Daily Herald opinion: On the 79th anniversary, we must honor the heroes of D-Day
This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.
Last week, we paid tribute on Memorial Day to those who lost their lives for our nation.
In that spirit, we acknowledge another great debt this week - to the young soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy in a pivotal 1944 assault that historians have called the beginning of the end of World War II.
A ceremony in France Tuesday marking the 79th anniversary of D-Day took place at the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach. There, row after row of white headstones attest to the tremendous sacrifice.
The cemetery is home to the graves of 9,386 U.S. soldiers. Most were killed in the D-Day landings and operations that followed. Another 1,557 are remembered on the Walls of the Missing.
A few dozen surviving veterans of the battle, now in their late 90s, were there to be acknowledged and to honor the memory of those who fought with them in the largest naval, air and land operation in history.
We owe it to these veterans - those still among us and those long gone - to remember their bravery on June 6, 1944, and to share their stories with future generations.
On that single day, Operation Overlord landed about 156,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Normandy. They came from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries to defeat Nazi Germany and break its deadly grip over Europe.
And thanks to their sacrifice, northern France would be liberated later that summer and Nazi Germany would be defeated less than a year later.
On the 60th anniversary of D-Day, President George W. Bush recalled the hard-fought victory in Europe.
"That road to V-E Day was hard and long and traveled by weary and valiant men. And history will always record where that road began," he said. "It began here, with the first footprints on the beaches of Normandy."
As many pointed out Tuesday in France, war rages in Europe today. Now, it's Ukraine that's been invaded, and that country's citizens are fighting for freedom against the forces of Russia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking at Tuesday's event, was quoted by the Associated Press reminding the crowd that it is our "our duty to defend ... the principles for which the Allies fought."
"We seek a world where civilians are safe from ravages of a war, (and) sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected," he said.
On the 79th anniversary of D-Day, we are still far from that world. But we remain forever grateful - forever indebted - to the heroes of Normandy.
We must never forget them.