By Charlie @Adobe Stock
Destiny without Moral Ambiguity
Today marks the 80th anniversary of Allied troops storming the beaches of Normandy, France. It was a battle, the young troops were told, for the “future of humanity.”
When President Ronald Reagan stood on cliffs overlooking Ponte du Hoc, 40 years had passed since that original D-Day. The President addressed a crowd that included the queen of England, the king of Norway, the prime minister of Canada, and surviving veterans of the D-Day invasion, who are old men now.
In Overlord, military historian Max Hastings writes:
“The struggle for Normandy was the decisive western battle of the Second World War, the last moment at which the German army might conceivably have saved Hitler from catastrophe.”
Craig Shirley in NRO asks what historians have debated for eight decades: Was a frontal assault wise? No, writes Mr. Hastings.
… but this one just happened to work and as a result became forever etched in history, and in the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, who made a speech at Normandy de rigueur for succeeding presidents.
Among the Allied troops was Franklyn “Lyn” Nofziger, who on June 6, 1944, was a young Army Ranger scaling the cliffs of Omaha Beach, where the Americans were attacking. Lyn, who became Shirley’s good friend. Writes Shirley, ‘Lyn survived after losing two fingers on one hand to German shrapnel on that fateful day.
Lyn remembered, as did my own father in recounting his landing onto Utah Beach, the bouncing up and down of the landing craft as it approached the beach, filled with vomiting seasick sailors – a perverse fascination my 9-year-old self and my three sisters couldn’t resist.
The huge logistical undertaking — the largest ever — involved mammoth preparation, continues Mr. Shirley.
… all told, some 2.7 million soldiers, sailors, and airmen for the 160,000 to launch the actual assault using more than 11,000 planes and several thousand ships at sea as well. The Allies had determined they needed to land at five different beaches in the north of France to gain a toehold on the European continent.
The D-Day invasion was the largest military operation undertaken in history, with naval, aerial, and land assaults. The victory on the beaches of Normandy allowed the Allied forces to move in the manpower and weapons that would liberate France and the rest of Europe, defeat Hitler’s powerful army, and liberate Jews imprisoned in concentration camps.
President Ronald Reagan used that speech to reassure our allies in attendance, as well as those across Eastern Europe suffering under Soviet communism:
We are bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We’re bound by reality. The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe’s democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Intrepid Heroes
President Reagan’s powerful speech “showed strength and humility.”
He not only lauded the achievements of the brave American servicemen but also honored the sacrifice of the British, Canadian, French, and Polish heroes who ended the war. His brief speech was filled with “we” and “our” to unite and inspire all the people of the free world.
Understandably, there wasn’t a dry eye at Pointe du Hoc that day after Reagan concluded his remarks. His words perfectly summed up what was at stake: This was a battle for civilization itself. A struggle between good and evil. But goodness cannot survive without heroes to protect and defend it. As General Omar Bradley, one of the architects of the successful invasion, said, “Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero.”
