D-DAY (June 6, 1944), The Greatest Man Made Event For Good, by War, in History

 On June 6, 1944,  the Nazi War machine  was attacked from the sea, and from the air, on the beaches of Normandy, D-Day. D-Day was and is the single greatest event for good ever wrought by Man, using war as a  tool. . When the Day began, the Nazis reigned over Europe, bloodied but not beaten; they were still killing Jews at a furious pace, still subjecting peoples from  the Northern tip of Norway to Crete with a Hittite swagger, still debating and plotting, among themselves for the succession to the prematurely aging Hitler.

D-Day was launched within the realm of possibility that the Nazis could still win World War II. The Nazis had options; they could have halted the Red Army Advance on the Eastern Front  by withdrawing troops from Norway and the Balkans, then concentrating them to assault the depleted Soviets. Nazi Generals, such as Field Marshal von Kesselring, were masters at delaying and exhausting advancing armies (see the Italian campaign). It is not beyond possibility that Hitler and Stalin would have buried their animus toward each other to cut a deal, dividing Europe between them. They had cut deals before when no one thought they would. The Nazis had new wonder weapons in development, jet planes and V-2 rockets; a defeat of the Allies on the Normandy beaches would have allowed those super weapons to be deployed. Hitler had many cards still to play when the D-Day Invasion force sailed from England.

And what a force it was: troops from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. “11,590 aircraft were available to support the landings. On D-Day, Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties, and 127 were lost.

In the airborne landings on both flanks of the beaches, 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders of the RAF and USAAF were used on D-Day....D-DAY MUSEUM”

The naval Armada carrying the Allied forces  to D-Day was the largest in history, “….6,939 vessels: 1,213 naval combat ships, 4,126 landing ships and landing craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels. …. 195,700 personnel…. 52,889 US, 112,824 British, and 4,988 from other Allied countries….D-DAY MUSEUM"

The American Admiral responsible for American naval forces was broken by the experience, and committed suicide shortly after the successful completion of his responsibilities.

Every historical event has a key figure; the Key figure for D-Day was General Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower was an extraordinary man; ambitious as a young man, he wanted to get out of his poor surroundings in Kansas. He won an appointment to the Naval Academy. Kansas boy that he was, he wanted to get off the prairie and see the sea, much like that Texas farm boy, Admiral Chester Nimitz. But his brother needed financial assistance to finish college; so Eisenhower gave up his naval appointment to take a job and pay for his brother’s tuition. The people of Kansas were so impressed; they got him an appointment to West Point.

The crucial period of Eisenhower’s career was when he was Chief of Staff to the brilliant, Homeric, Caesar arrogant General Douglas MacArthur in the American colony of the Philippines. Impressed by Eisenhower’s ability to survive MacArthur, President Franklin Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff  George Marshall, jumped him over a bevy of senior Generals to lead America’s Crusade in Europe against the Nazis.  It was a particular bitter pill for Marshall who wanted the battlefield command for himself, but Marshall put aside his ambition for the good of the nation, a lost value in current America.

Eisenhower attacked the logistics of the D-Day Invasion with the most brilliant vision for a Supreme Commander ever: “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” A General should plan for every contingency.

The most poignant scene prior to the Invasion, and in its own way, the most poignant scene in the war, is when Eisenhower visited the paratroopers of the 101^st; those young men were to be dropped behind Nazi lines prior to the Invasion.  One of every two men he would meet would be killed, wounded, or maimed. But he walked among them, trying to memorize the faces of those he was sending to kill or die, to kill and die. That picture is below.

In the spring of 1964, the premiere journalist of his age, Walter Cronkite hosted a program which was a 20 year anniversary of the D-DAY landings. He accompanied Dwight Eisenhower, the man who supervised the Homeric D-DAY endeavor, on a tour of the old battlefield. 

Cronkite asked him if he was nervous after he gave the order to launch the greatest amphibious invasion in history. 

Eisenhower said no; he knew that he had done everything he personally could have done to make it a success; if it failed, he was doomed to oblivion. 

Eisenhower said the key day in his serenity, was June 4, 1944; he said he woke up to a beautiful English day, sunshine, no wind, birds chirping. As he drove to his daily briefing, he decided to launch the invasion June 5, 1944. 

At the meeting, a meek, bespectacled British meteorologist stood up, and  annoyingly said June 5, 1944 would be stormy and windy, no day for invasion. Eisenhower looked out at the gorgeous June day, and pondered whether to override the meteorologist.  Ike promised that he would transfer the annoying Brit to a station in Greenland; if the weather was clear on  June 5th.

But he did not override the annoying Brit.

June 5, 1944 broke stormy and windy; Eisenhower said he knew then; he had picked the right men for their jobs; the invasion could be successful. 

Cronkite asked him what the invasion was like. 

Eisenhower said the Nazis were dug in and inflicting heavy casualties; the Americans were stymied on Omaha Beach, doomed to slaughter. Then, in a common act of separate, individual courage, adding up to communal courage,  the American fighting man, individually, decided he would not be slaughtered on the beach; the individual became a collective of courage; they rose up, almost in unison,  to fight their way off the beach. 

Heroically. 

The Greatest Generation lived a Homeric existence; they lived the ILIAD. 16 million Americans served in World War II; and the heroes outnumbered the cowards, slackers, indifferent, draft dodgers and deserters combined. It was Eisenhower who made the final choice to go. He then sat down and wrote the famous Letter of Failure, in case the D-Day landings failed.

