When the sun rises over Omaha Beach, revealing vast stretches of sand extending toward distant cliffs, one starts to grasp the immensity of the task faced by Allied troops on.
77 years after D-Day, Allied landing beaches and memorials in France have stayed largely empty as COVID-19 caution kept away foreign visitors and surviving wartime veterans.
Tweet
World War II history has always been a special interest of mine. I’m in awe of the bravery shown by the millions of men and women who served in the military and the unified efforts of the Americans at home, and, since three of my grandparents served in the military (and the fourth worked as a Rosie the Riveter and, for a brief time, with OSS) I grew up hearing family stories from that era. But in 2007, D-Day became far more personal to me.
That year I was given a box of 300 letters my grandfather had written to my grandmother during World War 2, from the time they met in June 1943 until he returned home in September 1945. The letters were carefully organized by postmark date – Gram even wrote the date she received it on the envelope. Included was a letter home written June 7, 1944.
NORMANDY, France, June 6, 1944
In a surprise aggressive move, American and British troops are landing on the beaches in Normandy today. Germanys Transocean.