Sixty-three years ago today, thousands of young American GIs were roused from their fitful sleep at 2:30 in the morning. They were given a last meal and their final instructions. Many of them tucked the "Order of the Day" deep into their pockets, alongside prayers and photos of loved ones back home. They had actually received the Order from General Eisenhower two days earlier, in the predawn hours of June 4, when they were originally set to leave the embracing shores of Great Britain and sail toward the enemy. But bad weather in the English Channel forced the invasion to be delayed, so when the time came on June 6, they knew. H-Hour on D-Day.
"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force," Eisenhower's now-famous Order began. "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade...The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you... "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."
Today, of course, the guardians of political correctness would not allow the use of the words "crusade" (too anti-Muslim) and "Almighty God" (too offensive to atheists). Thankfully, Eisenhower didn't have to worry about the word police so he could focus solely on carrying out what Winston Churchill called "the most difficult and complicated operation ever to take place."
By the end of June 6, 1944, the names were enshrined in sacred honor: Utah. Gold. Sword. Juno....Omaha. The slaughter of the Americans, Brits, and Canadians was so intense and massive that the waves washing up at Normandy were still tinged with blood some thirteen days later.
One tries to imagine the terror the airborne paratroopers felt as they landed behind enemy lines shortly after midnight on June 6. Or the horror the infantry felt as the ramps of their Higgins boats dropped and German machine gunners mowed down everyone in front of them. Their fear---and their courage----is staggering.
Six days after the invasion, American reporter Ernie Pyle sent home this dispatch: "In this column I want to tell you what the opening of the second front entailed, so that you can know and appreciate and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it for you."
They are called the Greatest Generation for a reason. Please remember them---and thank them. We are free today because of what they did on those beaches (and in the hedgerows and in the villages and in the forests and in the rest of Europe and the Pacific) six decades ago. Their courage, their selflessness, their humility: those are the reasons we are not just a great country, but a good one as well. They are the beauty of America.
GREAT ARTICLE...MAY WE NEVER FORGET
Posted by: RANDY PIGNATELLO | June 06, 2007 at 09:26 AM
All of your blogs are great conservative reading..But today's(D-Day)was outstanding.Thanks for remembering the sacrifices of the GI's and what they achieved.
Posted by: Jim Lavelle. | June 07, 2007 at 10:43 AM
Monica,
I hope your not implying that George Bush's immoral and illegal blood-fest in Iraq is as noble an endeavor as the invasion at Normandy, because if you are you should head immediately to a psychiatrist's couch and deal with your thought disorder.
American soldiers in Iraq are not fighting for our freedom. They were sent there by a bloodthirsty President acting out his personal conflicts and angst on the International stage, and by a Congress full of cowardly saps who can't see the forest through the trees.
Let me say it loud and clear. As courageous as they may be, our soldiers in Iraq are victims of a deluded leader. We owe it to them to get them the hell out of there. That is the least and the most we can do for them. The VA and their families will be left to pick up the pieces, if there are any pieces left to pick up.
Posted by: Jol | June 09, 2007 at 09:41 PM
Their bravery, however, is cut from the same cloth as the young men at Normandy. That is indisputable.
Posted by: Jol | June 09, 2007 at 10:08 PM
It should be our solemn and sacred duty to save our young men and women serving in Iraq. As Americans, we hold it within our power to alter the course of events over there by altering them here.
But first we must advise ourselves that each and every American life is worth saving.
Often we are too busy hating, (Muslims and others), to understand the need of young people, (theirs and ours) to stay alive and contribute to their families, communities country, and to life itself.
We should not knowingly sacrifice the beauty talent and genius of our youth, to the alter of hate.
How many enemies must we kill and how many of our youth must we sacrifice, to discover that although the enemy may not have the war tools we have, they have an infinite supply of warriors.
I do not want to invite my grandchildren to hand to hand combat in the streets of Iraq or L.A. . I want them to be able to promise their children a peaceful world without bulls##ting them. To promise under God Allah or Betty Boob, that they have given up War as a solution for anything.
Posted by: Jol | June 09, 2007 at 11:10 PM