Operation Overlord: 76 Years Later

Better known as D-Day, this incredible military operation signaled the beginning of the end of World War II.  And it all began on this day, June 6th, 1944.

The Allied invasion force consisted of 6,939 ships, 10,440 aircraft, and 156,115 troops that actually landed on the beaches of Normandy.  Americans, Britons, and Canadians stormed those five beaches covering a 50 mile stretch.  Providing support from the English Channel were over 195,700 sailors from 8 different nations.  It truly was an Alliance of nations, coming together to defeat the Axis powers and keep the world free.  Even the American Indian Comanche nation was involved as 14 code-talkers also landed, providing secure coded messages in their native language.

Facing this massive invasion force were 50,000 German soldiers.  Fiercely defending the beachhead, the German forces inflicted over 14,000 casualties to the brave men who assaulted the beaches.  These young men, whose average age was only 20 years old, ran from their landing craft head on into a hellish maelstrom of death and destruction.  The cost in Allied life:  2,499 Americans and 1,914 from the other Allied countries.  The German forces also lost brave men, with estimates between 4,000 to 9,000 killed, wounded, or missing.  

This all happened on one day...ONE DAY.  Let's put aside our differences today and remember what happened three quarters of a century ago, when people came together to fight for the ideals of truth, justice and a free world.  They fought the enemy, not each other.