There are many, many holidays in America these days. We spend billions of dollars on Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. These are great holidays. Time to remember God, family, and life. Sadly, we seem to be pushing aside some other holidays. Memorial Day is now the official start of Summer instead of remembering men and women who have fought for this country. Pearl Harbor Day and 9/11 are remembered for the devastation caused by there attacks. Today is D-Day, to most it's just June the 6th. For some reason Operation Overlord and the Normandy invasion are just tidbits of history these days. What a different world it would be if it were not for those brave men on that bloody coast some sixty nine years ago.
The entire world was at war. Hitler and the Nazis were seemingly unstoppable. They had conquered or annexed a majority of Europe. The Axis Powers were hell bent on global domination. From Japan's conquest of the Pacific Rim, to the German gutting of Europe and North Africa there was no where to hide. You didn't get to say that you weren't going to choose sides or that you weren't going to judge others. Men crossed a frigid English Channel to face fortified gunners on cliffs overseeing the beaches. Facing a certain death they still marched forward up the beaches. Why would people do what seems to be a suicidal move? It was a simple choice, defeat Hitler or live under a brutal dictator. The cost of D-Day and it's surrounding operations to make a beach head was over 200,000 American lives. It was and is to this day one of the most courageous military maneuvers in history. It was clearly the victory that numbered the days Hitler had left. Unfortunately, the "Greatest Generation" is quickly dieing off. With them go the stories of heroism. Gone from our lexicon are the words like Omaha Beach, Mulberry Harbour, Utah Beach, Neptune's Spear, and Operation Overlord. We were once a proud nation. Proud of what our nation stood for. Our brave citizens were once considered heroes for defending freedom from tyrants. At this time in our history being American meant putting your country and it's ideals ahead of your own wants, needs, and desires.
Today's American speaks a different language. The brave men who stormed those beaches in Normandy would now be called intolerant. We can no longer say something is good or bad. We must make excuses for everything an everyone. We now believe that a few powerful people should decide the fates of ordinary citizens. Those soldiers that stormed that beach believed in independence of every man to decide his own life. It's been seventy short years for a nation to go from untold courage to storm a beach for freedom to a nation that is mired in it's apathy. It may label me a intolerable, old fashion, religious, right winged bigot, but I truly believe that D-Day was our finest hour. A tip of the hat to the brave men of Operation Overlord.
"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." -- Part of President Franklin Roosevelt's D-Day prayer given June 6, 1944
