June 6. Do you know what’s special about this day in history?
It’s the anniversary of D-Day: June 6, 1944.
During the night, paratroopers had already dropped behind German lines to secure roads and bridges. Early that morning, a coordinated amphibious assault that would ultimately bring the end of World War II in Europe began. Have you watched the actual footage from that day? Seen the bodies on the beaches? The stalwart, and surely frightened, men traveling in their amphibious vehicles when the doors were lowered, and they ran out to try to make it across that expanse of exposed sand?
It’s gripping. Heroic. Suicidal.
That kind of courage was what it took to rid Europe of Hitler.
Wars to end all wars… What a myth. What a hope. Anyone who is sane knows the costs of this kind of war are too high.
We’re seeing that kind of courage, in real time, in Ukraine today. They surprised all of us. Really, they shame us into action and support. And yes, the cost of that support is high, but they are fighting for all of Europe, and by extension, the world, and in the bigger picture, they are showing us that this kind of war has no true winners. We can hope China takes note. There can be no concessions, and we must show our willingness to sacrifice, even if the sacrifice is only money.
Policies of appeasement and negotiation failed when attempted with Hitler. They will fail with Putin.
I wish I had something fun and uplifting for you today, but the calendar highlighted “D-Day” and I don’t think we should forget. Our freedom isn’t guaranteed. And it comes with costs. The fields and fields of white crosses expose that truth.
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Thanks for this post. The parallels are exact.
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Sadly, I didn’t see anything on the news about the D-Day anniversary. That is not a good sign since it’s the first time ever that I have got thru the day with NO reminders about it. Didn’t even see anything on FB. Even Yahoo seems to have been in on the hush up since it sent the notification about this post into my spam folder. It’s only the second time in all the years that I have been subscribed for email notifications that an email from this blog wound up in spam.
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<3
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Beth! I know it was very lowkey this year. I saw remembrances on Twitter, but you’re right, the news is consumed by other things…