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duly could do. If any blame or fault is attached to the attempt it is mine alone. Dwight David Eisenhower"

President Eisenhower was a flat out great man. One of  this Blogger's brothers, a veteran of Purple Heart  Ridge on Saipan,  attended Columbia University after the war, on the GI Bill. Eisenhower was President of the University at the time. Ike made a point of stopping and chatting with the veterans, including the Brother of this Blogger. The Brother’s proudest possession was his Diploma signed by Eisenhower.

“On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy, In the British and Canadian sector, 83,115 troops were landed (61,715 of them British): 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach, 28,845 on Sword Beach, and 7900 airborne troops. The American forces landed numbered 73,000: 23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, and 15,500 airborne troops…..”

The American troops were stuffed into landing craft, tallest in the front. That was so that the officers at the rear of the craft could determine the depth of the water the troops would have to wade through. The American officers tested the depth of the water with the lives of their tallest soldiers. A lot of tall Americans died on D-Day.“About 4,900 U.S. troops were killed on D-Day.”

Back home, President Roosevelt did not give a speech, nor have a photo op in the Rose Garden. He wrote a PRAYER.

The following is excerpted from that Prayer:“My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. ….

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

...They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home - fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas - whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts…..

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; ….With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country,…..Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen…Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

The United States knew how to win wars under Roosevelt, Marshall and Eisenhower,; the formula was   a lot of brave men coupled with much beseeching to God.

The United States did not declare war on Nazi Germany; Nazi Germany declared war on America; America made the Nazis pay for that error. The D-Day Invasion was the greatest man made endeavor for Good in the history of the world. “They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people.”

In 1984, on the 40th anniversary of D-DAY, Ronald Reagan, looking over Omaha Beach, paid tribute to the boys who took the beach, by appropriating a line from James Michener:”Where do we get such men?”

America got such men from farms, ranches, hamlets, villages, towns, barrios, reservations, ghettos, suburbs, colleges, suburbs, and estates. They were such men because they were part of a great community, which place American values above the worship of Diversity. They, and the society they served, knew that there was no Diversity in Courage; one either has it or one doesn't.

They were assimilated Americans, knowing that they belonged to the greatest Republic, the greatest nation in History. The bravery, courage and sacrifice of the Americans who fought and died on D-Day came from assimilation to an American cultural norm not Globalized Diversity. 

In its present incarnation, Globalized Diversity in America means lack of sacrifice for America, lack of sacrifice for the good of the whole. Globalized Diversity has Balkanized America; turned Americans into enclaves of Gauls, Huns, Vandals, Visigoths, Franks and Goths. The first obligation of any American generation is not to be materially successful individually, or even to work hard  but to insure the survival of the Republic for the next generation. Globalized Diversity, as currently practiced in 2022 America, puts the survival of the Republic in the 21st Century, at peril.

Globalized Diversity is not better than the best ; rather than continue producing such men who could defeat the Nazis, America has indulged in the societal death spiral of Globalized Diversity. By definition, being an American enhanced American Courage up to and including blood sacrifice for the Republic; Globalized Diversity has leeched courage and blood sacrifice from the American soul. As long as America worships Globalized Diversity, it will never again be capable of fielding an army that will win a war against evil. 

Where did America get such men?

From Believers in the Republic, not from Believers in the American Dream. In 1944, Bedford Virginia, nestled next to the Blue Ridge Mountains, was a town of 4,000. Twenty men from Bedford or the surrounding area were killed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Nineteen fell while trying to take Omaha Beach as members of Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment. The 20th man was in a different company.The decisive World War II invasion took a horrific toll on Bedford; its D-Day losses were among the steepest, proportionally, of any community in America.

"Frank Draper and Elmere Wright were local baseball standouts. Wallace Carter worked at the town's pool hall. Earl Parker left behind a young bride and a daughter he never got to meet. Twins Ray and Roy Stevens hoped to run a farm after the war, but only Roy survived.Their time in combat was short. Among the first waves in the assault on Omaha Beach, Bedford's soldiers were wiped out by Nazi machine guns and mortars within minutes after their landing craft hit the sand.

"They were waiting for us, the minute the ramp went down, they opened up," said Elisha Ray Nance, one of the few Bedford Boys who survived that deadly beach landing, in comments recorded in "Bedford Goes to War," a book by local historian James Morrison."

The Bedford Boys were great examples of toxic masculinity; they measured up as men and for that they died. They measured up as men, and their fates were toxic.That is the true definition of toxic masculinity.

Before the end of this century, this Blogger believes that the Republic will need many more Bedford Boys to willingly meet their toxic endings. This Blogger fears that the Republic, in its lust for multiculturalism, has not replaced the Bedford Boys. In its benighted lust  for multiculturalism, Globalists have imported men of self aggrandizement, not men of sacrifice. Just as the Roman Republic fell because it could never replicate the courage and sacrifice of its citizenry during the Punic Wars, so also this Republic will fall.

Where will the Republic get such men as the Bedford Boys in the future? The answer is simple; because of Globalism, the Republic in the future will not get such men. America will never again do a man made event for Good; there will be no Bedford Boys to do it.

Eisenhower meeting the paratroopers of the 101st, before D-Day

the cost of doing good