“The eyes of the world are upon you.”- General Dwight D. Eisenhower 70 years ago today the largest ever marine assault took place on the beaches of Normandy, France. 150,000 brave members of the British, American and Canadian military stormed 5 different beaches along the northern French coast. This single operation was to be the turning point for the Allies in World War II and eventually led to the Nazis being pushed all the way back to Germany. Many of the men who landed never made it to the beaches, having drowned under the weight of their equipment, drowned in tanks leaving amphibious vehicles for the beach or were gunned down or ripped apart by exploding mines as they waded in to the shores. Many were not even men, many teenagers had lied about their age so that they could enlist and fight for their country, some as young as 15 years old….. a stark contrast to the selfish & self obsessed teens and twenty something’s that live among us today. This was truly the greatest generation. All of this week and of course especially today my thoughts are with those surviving veterans who are visiting Normandy for the 70th anniversary celebrations and with those who bravely died in 1944. The book that I have been reading this week “D-Day, Minute by Minute by Jonathan Mayo is an incredible timeline of the assault from accounts of those who were there and survived, diaries found on those who died there & Allied and enemy soldiers. I would be a liar if I told you that I read it without a single tear in my eyes. I cannot recommend this book enough. On a more personal note, today would have been my grandfathers birthday. A WWII veteran, he was blown up by a land mine fighting Field Marshal Rommels troops in North Africa at El Alamein and survived despite losing a limb and suffering other traumatic injuries. After North Africa, Rommel was in charge of the Nazi defense of Northern Frances coastlines. We are losing our WWII vets daily, few remain. Please take a few moments of reflection and give your thoughts to those who gave so much for everything that we so take for granted. The phrase Hero is thrown around way too loosely today....these guys were The Real Deal.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 13:02:01 +0000
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