Thoughts on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day

They say that it’s been 65 years ago today since American and allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy. I wasn’t born until six years later, so I have no personal memories of the time period. No close family members on the Meitzler side of the family were involved as soldiers in the Second World War, although my father worked as a civilian welder in the the shipyards in Tacoma, Washington – doing his small part to support the cause. Patty’s father, Homer Daffern, served in the Navy Seabees in the Pacific. There’s a decent chance that I had German cousins who were soldiers in the Nazi Army and who didn’t survive the War. I find their names in lists of German war dead. I have yet to try to track down that side of the family. Out last contacts with our German cousins died with great-grandmother Elizabeth Damm Meitzler in 1918. But I’m wandering here…

The enormity of what took place 65 years ago today is overwhelming – if we take the time to stop and consider what took place. In fact, D-Day events changed the course of the War, and while liberating France, also changed the World. Pretty heady stuff…

Most Americans know about D-Day from films, books, and boring history classes in high school. But did you know that the D in D-Day stood for “day?” Yes – just day… In military terms, it’s “the day an operation begins.” And what an operation. The Allies landed about 156,000 troops at Normandy on D-Day. The Americans landed totaled 73,000; 23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, & 15,500 airborne troops. My mentor and GRCC history instructor, John Hanscom, was one of those pilots who crash-landed his glider (one of 867 ASAAF & RAF) behind the lines on that day. 83,115 British and Canadian troops were landed (61,715 Brits): 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach, 28,845 on Sword Beach, & 7900 airborne troops. By the end of June 11 1944 (D + 5), 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles & 104,428 tons of supplies had been landed on the beaches.

Recent research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation has recorded the names of individual Allied personnel killed on 6 June 1944 in Operation Overlord, and thus far they have verified 2499 American D-Day fatalities and 1915 from the other Allied nations, a total of 4414 dead. This number is much higher than the 2500 figure that’s been used for years. Many others were wounded, or taken prisoner. Between 4000 & 9000 Germans were killed, as well as 15,000 to 20,000 French civilians, most of them caught in the Allied bombing. As Patton (whoops – Sherman) said, “War is hell.”

But let’s stop for a moment and remember those brave young men who died that day – that the world might be changed…