A Significant Day

Today (June 6) is a significant day to our country, and to the world. June 6 gets lost among the other important days, but we should always remember what this day means.

Today is the 63 anniversary of D-Day. D-Day is that momentous day that was the beginning of the end of World War II. The Allies had been successful in North Africa and were marching through Italy. The Russians were turning the tide on the eastern front. They only thing that remained was the cross-channel invasion. I am reading Stephen Ambrose's book Eisenhower: Soldier and President. He spends a great deal of time on D-Day.

On this day, thousands of young American and British soldiers crossed the English Channel to storm the beaches of Normandy and confront Hitler's "Atlantic Wall." The day could easily have ended in complete failure. Had the Germans repelled the Allied invasion, the war would have turned out differently. The Allies would have been humiliated.

Take some time to think about the those young men from small towns, farms, and big cities who breathed their last breath on the sandy shores of France. Think of the blood that was spilled. Think of the fathers, sons, husbands and brothers who perished that day in something far greater than themselves. For the freedoms we enjoy today, we owe them an immeasurable debt of gratitude.

If anyone who reads this is a D-Day veteran, or the family of a D-Day veteran, I say, "Thank you." That seems so paltry in the scope of sacrifice that was made that day, but nonetheless, "Thank you."