This Day: June 6

June the 6th is almost as well recognized at December the 7th and September the 11th. It is one of those days that marked a turning point in history - a day, whose outcome, held the future in it's 24 hours.

June 6, 1944 - "D-Day"! The day of the Allied invasion of France. A bloody and costly day that was inevitable. We knew that we had to do it and the enemy - Nazi Germany - knew that it was coming. An element of surprise was about all we could hope for in gaining some sort of an edge in the battle of the day.

As the Allies had already invaded Italy, we had an opportunity to learn from that event. D-Day France was as big as it gets. A defeat in this attempt to gain a foothold in France could be devastating. A victory only meant the beginning of a very long and hard ground war against Germany.

The Allies were able to gain some element of surprise; first, in the exact location of the invasion and also in the timing. We chose to attack at Normandy, France. The Germans were positioned to defend the beaches along that stretch of coastline and were well entrenched. But, the Germans believed the invasion was going to take place at another location and were comfortable that it was not coming on June the 6th.

Leaving England on June 5th, hundreds of ships loaded with everything you can imagine, began the journey across the English Channel in the dark. Just before daybreak, the battle began. We were dropping and landing troops behind enemy lines in Northern France. We began shelling and bombing the coastline, trying to soften it up some before storming the beeches. Neither had much effect as the artillery, machine guns and troops were protected by concrete and steel reinforced bunkers. At 6:30 AM, the first soldiers began landing on one of the five beeches being invaded that morning.

As I am sure that most of you have seen the movie, "Saving Private Ryan", you have an idea as to what came next. With almost no cover for protection, troops kept advancing on an open beech and facing machine gun fire with no hope of fighting back, at that point. As the gates would drop open on the landing craft, the German guns were trained on the spot and opened fire. Some gates opened in too deep of water where pack-laden soldiers jumped out only to drown. Tanks, that were supposed to be equipped to float and make it ashore from the water where they were launched, sank with their crews inside. With each inch being bought with blood, eventually, we had enough soldiers across the open areas to begin fighting back.

One advantage that the Allies did have, is that by this point in the war, we controlled the skies. Without that, this would not have been possible. As you all, already know, throughout a long day, the Allies secured the beech and were beginning the process of unloading all of the necessary equipment and supplies to fight a ground war. After many more battles, eleven months later, the invasion of France yielded a Victory over Germany.

The cost of Operation Overlord - thousands of Allied soldiers lives. The result - Victory, Peace, Freedom for millions of people from many countries.

It is no wonder that this bunch of guys were "The Greatest Generation". Thank You!