Happy D-Day.

[serinde]

It's not important to know who was in command, or what the names of the beaches were, or which units were involved, or how many objectives were obtained in the first 24 hours. (And don't laugh at me just because I do.)

It's important to know that our fathers and/or grandfathers (and in some cases -mothers) put their lives on the line to achieve what seemed to just about everyone to be impossible--invade the so-called Festung Europa.

It's important not to get caught up in demonizing the other side. The average Wehrmacht soldier wasn't a wild-eyed Aryan fanatic, he was just another grunt who'd rather be somewhere else with a beer and a girl, not getting shot at. And, America being the melting pot that it is, a lot of us probably had relatives defending the beaches that day too, whether we know it or not.

It's important to remember, not just the actions but the whys and wherefores, and to see how events in the world today compare.

I lift my cup to my great-uncles George Spanagel (USN) and Oliver Fike (USAF), and my father-in-law Alfred Swann (RAF). I thank them for their service to future generations. As cheesy as that may sound, there's a lot of truth in it. And I pause to think of the Spanagels, Beringers, and Gregas who stayed behind in Germany and Slovakia respectively, who may well have been in service on the other side.

Comments

[arkham1010.livejournal.com]

Thats wonderful. Thank you for writing that.


And thank you, men and women, who served that day and all the others of that horrible war.