WPCNR MILESTONES. June 6, 2020:
It is 76 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 did? Do we have their believe in truth, justice and the American Way?
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 sobering 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 who died together fighting tyranny and evil because you must always fight tyranny and evil and hate together. You cannot negotiate with it. There is no excuse for it then and certainly not today.
The crosses are all the same.
There are thousands of them 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, no matter their nationality, creed, religion. They were all equal in death comrades in death.
Next time you hear the speeches of hate and prejudice and superiority, please remember this picture and this day.
| Seventy-SIX 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 quiet beaches of Normandy 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 75 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.
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. However, the veterans have.
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.
Rising to the occasion is hard. Stepping it up to the next level is hard. Giving all in vain is heartbreaking.
Today their sacrifices should be remembered.
