D-Day Eighty Years Later

Eighty years ago today, members of the American military, along with Allied troops, took place in an action that literally changed the world.

On June 6, 1944, the invasion of Normandy, on the coast of France, began. It was a bloody battle with numerous Allied casualties. I’m not one who has studied World War II very much, but D-Day is special. 

Among the nearly 133,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth and other allies that landed on the beaches of Normandy that day was my father.  Casualties reached some 10,300.

My father, who was just 19 years old, was a gunner's mate on a destroyer off the coast of Normandy. The USS Corry, the lead destroyer of the Normandy invasion task force, had been given the assignment of drawing fire from the German gun emplacements high on the cliffs above the beach. The goal was to get a better idea of where the guns were located. The Corry did its job well. It was sunk, and 24 sailors were killed, with 60 others injured. My father spent a couple of hours in the 54 degree waters of the Atlantic Ocean until he and his surviving crewmates were picked up and rescued by British warships.

He never spoke about his D-Day experiences, but when he died, a Navy honor guard attended his burial.

I visited Utah Beach, off the coast where the Corry was sunk. Like my father, many of the Allied forces were young men. He had lied about his age in order to enlist and serve his country.

The most moving part of the trip was a visit to Omaha Beach, where Allied forces won a hard-fought battle against German guns, land mines and machine guns. The D-Day invasion changed the course of the war. It marked the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany.

At either end of Omaha Beach are 300-foot-high cliffs of rock. Due to a series of errors by the Allies, the first troops to reach the beach were mowed down by German machine gun fire. Bombs had missed their targets. Tanks sank in the ocean. Engineers tasked with clearing the beach of land mines were unable to complete their mission. Soldiers deployed in deep water found themselves sinking under the weight of their 80-pound packs. Guns got wet. Reports were that it was impossible to walk on the beach without stepping on bodies. But by the end of the day, the Allies were able to gain two tenuous footholds on the beach. 

Our French guide (my visit was part of a hiking trip in France) did a great job of explaining what happened on that beach. A German gun emplacement was visible nearby, as was a fortified machine gun nest. Because the tide was out, we could see remnants of a temporary harbor. The brainchild of Winston Churchill, the harbor is considered one of the greatest engineering feats ever. Two temporary harbors were built, one on Omaha Beach for American forces and one on Gold Beach for British and Canadian troops. This harbor allowed 220,000 men, 50,000 vehicles and 600,000 tons of supplies to be landed on the French beaches.

As we walked along the beach, the four members of our group became quiet as we learned details of the battle and reflected on the bravery and sacrifices of the young men who fought there. Nearby, I could see a bit of Utah Beach. 

That afternoon, we walked along part of the path that US troops had used on their way inland. We then had a couple of hours on our own to explore the US military cemetery at Colleville, high on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. 

The cemetery, on land donated by the French government in perpetuity, contains some 9,387 headstones -- either white marble crosses or Stars of David -- each inscribed with the name, military branch and dates of a service man who died during the invasion or ensuing military operations. Many of the graves are merely symbolic. Some of the deceased were repatriated to the US, while others were never found. Some headstones honor a soldier whose remains were never identified.

The cemetery is a place of sadness, knowing how many young lives were lost. And it is a place of beauty, with manicured lawns and a view of the beach where so many died. I was very moved as I walked among the headstones and through the visitor center. Although none of my family members perished in the war (both my father and uncles served), I nonetheless felt a great sense of sadness, as well as a sense of gratitude for their sacrifices. Our guide noted that during a previous tour of Omaha Beach, a veteran who had fought there commented that "I wasn't killed here, but I died here."

We have lost most of the D-Day survivors during the more 80 years since this history-making battle. The few living survivors are now in the 90s or 100s. In a few years, there will be no one left who took part in the horrendous battles on the beaches of France. The people of France have not forgotten the men and their sacrifices that liberated their country.

I hope the passage of time will never erase the memory of the sacrifices of those men from several countries whose bravery marked the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany. 

Please, take a moment on this sad anniversary to remember those who went to war and never came home.

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