Editorials, Opinion

Terrible sacrifices of defining moment in history still matter

As defining moments go for generations, or even in history, D-Day is larger than most.

Not just today, either, as observances of its 75th anniversary properly focus on the allied troops and then. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

It’s impossible for those of us who were not born yet to understand the magnitude of the invasion of Europe by allied forces.

But even for those who were there or even huddled around radios here then, listening intently to delayed newscasts, it was impossible to comprehend what was happening and its impact on the world’s future.

Some say the reaction of those in battle and listening at home fell somewhere between the breathlessness of a nightmare and the sheer elation of a looming victory.

Today what is possible to still understand about the D-Day landings and the massive invasion that followed is it led to the end of Nazi Germany’s menace and its murderous occupation of Europe.

And not only that but many believe that D-Day ended Hitler’s quest for even the most terrible weapons of mass destruction to use against Britain and allied forces.

More than anything today we honor the sacrifices of so many who died, or were wounded and their families in the liberation of Europe. But this day also should hammer home the most important lesson of war: The human costs to combatants and civilians alike should no longer be acceptable to any nation.

We insisted recently during the Memorial Day weekend that the best way we can honor the kinds of sacrifices made by our armed forces in war is to ensure peace.

Unfortunately, when we read tweets that threaten destruction of a nation or of the unveiling of a Satan 2 missile many may think of war in a matter of days or the human cost only to “them,” not “us.”

That’s a terrible mistake because war inevitably signals the indiscriminate slaughter of everyone, including children, and everything (the atmosphere?) in its way.

The short answer to how many allied troops died in D-Day is no one really knows. However, the best estimates are more than 4,400 as did between 4,000 and 9,000 German soldiers.

Another 10,000 allied and German troops would suffer wounds that for many would require a lifetime of care. Up to another 1,000 went missing, many swept out to sea.

Cemeteries in France list the deaths of many of the missing as June 7, 1945, after they were unaccounted for then and forever after.

Members of the Greatest Generation are now in their 90s and will soon no longer be here to reluctantly remind us of their haunting war stories.

So, let this be the defining moment of the latest generation: To continue striving for world peace.