I’m sure we’ll all be reminded through the day and weekend over the massive landing/invasion/retaking of France. It is tragic to think about all the lives lost so suddenly on both sides thanks to stubborn and/or insane governments at the helm. What’s more frustrating is that the lessons learned from the last good war have been ignored by the newer generations of chicken hawks (aka, pro-war Republicans mostly) who ratchet up their rhetoric and send our forces into needless conflicts. Then they turn around to point the finger at others for being cowards (Clinton had a high lottery number to avoid the draft), traitors (the Right Wing Noise Machine’s constant bitching over the recent prisoner exchange) or saboteurs (there are no confirmed nor proven incidents of Vietnam Vets being spit on by the peace movement, it’s an old myth). Nevermind the chicken hawks’ records on cowardice (W got bumped up in queue for a spot in the Texas Air Guard), betrayal (Reagan traded weapons to Iran for the release of hostages) nor sabotage (the Right often claimed Vietnam was lost because our soldiers didn’t try hard enough). In defense of Republicans/Conservatives who did fight in WWII, from their behaviors, I think they knew the horrors and expressed more caution than the phonies in the party; Jimmy Stewart flew a bomber and refused to make any WWII movies when he returned.
Anyway, I want to thank all the Allied forces who gave their lives. Often this event tends to be very American-centric and overlooks that three of the five beaches were taken by the UK, Canada and the free forces from the occupied nations (Poland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands). I’m certain there were volunteers who originated from the neutral or opposing countries too.