75th Anniversary of D-Day Invasion

Thick clouds greeted soldiers in the predawn hours of June 6, 1944, as they geared up for the largest seaborne invasion in history.  The assault on the French coast had been deferred once.  Another delay might jeopardize the surprise attack on unsuspecting German forces across the English Channel. 

A grave General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the allied forces, somberly issued the order to launch the massive armada assembled in Great Britain.  His forces included 1,213 warships, 4,127 landing craft, 23,000 airborne troops, 12,000 allied aircraft and 132,000 soldiers and sailors.

The invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord, struck at 6:30 a.m. when amphibious landing craft thumped ashore on Utah and Omaha beaches off the Normandy coast.  Choppy seas capsized several steel vessels. Weighed down by equipment, soldiers drowned. Others lost weapons and ammunition.

Germans, hidden in fortified bunkers above the beach, loosed a firestorm of bullets. American soldiers instantly died the second their feet touched the sand. The Germans turned the beaches into a ferocious killing zone.  Soon the sea was an ugly shade of red from the blood of soldiers.

Only two of the 29 amphibious tanks launched at sea limped ashore.  The losses forced General Omar Bradley to briefly consider scrapping the entire operation.  But then gritty teenaged soldiers began advancing inch-by-bloody-inch toward the cliff below the impenetrable German pillboxes.

U.S. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs and overran the Nazi positions.  The battle began to turn for the allies. Navy warships maneuvered perilously close to shore and shelled German fortifications.  By nightfall the Americans had gained a foothold, 1.5 miles deep into French territory.

The evening before the landings mushroom canopies of parachutes dotted the French skies as allied planes dropped thousands of paratroopers behind enemy lines under the cover or darkness.  Bombers blew up bridges, railways and roads to prevent German reinforcements from reaching Normandy.

The trapped Germans refused to surrender.  As a result, the fighting raged for weeks until the enemy was annihilated.  It was a crushing blow to the German war machine and hastened the end of the Nazi reign of terror in Europe.  But both sides paid a costly price in the violent campaign.

The average daily casualty rate during the 77 days of battle was 6,675 men.  Total deaths for Operation Overlord reached 425,000 for both both sides.  The Allied count was 209,000.  More than 15,000 French civilians entangled in the crossfire perished during the fierce firefight.

D-Day remains a symbol of patriotic sacrifices on the altar of freedom.  Omaha Beach was the scene of the bloodiest combat, where 2,400 Americans were slaughtered, wounded or missing.  Their  heroism has been captured on grainy old films, retold in movies and immortalized in military lore.

Today the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial towers above Omaha Beach, located in the French village of Colleville-sur-Mer. The cemetery's 172-acre tribute to allied bravery contains the graves of 9,380 allied servicemen.  Many of those died on the serene beach below on D-Day.

Rows and rows of alabaster-white crosses bearing the names of soldiers fan out in all directions.  Visitors maintain an respectful hush as they stroll the grounds.  There are monuments, a bronze statue and a small circular chapel for those seeking quiet reflection on the loss of so many young lives.

Having stood on this sacred ground, I particularly recall the chilling sight of gazing down from this promontory to Omaha Beach.  I realize the American soldiers were sitting ducks for the German guns positioned on higher ground.  Soldiers had no cover, nowhere to hide.  The memory haunts me.

This June 6 scores of courageous veterans who battled the Germans will return to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.  Most are now in their 90's or even 100's.  They are frail, their bodies surrendering to age.  But with the aid of a cane or wheelchair they will trudge to the French coast.

Many were in the teens 75 years ago when they were ordered to achieve the impossible.  They deserve our everlasting gratitude.  Without these brave souls and their fallen comrades, the war could not have been won.  They have earned the right to be enshrined as America's Greatest Generation.