D-Day

On this date seventy-five years ago, over 150,000 Allied troops arrived along the coast of Normandy and stormed the beachheads of Utah, Sword, Gold, Juno and of course, Omaha. Thousands more invaded by air and were dropped behind enemy lines to support the beach landings. From every color and creed, soldiers from the United States, Canada and all across Europe – including escaped and exiled Germans – joined forces to face unknown but certain horrors to thwart the evils of the Nazi Regime.

Battling harsh elements and the relentless onslaught of German artillery and tanks, the Allies advanced heroically to secure the blood-stained beaches. In doing so, they would ultimately signal the beginning of the end for Hitler’s reign of terror. The Normandy landings on D-Day initiated the greatest invasion in military history, unmatched before or since in magnitude or complexity, and set the stage for well over two million troops to begin advancing upon the German War Machine in the following few weeks.

With three-quarters of a century elapsed, only a few of the brave souls who courageously charged those beaches to secure freedom and safety for the world at large still remain. Yet, even as they quietly pass on, their actions march into eternity with the thunderous footsteps that changed the course of history. And for the thousands of troops who never made it off those shores, in their deaths – the ultimate sacrifice paid on behalf of people they didn’t know, faces they would never see and souls yet unborn – they set an example for how we ought to live.