Normandy Forgotten?

June 6, 1944.  D-Day.  On that day allied forces of mostly Americans and Britons stormed the beaches at Normandy, France.  It was a bold and costly onslaught whose mission was to push German forces back from the coast, and ultimately to liberate Paris.  It worked.  It began a series of events that would be seen as a turning point in the war in Europe.

The bravery of those men who rushed the beach in the face of intense and murderous machine gun and mortar fire cannot be understated.  They were scared beyond comprehension, but put the mission ahead of self.  Many never made the beach; and many never made it off the beach.  A handful managed to scale the cliffs and neutralized the German resistance.  And thos men went on inland to change the course of the war.

Many have said that the college educated, effeminate pajama boys of today could not - and would not - engage an enemy within that context of intense combat.  I'm not willing to go that far.  I personally know several millennial men who serve the country today in Special Operations, and I can attest that the warrior culture is very much alive and well in today's military.

Although D-Day happened seventy-three years ago, it behooves us to always remember the will, resolution and sacrifice demonstrated on that morning.  Unfortunately, not many of the media considers it news worthy anymore.  That's a shame.  Thankfully several great movies honor that day, including but not limited to The Longest Day, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers.  These and others are well worth watching.

Just as the military learned that the tried and true battlefield tactics of yesteryear, and I'm referring to the long charge against entrenched defenses here, is warfare of another time.  Think Picket's Charge at Gettysburg or Lord Cardigan's Light Calvary charge in the Crimea some nine years earlier, for instance,  Hopefully it's unlikely that we'll see massive onslaughts such as the Normandy invasion, or the assault on Iwo Jima in future conflicts.  Warfare has changed, and tactics and technology prevent the need.  And that's a good thing.  But the warrior mindset still exists in American men and women, and the pajama boys and the modern castrati need not apply.

D-Day left us a legacy, and that in part is that bravery, will and valor mean something, and are valuable and desirable virtues to possess.  And to our current generation of lazy, self absorbed and shallow adult children, take note.

If you won't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.