Normandy & D-Day — 68 Year Anniversary — We Will Never Forget

6 Responses to Normandy & D-Day — 68 Year Anniversary — We Will Never Forget

1. Jayde Wyatt says:

   June 6, 2012 at 12:47 PM

   Vic,

   Thanks for posting this D-Day remembrance. This 68th anniversary reminds us that the long-ago massive invasion of Normandy, France, by U.S. and allied soldiers, was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.

   Today, prayers of gratitude for all involved with that indescribable, incredible day ought to be on every American’s lips.

   “Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.” ~ from President Franklin Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer – June 6, 1944.

   There’s a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn’t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.” ~ from Barbara Kingsolver’s novel ‘Animal Dreams’.
2. Vic Lundquist says:

   June 6, 2012 at 12:53 PM

   Thank you much Jayde for such great quotes…inspiring words.

   About 14 years ago (almost to the day), my wife and I took our son Mitchell (17 at the time) to Normandy beaches and landing sites. We spent some very sobering time at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. I will never forget that time.

   That visit changed his life and mine.
3. Jayde Wyatt says:

   June 6, 2012 at 12:58 PM

   Vic, I’m not surprised to hear that visiting the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach was a life-changing experience. That’s how I felt when I first visited Arlington. Someday, I hope to pay my respects at the European cemeteries which cradle our heroic fallen soldiers.

   D-Day – such a day!

   The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944 brought together the land, air and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest invasion force in human history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches were given the codenames UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO and SWORD. A great invasion force stood off the Normandy coast of France as dawn broke on 6 June 1944: 9 battleships, 23 cruisers, 104 destroyers, and 71 large landing craft of various descriptions as well as troop transports, and mine sweepers, the largest armada ever assembled. The naval bombardment that began at 0550 that morning detonated large minefields along the shoreline.

   The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000 troops from England, Canada and the United States landed on D-Day. Casualties from the three countries during the landing numbered 10,300. By June 30th, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores. On May 7, 1945, German General Alfred Jodl signed an unconditional surrender at Reims, France.
4. Vic Lundquist says:

   June 6, 2012 at 1:05 PM

   It is very difficult to understand the scale of the invasion until you are there. As I recall, the coastline of the entire invasion was about the distance of the south of Los Angeles to the north of San Diego. I was blown away by the sheer scale of the operation that you so perfectly described above.
5. Jayde Wyatt says:

   June 6, 2012 at 1:10 PM

   Being a fellow southern Californian, your description helps puts operaton OVERLORD in perspective.

   Incredible!
6. janet balmer says:

   June 6, 2012 at 8:11 PM

   God willing I will travel there, incredible, tom selleck’s movie Ike does some justice to this tragic but big part of history