Eisenhower’s Order of the Day
66 years ago the brave expeditionary forces of the Western Allied Nations entered the continent of Europe around the Normandy area of France. They came by sea and air, and many did not survive the first onslaught. Operation Overlord, or D-Day began on June 6, 1944. Americans will not forget the bravery or the sacrifice made by those who participated in the invasion and those who made it all possible.
What will always remember this day that our grandfathers liberated Europe from nazi tyranny.
My mother, sister, and I recently visited the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. Though it’s off the beaten path for most tourists, it’s worth the trip. Much of the memorial relies on symbolism to convey the happenings of that day. With such a large scale attack and so much loss of life, there really is no other way to memorialize the event.
My mother said everyone she knew was glued to his/her radio and any source of information available for news. She remembers her French class where her professor was both shocked and encouraged by the happenings on her homeland. That day sticks in the memory of that generation as Kennedy’s assassination does in mine. I’ve known eighty year old men to tear up when the subject of D-Day is even mentioned. It was certainly a turning point in the war that came at a great cost.
I still haven’t made it down there. I do send them a check ever D-Day ever since I found out how desperately they need funds.
June 6, 1944 was also my parents’ 2 anniversary. My mother somehow knew he wasn’t in D-Day. She did think he was in the Battle of the Bulge, but he wasn’t. He was in Antwerp.
Moon, your family then owes a great deal of debt to those warriors who held fast at the Battle of the Bulge. Antwerp was the principal target of the German “Wacht am Rhein.”
@Starryflights
‘Liberation’ came later.
I feel that I owe a debt to all those who served in WWII both on active duty and in civilian jobs.
My parents would have felt that everyone did the job they were assigned to do. Some jobs were of more significance historically than others.
My father did tell me that as long as he lived he would associate the smell of burning flesh with Antwerp. I am not sure what he did while in Antwerp.