And it was for the nearly 3,000 Americans killed, not to mention the hundreds wounded, including civilians going about their Sunday duties to attend church and give thanks to God for all the goodness enjoyed by the greatest country ever to exist on earth.
No, I'm not some teary-eyed sentimentalist, not by a long shot, but I do recognize the land of my birth; my fatherland, and my responsibility to fight, if necessary, for it, all the way up to, and including, the ultimate sacrifice...
As it was for those military services that were thrust into war on that fateful day, nearly 78 years ago.
After much blood and sacrifice of life and limb, the day came for the invasion of Europe to free those countries being strangled by the German armies of Hitler and the Third Reich.
The future president Eisenhower was then a five-star general -- the Supreme Allied Commander of all allied forces in the European theater of operations.
The General had to make another fateful decision as to when to invade... the weather was gruesome, with storm-front after storm-front battering the coast of Normandy.
There were literally several million men under arms waiting for the word to "go".
That word came on June 6 (1944)… The invasion was on!
When the low clouds and coastal fog finally cleared, the Germans manning the gun-bunkers along the uncountable miles of beach, saw something they thought was a dream -- more like a nightmare to them!
Close to 5,000 ships were staring them right in the face! Right smack in front of them!
There was no place to run, no place to hide...
When they came to their senses, they prepared for the worst, and that preparation meant a blood-bath for the American, British, and Canadian landing force that would soon face almost certain death when the landing craft swung open the hatches and let out its human cargo...
And that's exactly what happened....
When the steel flaps fell down to let the men hit the beaches, German machine-gun nests opened up and massacred thousands of troops as they hit the water. Some, didn't even make it out of the water; some were shot; some drowned; some were blown up into pieces...
It was hell on earth!
But after the initial, hard-fought success, the next wave came ashore and re-enforced those that made it inland, even if only for a few hundred yards or so...
Those in the German high command knew that if the allies could gain a foothold on the beaches, and breech the defenses, then the war would eventually be lost. They were right.
This was D-Day, June 6, 1944...
Today, one can see the "sea" of crosses of those that lost their lives helping to free the French and other peoples of Europe suffering under the barbaric Hitler...
This short article is just a little reminder that we should never forget D-Day, and the cost of freedom...
Pray for our country...
Gene DeLalla
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