6 June, 1944, D-Day remembered.

Famous photo of Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower addressing troops of the legendary 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles on the Eve of the Invasion.
In the original release of the picture the unit insignia on their sleeves were covered.
General Eisenhower had a brief hand written statement in his pocket accepting full responsibility for the decision to go, should the invasion attempt fail. Thankfully he did not have to use it.

Today marks the sixty third anniversary of the pivotal event of the twentieth century.
Since history isn't taught in most schools like it was in my youth, many of our younger generation do not know the full significance of this event.
They were never taught how much of a hold that pure evil had on the civilized world, and what a relative handful of brave young boys had to do to end the tyranny.

American Paratroopers and Glider troops suffered 2,499 casualties in the invasion, and their British counterparts 1,500.
The action's of the Paratroopers on D-Day are well depicted in the epic 1962 movie "The Longest Day", based on Cornelius Ryan's wonderful book.
D-Day airborne actions are also well represented in segments of "Saving Private Ryan", but are more realistically depicted in the fabulous HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers", which is based on Stephen F. Ambrose's book of the same name.
In particular, watch the extra disc of interviews with the actual survivors of Easy Company.
















American G.I.s in their LCT's awaiting the order to disembark and wade to the beach under heavy German resistance.

The opening sequence of "Saving Private Ryan" will give you some idea of the sheer terror these young boys must have felt. Most of the drivers of the LCT's dropped their ramps well short of where the soldier's were supposed to be disembarked, due to obstacles in the water, German fire and panic after watching many of their comrades blown out of the water.

Actual combat photo from the deck of a LCT.










Most of the film, both still and movie of the invasion was lost forever due to a mistake by the young film technician who over developed it.
Almost 5,000 vessels of various sorts were involved in the initial invasion, including 1,200 combat ships.
Countless thousands of air sorties joined the naval bombardment.
The night sky on June 5-6th was literally filled with gliders and C-47 aircraft carrying American and British Paratroopers.
An estimated 150,000 Allied troops were involved in the first wave of the invasion on D-Day.

The French Resistance had already been given the proper radio code words that the long anticipated invasion was finally on.

Many months of planning and deception to fool the German's as to the actual site of the invasion did not make General Eisenhower rest any easier.
He was the lone man who finally decided late in the evening of June 5th, "Let's GO!"

A very elaborate deception plan was put in place for "Operation Overlord", the official name for the invasion plans.

Hitler and his generals assumed that the Allies would land at the port of Calais, due to it's deep harbor and the fact that it was the most direct route into the Ruhr and the heart of Germany.
Hitler arrogantly called France "Fortress Europa", and tasked his most popular officer Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox with it's defense.
He went at his job with a vengeance, any attempted landing would extract a horrible cost from the attacking Allied troops.

Eisenhower and his planners played on the German suspicions, and even went so far to create a false Army Group commanded by General George S. Patton, whom the German's assumed would lead the invasion. At that time, Georgie Patton was once again in Ike's doghouse, due to a propensity to shoot off his mouth in public.
Life sized inflatable tanks and aircraft, detailed false radio traffic, and other ruses served to reinforce the deception.

One bit of vital planning could have undone the entire enterprise.
"Operation Phoenix" was the code word for concrete portable docks which were called Mulberry's. They would be needed on the beaches of Normandy for off loading cargo and reinforcements, and also to serve as breakwaters.
Had the Germans discerned their true purpose, they would have adjusted their defenses accordingly and the invasion could very well have failed catastrophically.

But all of the deceptions worked, and Rommel kept his Panzer reserves inland to support a counterattack at Calais.
On the eve of the invasion he went home to Berlin because he had a cold, and it was his wife Lucy's birthday.
He would be dead the following October, forced to take a cyanide pill by the Gestapo for his alleged help in the failed assassination attempt on Hitler's life later that summer.

A young German sentry who came up into one of the bunkers at Pointe De Hoc at 6:00AM on 6 June sent this terse message to the High Command, "They are coming!"


Combat photo of soldiers helping their injured comrade onto Omaha Beach on D-Day.







Estimated Allied casualties for the first two days of the invasion are 10,000, with 3,000 killed in action. Casualty counts were difficult due to the total chaos of the first few days.
Compare that to the furor of 3,000 killed to date in six years of fighting in our current war on terror.

