Posted on 06/07/2019 11:52:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
Seventy-five years have passed, but the heroism of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy still resonates as strongly as it did that June Tuesday in 1944 when America awoke to the news.
This will almost certainly be the last time our country will be able to commemorate such a milestone anniversary while the heroes who participated in the D-Day invasion are still here with us on Earth. Even the very youngest World War II veterans are now well into their 90s.
The country and the world are blessed that more than 180 D-Day veterans were able to join President Trump and other world leaders in France. The living memory of what it means to fight and die “to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity” — as President Roosevelt put it when he spoke to the nation for the first time following the landings — is rapidly fading.
That memory is not merely of a single, bloody day in 1944, or even of the Second World War more broadly. It is the living memory of a generation whose struggle forged the world we enjoy today.
President Roosevelt defined that struggle for the GI Generation, calling on them to “conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies” and to “lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace[,] a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men.”
But the ranks of those who listened to those words live while the outcome of that struggle hung in the balance are rapidly dwindling.
The National WWII Museum estimates that there are fewer than half a million American World War II veterans left, out of the more than 16 million who answered the call of duty three-quarters of a century ago. By the time of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the museum projects that there will be fewer than 100,000.
Those civilians who heard Roosevelt’s words as children are not far behind them.
From here on out, our task on subsequent D-Day anniversaries will gradually evolve from one of thanksgiving and commemoration to one of remembrance and preservation of what our soldiers accomplished.
As Roosevelt’s eternal words fade from living memory, we must continually refresh them with our own reflections on the significance that D-Day still has for our world, as President Ronald Reagan did at the 40th Anniversary.
“Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history,” Reagan reminded our allies in the midst of the Cold War struggle against a different totalitarian ideology. After America had prevailed over Soviet communism, President Bill Clinton emphasized the value of freedom at the 50th anniversary, when he said that the men who fought at D-Day were “driven by the voice of free will and responsibility nurtured in Sunday schools, town halls, and sandlot ball games” as they risked their lives to secure “a foothold for freedom.”
In this, the twilight of the Greatest Generation’s living memory, President Donald Trump rose to that challenge as well. He spoke to an American and European public that is in the process of casting aside the hollow platitudes of the post-Cold War glow and remembering anew the foundational values for which so many gave their lives preserving.
To the pantheon of eternal words at Normandy, President Trump added his own homage to the last of the warriors who stormed the beaches.
“We are gathered here on freedom’s altar,” he said. “On these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, ten thousand men shed their blood and thousands sacrificed their lives for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty.” And to the approximately 180 veterans gathered for the commemoration, President Trump said, “You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You are the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
The veterans who assembled in Normandy this week are among the last of their breed. After they fade away, the likes of them may never be seen again in the annals of men. But their heroism and their legacy will never fade. Like our duty to remember their sacrifice in new words and old principles, their achievements are eternal.
“The life of the dead is placed on the memories of the living. The love you gave in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Anyone who was given love will always live on in another's heart.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
President Trump's words were echoed by Vice President Pence at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA.
There were over 100 WWII Veterans in attendance, and more than 10,000 visitors.
The D-Day Memorial is worth a visit from anywhere. It's privately funded - no government support - and they can always use a donation. https://www.dday.org
Too wrapped up in the week to pay the right homage to such a special day.
Will go to pop and uncles’ graves (all fought) and make a donation to the Memorial.
Then maybe have a family gathering to BBQ and have all the pictures of those from our family who served, up.
Tell the younguns about them.
None in the family were at D Day but several were at the Bulge.
Americans will NEVER let them be forgotten.
YouTube is deleting videos on Nazi history as part of its hate speech crackdown
Then they’ll have to delete every democrat video as well.
Because they’re the closest thing to nazis now.
It’s terrible they are terminating content providers who posted WWII broadcasts from various courses, just because they included a few Hitler speeches (which weren’t even translated into English) in them.
"These men of WWII...like their victories, will be remembered as long as our generation lives. After that, like the men of the Confederacy, they will become strangers. Longer and longer shadows will obscure them until their Normandy and Iwo Jima sound distant on the ear like Shiloh and Valley Forge."
Sam Elliott pays tribute to SGT Ray Lambert on the 30th National Memorial Day Concert. Aired May 26, 2019 on PBS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdzWRdZgan0
I’m bringing my son to Normandy in two years since he’ll be old enough to appreciate the history.
Also taking him to Nijmegen to view the Sunset March.
http://www.sunsetmarch.nl/en/welcome/
My WWII generation parents bore me relatively late in life—when they were in their mid 30’s.
There have been many times when I resented that “late start”. I was always the little kid that their friends’ older children pretty much ignored.
But your post makes me profoundly thankful to be one of the final keepers of the memory of the greatest generation.
Ping to reply # 12.
I also was born (1949) when Mom & Dad were in their mid-to-late 20s, so I hung with older kids, skipped 4th grade because of my IQ, and learned much from the older ones.
I feel as you do, lightman, that I was also one of the “keepers of the memory of the greatest generation”. We are kindred souls, in that respect.
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