Today is D-Day. Did you remember?
6-6-2013
On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied Troops landed along a 50 mile stretch of heavily fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.”
More than 5000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the allies gained a foot-hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was more than 9000 allied soldiers killed or wounded…but more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.
If almost 1.5 million American servicemen have died defending freedom in the wars combined, by my calculation, you would think that of those who died in combat a large percentage experienced the worst fear of their life shortly before meeting their end. But still, like the men of D-Day, they did what was asked of them. So you and I can do whatever we do without fear.
I listened to an old man’s voice this morning online as he remembered his time on the beach of Normandy. He talked about his friends floating dead in the surf behind him and his friends lying dead in the sand next to him and the rest of the platoon getting hammered.
The platoon leader said, “If we’re going to die here, let’s die on the hill.” And they got up and went into it...
Think about that.
Dick Ellis