Seventy-Seven Years Ago Today: To Take The Cliffs, To Free A Continent, To End A War

 

Into The Jaws Of Death, US Troops Wading Through Water And Nazi Gunfire

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, France. General 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 on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

 

We don't teach history much these days. If students simply learned that "more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler" and his National Socialist movement, I would be somewhat pleased. I'd also like every student to know that 16 million Americans served during World War II. About 325,000 are still alive. About 110,000 die each year. In a short time all of these eyewitnesses to history will be gone. There will be no one to thank, no one to question. We can only remember.

For more on the significance of this day link to the U.S. Army D-Day Page.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

photo, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Public Domain Photographs, 1882-1962

map, Department of History, United States Military Academy

Text: 

title derived from a quote by President Ronald Reagan

quotation, www.army.mil/d-day, U.S. Army D-Day Page

statistics, U.S. Army D-Day Page