D-Day

"Keep the sand out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. I'll see you one the beach."
--Captain John H. Miller (Saving Private Ryan)

As time powers forward, historical events and their dates blur in the rear view mirror--to the point where their significance wanes in the minds of younger generations. One of those dates is June 6, 1944.

I remember the 50th anniversary of D-Day, a.k.a. Operation Overlord and the Normandy Invasion. Much of the Greatest Generation was still able to tell us the story in the first person. It felt real.

Twenty five years later the event seems far more remote. The majority of the people who lived the time are now gone, and the first hand flavor has largely been lost. It is harder to appreciate the magnitude of what happened 75 years ago.

D-Day constituted a great paradox. It was a bloody campaign full of loss and sorrow. But it was also cause for optimism. Once Allied troops were on the ground in France, the world began to envision the end of World War II.