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Yes, a lot of the brass thought the Airborne were going on a suicide mission which was nevertheless necessary to the operation.

There was an open dispute between the SHAEF chiefs about whether the airborne should be dropped deep into Normandy (to pull the Germans away from the landing beaches) or closer into the beaches in order to seize the causeways, quickly link up with the landing forces and provide them the exits they needed from the beachheads.

Dropping them deeper was a "safer" option for the airborne, but posed major risks to holding the beachheads and driving the landing forces inland. Dropping them closer in was estimated to produce something like 70% casualties in the first day. It was one of the toughest decisions Ike ever had to make, and since the chiefs were divided he was the one who had to make it. He chose the close-in option, and then went out to meet some of the paratroopers he felt he'd consigned to death.

As it turned out, casualties with the airborne were below 30%. Partly due to the fact that there were massive misdrops (the Germans shot the hell out of the incoming C-47s and many of the pilots decided to dump their sticks early), forcing the airborne to improvise and function more as an "infestation" force than anything really cohesive (at least from the Regiment levels and above).