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.
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