Sixty-Four Years Ago, the Day of Days

Sixty-four years ago our President sent thousands upon thousands of brave soldiers against the most fearsome defensive fortifications ever seen in the history of war. He did so without any guarantee of success. The landing was more complicated and involved more soldiers, ships, and planes than any landing ever attempted to this point. No one had ever tried such a thing and no one knew whether it would succeed. In fact, there was a very good chance that the venture would fail. He had already prepared a speech that he would deliver to the nation if failure happened.

Despite the very real prospect of failure, the invasion had to be tried. If ever there would be a chance to break the invincible reputation of the Nazi war machine, it would be then and there. The invasion of Normandy was a gamble with a payoff greater than we could hope but the potential for disastrous loss. Success would rest almost on the stubborn, relentless drive of our soldiers, the resolute support of Americans back home, and a measure of faith in Almighty God that He would favor our just cause. On June 6, 1944, President Roosevelt, with a firm belief in all three, sent our men into a nightmare of fire and lead. As they were landing, suffering casualties to daunt even the most stout heart, he asked America to pray with him. This, in part, is what he said as he led the entire nation in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest — until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

By the end of the first day, 2500 solders were dead and another 7500 lay wounded. Intelligence that our leaders has thought was solid turned out to be entirely wrong. Some landings met little resistance. Most did not. Our pre-landing feints and dodges did not work as well as we had hoped., Still, our brave, brave men pushed forward, driving wedges into the German defenses and, slowly but surely, breaching the great fortifications above the beaches of Normandy.

D-Day was not the end of the war. There was plenty more fighting to be done as hundreds of thousands of soldiers willed their way through the hedgerow country and to places like Carentan, Arnhem, Remagen, Bastogne, Foy, and Berlin. I can not fathom the simple courage it took to wake up every morning, pick up a rifle, and make it through another day. I owe them my gratitude and respect for having that bravery every day. It is their bravery and resolve that is the reason I now live in the greatest country in the history of the world. God bless every one of them.

Ed Morrissey: “The Americans, who had started the European theater of war badly in North Africa and roundly dismissed by the Brits (after Kasserine Pass, for understandable reasons), had proven that democratic republics can produce the kind of men needed to defend them. We owe these men, and our allies, the deepest gratitude and unfailing admiration for their sacrifice.”

Michelle Malkin gives us a video to show us how far we’ve come from then to now.

And here are my posts from years past: “Courage and Memory” and a recounting of the assault on Pointe du Hoc including a link and an excerpt to President Reagan’s speech on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day.

Tags: D-Day, No More Tyrants