Operation Honor: D-Day, looking back 70 years...

“Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! 

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

General Eisenhower, final message to the troops, PM June 5th, 1944

May we never forget all that our country, our soldiers, and our military families suffered on this day, 70 years ago. It was a day where 12,000 families would suffer the loss of a brother, a son, a husband, or a daddy. It was a day when eighteen-year-old boys would fall dead on a beach in France far away from their home and their families, cut down before they had a chance to live and enjoy life. A day when fathers would die, never coming home to their children and wives. All this- all this- for the sake of freedom. 

Do we cherish it? Do we cherish the sacrifice and suffering that gave us the world we enjoy today? Today, on this 70th anniversary of the landings at Normandy, ponder all that was given on our behalf, and take a moment of silence in memory of the thousands of boys who never came home after D-Day, 1944.