75th Anniversary of D-Day

Today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when young Americans and their allies selflessly risked their lives to liberate the people of Europe from the clutches of Adolph Hitler.

Sadly, too many lost their lives, giving their last full measure of devotion:

During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.

The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. …

According to some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the D-Day invasion, with thousands more wounded or missing.

Consider the words of Mr. Frank DeVita, which were published in a recent article about that fateful day: June 6, 1944.

Mr. DeVita served in the Coast Guard, transporting troops to Omaha Beach. He spoke eloquently about a cemetery in France where some of our brave American patriots are buried:

Pick out a tombstone, any tombstone. Place your hand on that white marble and say to yourself, “Six feet down is a boy. … He gave his life for his country. And then you lift your eyes up and you see 9,400 white marble tombstones. They all gave their lives for their country.”

And they truly were boys. Many were in their teens or very early 20s.

Could such courage and selflessness be found in our nation today?

We, who today enjoy the blessings of liberty, bought and paid for by those brave young men (and women, too), owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay, except perhaps by ensuring that they shall not have died in vain. 

We simply cannot allow the same evil forces of socialistic autocracy to rise again in this world.

As they did, so must we all do whatever we can to preserve and protect our individual freedoms. 

Honor them. Remember them. Pray for their families. 

May God bless them and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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