Well, I haven't seen anyone blog about it, so I figured I would say something... I'm more than a little disappointed to be honest, but perhaps, no one is up now.

63 years and 3 hours ago... the first troops, aboard DD Tanks of the British Army, came ashore on Sword Beach in Normandy, France, opening the troop involvement in Operation Overlord. Shortly thereafter, many of the 1.4 million troops who would storm those shores that day came ashore.

About this time (using EST instead of local CET or GMT), hundreds of thousands of men were in various positions on the shore of Northern France. Thousands lay dead, dying, or wounded on the beaches, in their ships, in their vehicles, and in the waters of the English Channel. The waters that washed up and down the beaches ran a light red or pink, rather than the dirty blue/brown typical of the English Channel. The smells of spent brass casings, gunpowder, machine oil and fuels, charred flesh, and the spilt blood of American, British, Polish, Free French, Canadian, and Australian soldiers.

On Omaha Beach, one of  the two American Beaches, the bloodiest fighting was found. After the Air and Naval bombardment left the majority of the German defenses intact and the majority of the armor was lost at sea or the the initial attack, the American forces assaulted the beach defenses. Many of the initial wave of landing craft were lost in deep water with all aboard. Those that made it to the shallows, many were hit, losing many on board, and others drowned, held down by heavy packs in 8ft of water. Those that did make it to shore found very little cover on the desolate beach, other than a short sand wall, formed at the breach of high tide. This was separated a small distance from the landing obstacles. Thus, those that made it to shore, did so below the landing obstacles, which were their only real cover between the water and the Germans. Even with so little cover, the Germans overlapping fields of fire made any cover almost null. Furthermore, smoke and fog used as cover, gave the troops on the sand almost zero visibility. Finally, overwhelming numbers of men, without the leaders who were considering abandoning the attack, trotted (not ran as shown in some movies) the distance between the landing obstacles and the low sea wall at the base of the cliffs.

After some time and a massive loss of life, they penetrated the defenses at the base of the cliffs and began clearing lanes for the following waves to come through. About this time, on that day, men were fighting and dying to stem the tide of the Nazi advance across Europe. The greatest generation was earning their future name in blood and action on the shores of Northern France.

Now, we are losing these vets at the rate of 1,000 per day. If you know someone who fought on that day, tell them thank you, for all of us. My grandfather, who we lost in 1998, went ashore on DDay+3. He would never talk about the things he saw on the beaches and inland, just that he did what he had to do. I'm sure that on the day of his death, he still remembered and felt those same feelings from his year plus in Europe. I'm sure that he killed more than one man, in fact, the PG versions of his stories about guarding POWs hinted around actions that the Geneva Convention did not allow. And other stories, that trailed of into nothing after coming over a hill or kicking the door to a house in, I imagine ended with several rounds of his M1 or a grenade- and a loss of German life.

Every June 6th that I can remember, my father would send me off to school and tell me to make sure I told everyone what today is. I come from a proud miltary family, which I hope won't end with me (Commander-in-Chief is technically military right?) Hug a vet, especially our WWII vets today. Ask them to tell their story, but don't press. Remember today when you exercise your right to freely-- do anything, the cost that comes with your rights, and ask if you have paid that cost the way that these men did.

All gave some, some gave all. Semper Fidelis.