D - Day
D-Day ~ June 6 ~ 65 Years Ago Today
Please pause this day to remember and give thanks for the sacrifices of so many young soldiers, that we and others might live in freedom!
Sixty-five years ago today our brave soldiers began the march of liberation across Europe that would bring the fall of the Third Reich and give freedom to millions. D-Day, a massive invasion force that would breach the German defenses along the French coast and begin the march to total victory over the next fourteen months. 400.000 were to give their lives in battle after battle across Europe and the Pacific. Once the victory, the only ground we asked for was a place to bury our war dead.
Across Europe we can still see the well meticulously cared for cemeteries -- their white crosses chronicling the march and the cost of freedom across Europe. Movies such as Normandy, Saving Private Ryan, Midway, and Band of Brothers depict the amazing bravery, courage, and resolve of our Armed Forces throughout this time. There is no true way to tell of the heroism and sacrifices of our troops, one must see it to understand.
Perhaps one day movies will also be made which memorialize that which has been given and is still being given by our brave men and women serving in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom today. The depths of their courage and sacrifice being shown, that all may know and appreciate the cost of the freedoms we enjoy each day.
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D - Day
The American forces who landed numbered 73,000:
23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, and 15,500 airborne troops.
Nineteen young boys from Bedford, a small town in Virginia, were KIA within the first minutes of the D-Day Invasion.
The breakdown of United States casualties:
1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured. *****************************
This is the prayer President Roosevelt read to his radio audience 6 June 1944
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Links For D-Day Information:
The Army D-Day Website
D-Day Invasion
D-Day Paper Archives
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God bless our young warriors in their missions of freedom -- yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
