“On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops”. Home| D-Day | June 6, 1944 | The United States Army
Sadly I think it is…we are losing the history upon which the foundation for this great nation was built.
I did some googling this morning and found this piece…
“Let us be honest: the men who stormed ashore on that day would hardly recognise the world that we have created, and would be amazed and perhaps even ashamed of the mess that we have made of their sacrifice .
They might perhaps welcome the hi-tech physical world of the internet and Artificial Intelligence that can remove wearisome chores, facilitate instant communication with the ends of the earth, and translate our thoughts into actions before they are even half formulated. But it is the more intangible values that they fought and died for that have been forgotten, ignored and even trampled on in the intervening eight decades.“
Later in the same piece…” Those who survived D-Day and its aftermath and returned to homes fit for heroes would have had no difficulty in defining a woman. They would have been proud rather than apologetic about their country and its past.
Many of them, in the year that saw the end of the war would have voted for a Labour party ostensibly dedicated to building a happier and healthier nation, in which people would be judged for what they were as individuals rather than on the colour of their skins or the privileges of the race that they were born into.
They would have seen nothing strange or perverse in duty or patriotism, and would have put the needs of others ahead of their own selfish desires for money and status as a matter of course.”
I thought that was an interesting perspective…I wasn’t around when the war fights came home so I can’t confirm that the author got it all right in his perspective…but I have to wonder if the heroes of the World Wars…the civil war…the revolutionary war…
I doubt yesterday’s heroes would recognize what is being done today to the country they bled for.
Many folks just visit Paris when they go to France. And many come back thinking that the French people are rude. However if one goes to the Normandy area they will find very friendly folks. A lot of businesses have decals in their front windows that say “Thank you to our Liberators” with pictures of the American, British and Canada flags. And there is a great WWII museum in Caen. And the US National Cemetery there is beautiful and pays honor to our fallen Heroes.
To the fallen of the 29th ID The “Blue and Grey Division”
I was honored and privileged to wear the patch
5th Regiment 2nd Battalion 175th Infantry MDARNG
“Twenty-Nine Let’s Go”
As we move further away from those events then of course they become more distant. The emotional connection is lost because we no longer have that tangible living connection.
Remembering 9-11 in 2002 was infinitely more powerful and emotive than remembering it in 2022. For my grandsons 9-11 will just he another historical event just like WW2. I feel more connected to the events of WW2 because I got to interact with my grandparents who lived through it. I heard their stories, saw tha pain on my Grandads face as he told me he could never forgive the japanese for what they did to him and his brothers in arms. My grandsons just do not have that connection.
It’s a shame that when things are at their worse, mankind is at his best. WW II was about as bad as it gets and the generation that fought it, is often labeled as “the greatest generation”. Since that time, things have been good. Each generation since…evidenced by their words and actions, have declined in their moral character.
Everybody should go binge watch ‘The World At War’ (IIRC, it’s free on youtube) and see what WWII was really like. No, seriously, it’s the best WWII documentary ever made. Here is episode one:
The greatest of all struggles (and war is most certainly the largest struggle that humans can and have experienced) tend to bring out both the best and worst of what humanity can do and achieve.
Those brave men left their landing crafts willingly. They willingly charged into what most certainly was (in most sectors) certain death. And yet they did it without complaining or demanding. They were asked to do a nearly impossible task and they succeeded.
The Fate of the entire war effort was on their shoulders. And they fought hard and won. Going far beyond the limits of what human beings can endure both physically and mentally.
They were a very rare breed of men. And we should never forget that sacrifice. That immense sacrifice that can never be repaid by those who came after them.
They fought for a better world than the one they came of age in. The biggest question we can ask ourselves is this? Have we, the generations worldwide that came after and inherited that world they fought for, honored that sacrifice?
In 1998 I was in Caen on June 6th. At dinner in the hotel that night I met a Gentleman from England who was in the invasion and was there with his family to be part of the festivities. After dinner we sat for hours in the bar and he told us of his remembrances of that day and the days after liberating France. It was such a honor to meet him.
My daughter & I visited Paris this last February. The one thing on my bucket list was Normandy/Omaha Beach. Unless one stands on Omaha Beach, walks through the Museum of the Battle of Normandy, and the US National Cemetery, the impact is much more than just a news clip on the news.
