When the Americans, Canadians, and British landed on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches on June 6, 1944 everyone involved in the invasion knew that many would not survive the day. They knew that the Germans would throw everything they had at the allies. And they did.
One cannot overstate the courage of the forces that landed in France on that day. They faced the fates, and many paid the price. However they succeeded. It wasn’t technology, aircraft, laser guided missiles, or cannons on destroyers that led for success that day.
It was the soldier, sailor and airman that fought their way onto those beaches, and then came up against four years of construction that created battlements that had to be overcome, and overcome they were.
You can find part of the rest of the story on page 369 of Stephen Ambrose’s D-Day, June 6, 1944, where Ambrose quotes ship’s cook Exum Pike. Pike’s quote concludes: “I have often told my two sons that I have no fear of hell because I have already been there.”
June 6, 1944
JVH
