the shipyards and the weather set the calendar; the Luftwaffe had been beaten over Germany; deceptions kept German divisions waiting at the Pas-de-Calais. Inflatable tanks, a phantom army, burlap dummies called Ruperts. And the cricket, a tin clicker issued only to the 101st Airborne. One click asked “Are you an Ally?” Two answered “Yes!”

Why it matters for leaders: The people who grew up with the silence are the last living link to the stories, so give them a room to open the door.

Q: Why did D-Day happen on June 6 instead of May?

A: Shipyards couldn't deliver enough landing craft sooner, and the weather set the date; the shipyards and the weather, not the generals, set the calendar.

Q: What were Ruperts?

A: About five hundred burlap dummies stuffed with sand and straw, dropped south of Utah Beach with fireworks that mimicked small-arms fire to send German patrols chasing sparks.

Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/two-clicks

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation