D-Day: A Tribute To Our Brave Soldiers & Freedom

Michael Connelly

    I am writing this on June, 6, 2013. Sixty nine years ago today my father, Roy Connelly, was a young army Lieutenant fighting his way up Utah Beach with other men of the 87^th Chemical Mortar Battalion. It was D-Day and they were invading Normandy to free Europe from Nazi domination and restore and preserve freedom. Many of these men didn’t make it home, but those that did were honored for their service and were proud veterans.

          There are over 21 million proud military veterans of WW II and other wars we have fought since then that are still alive in our nation. I am one of them and I have two sons still serving in the U.S. Army. We all took the same oath “to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic” and we still keep that oath.

Unfortunately, our veterans are being dishonored by the very government they fought to defend. They are being denied adequate medical treatment and many are being stripped of their Constitutional rights under the Second and Fifth Amendment. They have even been classified by the Department of Homeland Security as “potential domestic terrorists.” They deserve better.

          Today is not just the sixth day of June; it was and always will be D-day. As for my part, I will honor my father, the men of the 87^th, and all of the veterans of the greatest generation by watching the movie “The Longest Day.” I used to watch it every year on this day with my father but that is no longer possible. However, as I watch it I will remember his stories of that day and the stories told to me by the other members of his battalion. I am sure that the tears will flow at some point, they always do.

          To my fellow veterans and their families I say God Bless You and God Bless America!

Michael Connelly

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