Overlord

It's been 74 years to the day since the events on Normandy's beaches unfolded.  Commonly known only as "D-Day", Operation Overlord has become perhaps the most famous military battle in U.S. history.  Two years ago I wrote this short post about June 6, 1944, so on this June 6 I'll let you travel to that post via either of the links I've provided rather than repeat my thoughts, thoughts that change very little from one D-Day to the next.  Volumes have been written about this day - as well as the events leading up to it, the course of the war after it - by authors much more knowledgable than I.  But allow me to share just a few of my interpretation of this battle, this day, this moment in history that will hopefully never have to be repeated.

**D-Day is a generic military term that simply means "the" day.  If my understanding is correct, any significant military action is scheduled to begin on D-Day.  So calling June 6 "D-Day" is fine, but historically not very specific; there have been many D-Days in many wars.  As awesome (and yes, readers, that is the correct usage of that word) as the Normandy invasion was, D-Day at Iwo Jima was more so.  Iwo Jima lasted longer, had far more casualties, and was fought against a much deadlier enemy.  I don't mean to take anything away from the significance of Operation Overlord, but I always wonder why we don't give the same reverence to Operation Detachment.

**Read or watch anything on Operation Overlord and you'll find out just how badly the whole thing went.  After months of meticulous planning, when the plan met action the plan completely fell apart.  Weather, mechanical flaws, resistance adjustments, and the overall chaos all contributed to what became a situation of complete disarray.  Perhaps because of the planning, and definitely because of the training, soldiers were able to overcome the flawed circumstances of reality to make their missions successful, even if the journey towards their destination looked nothing like it was supposed to.  It's frustrating how often, still today, those who do suffer far more than those who plan.

**My grandparents were married on June 6, 1944.  My former mother-in-law was born on that day.  Operation Overlord was a massive, monumental event.  But the world is more massive, and though a military battle unmatched in its scope or scale was unfolding it was but a drop in the ocean of events that took place elsewhere that day.  A good reminder that regardless of how intensely you feel about what's going on in your life, there's probably something else even bigger, worse, better going on somewhere else.

**Watch Saving Private Ryan, the opening battle scenes at least.  Then watch Band of Brothers, the Normandy invasion episode.  Ryan will show you the battle at the beaches, Brothers follows the 101st Airborne as its paratroopers dropped into the French countryside.  The two provide a fascinating complement to each other on how the battle was fought.  The beach invasion gets most of the press for its intense horror, but the air invasion was no picnic either.  I can't imagine jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.....how anyone could do it into a sky filled with bullets is beyond me.  Same with the soldiers approaching the beaches; this was a surprise attack, to be sure, but by the time the boats hit the beach the surprise was over.  Hearing bullets hit my boat on the door that's about to open....I just can't imagine.

**If you didn't do so on Memorial Day, maybe today would be a good time, even a better time, to stop for a moment and give thanks to the soldiers of that day who had courage most of us lack.  We often hear and use the word "men" when talking about the combatants of Overlord; they were boys.  Many of them still in their teens.  The men were on the warships, back in England, or sitting in Washington, D.C.  Or waiting for them on the beach wearing German uniforms.  Those boys, our boys, fought and died for the freedoms we still enjoy today.  Learn about them, honor them, and never take for granted the importance of what they did on that day so we can live this day.