Here is the message from Gen. Eisenhower that was distributed immediately prior to the attack:
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
Let’s all take a few moments today to remember this history, and to remember the incredible bravery of those who risked all so that the world might be a better place for us.
He served in an engineering battalion and he landed in the third wave – he told me that luck of the draw was the only reason he survived, most of the guys in the first and second waves were killed, and the sea water was pink with their blood.
I’m glad that your father is able to share his story with you. I’m sure it has helped him to overcome the trauma of it. These men go to war and come back never to be the same again. I can’t even imagine, and I have to say that there are no more courageous or selfless people on this earth than those who fight in our wars.
You had no way of knowing, of course – he was 72 years old. He did share his story with me while I was growing up, but it still haunted him – he was an alcoholic for most of his adult life, and that’s what consumed him in the end. In the days when he returned from war, there was no diagnosis (let alone treatment) of PTSD.
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p>He was just expected to suck it up, so he dealt with it by drinking, heavily. I miss him to this day – despite it all, he was a happy go-lucky sort, always with a twinkle in his eye and a joke ready to tell. I’m a lot like him, really, and my daughter is also a lot like him. She graduated high school over the weekend – she was born in 1992, about 14 months after my dad passed. We’ve been going through old pictures tonight, I found a bunch of pictures of him that I hadn’t seen in years.
My father served during the Korean War, and my Uncle served in Europe in WWII. I never heard my Uncle talk about the war and only learned what little I know of his service at his wake. But even though I do not know the details, I know the results and will honor them.
He would never talk about it either.
and all of our soldiers for their incredible bravery and heroism.
Thank you for keeping this in our memory.