There are many stories of great bravery during the events of the Normandy Invasion.
The second Ranger Battalion, depicted in Saving Private Ryan had to scale the 170 ft cliffs of Pointe De Hoc in order to destroy the heavy guns their intel told them were there.
As it were, the guns had been moved inland, but airborne troops and the Rangers then located and destroyed them.
The German defenders had zeroed their weapons on every square foot of the beaches, particularly at Omaha and Juno beaches, where U.S. and Canadian troops had 3,200 casualties.

Due to a mistake in reading the tides, most of the amphibious tanks never made it to shore.
It was left to the Ranger's and the first wave of troops, mostly from the U.S. 29th Division, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat team to take the cliffs and secure the beach heads.
They were attached to the famous Big Red One, the First Infantry Division.

The 29th was called the "Blue and Gray", due to the fact that a lot of her troops were from National Guard units in VA and MD. Their ancestors had fought against one another in the American Cival War.




The National D-Day Memorial is located in Bedford VA, between Lynchburg and Roanoke because the small farm community lost 25 of it's boys on the first day of the invasion, the highest per capita loss of any community in America.
Total casualties for the 29th were 390 KIA, 511 WIA, and 27 MIA.
The division served until the end of the war, and they were one of the first allied units to meet the Russians at the Elbe River. They were deactivated, but were reinstated as the 29th Infantry Division in 1985.

Allied Commanders still had grave doubts well into the afternoon of D-Day as to the plans success. Had Guderian been allowed to commit his Panzers early on, he may have been able to repulse the invaders, or at least delay them grievously.
But Hitler was asleep, and had left word not to be disturbed under any circumstance.
No German officer dared to act without the Fuhrer's permission.
Field Marshall Rommel was too late in getting back to the front, and soon after was seriously injured and taken out of the War completely when his staff car was strafed by an Allied fighter.

The most massive undertaking in human history hinged on a few random events,
with The Almighty's hand evident throughout.

Total casualties for D-Day are estimated to have exceeded 10,000, with 3,000 of those killed.

The fighting in France continued to be vicious, particularly in the Hedgerow country.
Bitter costly battles still lie ahead, The Hurtgen Forest, The Bulge, Italy and in Germany itself before Hitler took the coward's way out and killed himself, and the German High Command finally surrendered on 8 May 1945.
The war in the Pacific would not end until September of that year.

Total casualties for WWI were 95% military, and 5% civilian.
Casualties for WWII were 67% civilian and 33% military, with Russia alone losing 29 million people! Over six million people were brutally executed in Nazi Concentration camps, which were liberated and witnessed by thousands of Allied troops.

Oh, the evil that men do to one another!

WWII vets are dying at the rate of 1,500 per day.
If you know one, whether he served in combat or not, shake his hand.
Better yet, give him a heartfelt hug.
You and your children are able to live free because of him.

There are many great resources for WWII and D-Day in particular.

"The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan, and the movie of the same name.
(John Wayne, what more can one say!)

"Citizen Soldiers" , "The Victors" and "Band of Brothers" by Stephen F. Ambrose.
"Band of Brothers" 10 disc set on HBO video.

A recent made for TV movie, Ike, with Tom Sellick doing a very thoughtful portrayal of the General and former President.

"Patton" starring George C. Scott and Karl Malden.

"Beyond Band of Brothers, War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters" by Major Dick Winters.

Memoirs of Winston S. Churchill, and also of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

"War as I knew It" by Gen George S. Patton.

The memoirs of General Omar Bradley.

Visit the National WWII memorial in our Nations Capital,
The National D-Day memorial in Bedford, VA www. dday.org
The National D-Day museum in New Orleans, LA www.ddaymuseum.org
the Airborne and Special Ops Museum in Fayetteville, NC near Ft Bragg.
(kind of like Disney does WWII, but very well done)

And to read the transcript of President Ronald W. Reagan's speech at the 40th anniversary of D-Day at Pointe De Hoc, go to www.reagan2020.us/speeches/40th_anniversary_of_d-day.asp

For one of America's greatest orators, I feel it was his most magnificent speech, on a par with his speech in Berlin which challenged the Soviets to tear down the wall.

Thank you, members of the Greatest Generation for freeing humanity from evil.
You won't be forgotten.