WPCNR MILESTONES. June 6, 2024: 

It is 80 years today since allied troops died and lived on Normandy beaches in the largest military operation in history to turn the tide against Nazi Germany, the ultimate evil Third Reich.

It is a day to remember, reflect. Examine ourselves.

Would we have the courage those men and women had?

Do we have their belief in truth, justice and the American Way? Democracy?

I thought in preparing my simple news program, what kind of a visual should I put up to remember those brave who faced massive, withering fire hitting them and killing them instantly on those beaches?

Should it be the sobering pictures of the wounded? The shock of the lineups of  corpses in the sand? An empty soldier’s helmet upside down on the beach? The overhead awe-inspiring photographs of the landing?

I chose this: thousands of crosses to remember we died togetherfighting tyranny and evil because you must always fight tyranny and evil and hate together.

You cannot negotiate with it.

You cannot reason with it.

There is no excuse for malicious, hating, killing evil  then and certainly not today.

You should note this:

The crosses are all the same.

No one had a more decorative grave monument.

There are thousands of these  united crosses in graveyards like the one shown here.

The horror of sacrificed humanity, all the same in death, united in death, whether black, latino, Brit, American, Canadian, Australian, French no matter their nationality, creed, religion.

They were all equal in death comrades in death.

All the same equal in every way.

Fighting the evil force in the world 80 years ago, and fighting for each other.

Next time you hear the speeches of hate and prejudice and superiority, please remember this picture and this day.

Seventy-Seven years ago this morning, thousands of troops stormed the beaches in Normandy, France in the largest invasion in history. The bloody assault against a heavily defended coastline requiring incredible courage and sacrifice (certain deaths) of allied troops, landing craft, paratroops, signaled the beginning of the end of the Third Reich and the evil regime of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. The beaches of Normandy are quiet today. The hundreds of rows of white crosses in cemeteries around the little town bear silent eternal testimony and tribute to the sacrifice of those brave men and women who fought, died, and triumphed this day 80 years ago today.

We can in no way, or through any motion picture know what any veteran experienced that day. The veterans who still are with us do not like to talk about their combat experiences.

And they do not.

One veteran of D-Day, asked what he thought of Saving Private Ryan, the movie of a few years ago depicting the landing and the realism of it, said the real D-Day was worse. However, veterans we have interviewed remark that they think of their combat experience every day.

It is always with them.

It should always be with us, too.

The great battle was at its height this morning.

Horror. Hell. Suffering beyond imagination.

It is inconceivable to me that I could ever be able to do what these men and women did. I would like to hope I could have.

The dead did.

The veterans did.

They had it.

They left ordinary lives as teenagers office workers, factory workers, farmers, accountants, and what have you and were able to go to war and “rise to the occasion,” or as they say today, “step it up to the next level.” The highest level.

They did not just step it up.

They gave it all they had.

Rising to the occasion is hard.

Stepping it up to the next level is hard. Knowing you may give your all in vain is heartbreaking.

Today another struggle is underway the struggle to preserve peace, justice and the American Way: the battle against hate, injustice and doing the right thing.

Today the dead sacrifices should be remembered.

They gave the last full measure.

Are we all in today?

And to give our all in the fight for freedom, justice, truth and the American is much simpler than facing a beach with no cover in a hail of bullets.

All we Americans have to do is one thing.

Vote.

Use it against the evil, injustice, prejudice, hate so embraced by people who value power, greed,and wealth, hold it now and want nothing better to do more of it.

As you enter the two elections we have this year.

Vote with your head.

Vote with your heart.

Vote with your conscience.

Remember what the dead of Normandy yesterday are saying from their crosses in Normandy: