D Day, 6 June 1944

Today is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy, France. I had wanted to do a long post on this, but unfortunately got so tied up pulling apart the President's Cairo address that I ran out of time.

I've been fortunate to know a few people who were involved in the D-Day landings. One I knew was in the initial assault on Omaha Beach. I asked him about it once. He said that he was never so afraid before or since in his life. He remembers getting off the landing craft but only vaguely recalls fighting his way across the beach. All of his friends were killed and by the time he managed to get by the last German position to his front. he was alone and low on ammo. When he took a moment to think, some of the adrennilaine wore off and he realized he was scared to the point of death. He saw a barn in the distance, decided there was no force on earth that would make him go back on the beach, and then ran like hell for the barn. He said he got inside and spent the next 48 hours hiding in there, until he saw some other U.S. soldiers walk by. He said that one of the toughest decisions of his life was whether or not to try and stay in the barn for the remainder of the war.

At any rate, you can find some excellent D-Day posts around the web.

- Righwing Nuthouse: A Word About Courage.

- Powerline: The Ordeal Of Omaha Beach

- Small Unit Actions: 2nd Ranger Batt. at Pointe Du Hoc

- Thunder Run: Utah Beach

- Flopping Aces: D-Day Footage With Veteran's Narration

- Flopping Aces: Reagan's D-Day Speech

- Flopping Aces: FDR's D-Day Prayer

- Brits At Their Best: D-Day

- Joshua Pundit: Loyalty & Love - D-Day 65 Years Later

- Right Truth: D-Day Remembered

- Blue Crab Boulevard: A Flame Bright Beyond Common Understanding . . .

- Stop The ACLU - Operations Neptune and Overlord 65 years later

- Hot Air: The Day The West Freed Itself From Tyranny

And from the "Cynical Humor On D-Day" Dept., do see

- TNOY: Obama Offers French Profound Apology For D-Day

- No Oil For Pacifists: D-Day Causes A Resumption Of The French Anglo Wars