Eighty-one years since D-Day. In the first law firm I worked for in 1982 the Senior Partner had a son come ashore on Omaha Beach who was killed later in the War. A former partner of the firm was now a Judge, and still walked with a limp from being shot up on Omaha Beach. Another partner had been with the Eighth Air Force in England, helping to plot flight missions in support of D-Day. This was in a five man firm, including myself. D-Day left its mark on this nation, with its approximately 3,000 dead and 6000 wounded Americans, but with the swift passage of the decades the memories of that time have grown ever fainter. All three of the men connected with the firm I worked for are now deceased and their living memories of that longest day are gone with them.
About 66,000 of the sixteen million American who served in World War II are now left. By 2030 there will be about 8,000 and by 2036 there will be near zero. The youngest of them will be turning 98 this year. All too soon all the men who fought in the Great Crusade, as Eisenhower termed it, will be joining Washington’s Continentals, the Blue and the Gray, the Rough Riders and the Dough boys, as figures of history, no longer people we can talk to and meet.
Color film of the D-Day landings reminds us of the limitations of the historical record in conveying the reality of any historical event to those who did not experience it. Soon World War II will depart living memory and become the province only of the historians. Inevitable, but sad to those of us who recall the men and women who lived through these years, who spoke with them and felt some fragment of the passions of those years of strife and victory. Time is a river and it bears us all away, along with our memories and the emotions of our life. The best memorial to our veterans who helped save the world from monstrous tyranny is to live our lives in such a way that we can rightly say, in the words of Lincoln, that these dead shall not have died in vain.
“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”
I lived in England and France as a child and our family traveled to many of the somber yet beautiful cemeteries. Very moving to see seemingly endless rows of crosses and other headstones; one can’t help but marvel at the enormity of the effort and sacrifice. My daughter did a college summer exchange program in France and got to visit Normandy; she actually flew down the coast in a C-160 Transall, a French military cargo plane similar to but smaller than the C-130. She then visited the cliffs the Rangers assaulted and wept. We are the beneficiaries of a colossal battle, something Marshall said was indeed a “very near thing”. God bless them all…
I thank God for these brave heroes who gave all in WW II. They will not be forgotten.
The planning and execution of the WWII memorial in perfect line with the Lincoln memorial and Washington monument as bookends, leads me to believe that their efforts and sacrifices will always be remembered.
Today’s threat is within. Rewriting history and tearing apart monuments, statues and reputations because some view their actions as oppressive or not sensitive to all peoples of every race.
Insecurity and hatred towards others is possibly a reflection of themselves.
A projection that blames others for their own unhappiness.
[My rendition of
Lucy..5 cent analyze stand via Charles Schultz.]
PHILIP NACHAZEL
*
The Founding Fathers through the U.S. Constitution devised a form of government with the decentralization of power, the rule of law, and due process. This as much as anything else is probably why the totalitarian left finds them to be so offensive.
Actually tenth decade, Don.
The planning and execution of the WWII memorial in perfect line with the Lincoln memorial and Washington monument as bookends, leads me to believe that their efforts and sacrifices will always be remembered.
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The World War II memorial is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
Thanks Mike. Corrected.
Just checked my Dad’s diary for the 6th. June 1944. He was in Maadi Camp in Egypt with the NZEF preparing for the invasion of Italy. His only comment was complaining about the heat – 116 degrees F. in the shade. They probably never even knew about the Normandy landings till a week or so later.
There’s a great 20th anniversary program with President Eisenhower and Walter Cronkite (I know, but this is the good Cronkite), it really is outstanding and a flock of nuns appear at the start on the beach! I always read about how Eisenhower was not very articulate, and stumbled in his speech. Here, he is very clear and (of course) knows every aspect of D Day inside out. Highly recommended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaxTXfjfXk&t=2037s
There are scores of groups who remember our fallen WWII soldiers but a most poignant one is the adoption program at the US cemetery in the Netherlands. All those buried (8000+) have been adopted since at least 1946. And there is a waiting list of 700 trying to be an adopter.
Altho almost lost to its history it was started by the local Catholic priest. The scope of it and direction was taken over by others but that’s its roots.
These soldiers won’t be forgotten any time soon, thank goodness.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/meet-the-dedicated-volunteers-who-honor-world-war-iis-fallen-american-service-members-by-adopting-their-graves-180986538/
I met a man who served at Omaha Beach. He lifted up his T-shirt and there was a scar from his neck to below his waist belt. He turned around and lifted up his T-shirt and there was another scar from his neck to below his waist belt. I was glad that he made it back home.
Quite ordinary for him.