Eighty years ago today, soldiers and sailors of the United States, Britain and Canada went ashore on the beaches of Normandy, France and saved the World.
Okay. There is a lot of overstatement there but there is more truth than not. The Battle of Normandy and its D-Day landings were the penultimate battle of the war that ushered in a prolonged era of relative peace.
Everyone should watch the second scene of Saving Private Ryan when Captain Miller’s (Tom Hanks) Ranger unit lands at Omaha Beach. That is what the soldiers faced for about four hours on Omaha. It’s hard to watch.
The men who landed, and lived, made their way up the bluff in scattered small groups silencing German machine guns, howitzers and mortars as Navy destroyers came right up the beach and knocked out the big guns. By midday, the tide was turning. By evening, the beach was in securely in American hands.
Elsewhere, the Americans on Utah were ashore and advancing inland. Same with the Canadians and British. It would be a while before the outcome of the battle was clearly evident, but it was never actually in doubt. Allied air supremacy pretty much assured victory but not the price of victory.
The day is a metaphor, a symbol for the whole endeavor of the war. The whole titanic struggle of good versus evil distilled into one day.
I could go on, and on, and on, and on about the things that happened that day and in the days after. My wife could certainly attest to that. She graciously agreed to sit through a day long symposium on D-Day with me and my sister in April. I reread three books and rewatched two movies just to get back up to speed.
My father was in the U.S. Army in World War II and served in SHAEF Headquarters as an officers’ pay clerk. I have studied World War II much of my life. I am sure that is because of his influence.
We owe so much to the bravery, foresight and determination of those men. We owe our lives and our prosperity to them.
I, for one, will be thinking of that today, June 6th, the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.
Robert Capa iconic image of D-Day