The 70-year anniversary of the Allied invasion of mainland Europe at Normandy Beach in France that we celebrated this year is a special one, as it is a solemn recognition of the incalculable contribution of a legion of fighters, the survivors of whom are now at least in their late 80s, most well into their 90s. All too soon the memory of that epic invasion, the climactic battle of World War II, will be the stuff of history only and not memory. So it is fitting that we mark this event.
The invasion, widely referred to as D-Day, was in truth a series of complex operations over several days, almost none of which went off quite as planned. The goal was to storm the heavily defended beaches of Normandy and gain a foothold on the European continent. The landing was to be the first step in what would prove a grueling march to Berlin to oust the murderous Nazi regime that had terrorized Europe for nearly a decade.
