June 06, 2010

June 6, 66 years later

Sixty-six years ago today the invasion of Normandy began.

As good as "Saving Private Ryan" was, among films about that day I'm partial to "The Longest Day.""Ryan" is justly famous for its first 25 minutes depicting the landing, but then it became a mish-mash of a story about events which didn't happen in Normandy. Yes, there was an Army policy to keep sole survivors of families from combat, but it wasn't instituted until 1948, long after the war was over.

"The Longest Day" was an attempt to show what happened all over the five landing beaches and the subsequent Allied move inland. It was a remarkable film in part for its attention to history; there was little Hollywood fictionalization.

There are 9,387 Americans buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. It's just one of many cemeteries abroad:

There are American World War I and World War II cemeteries in England, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, Tunisia and the Philippines.
Take a moment to think about those souls today.

Posted by Linkmeister at June 6, 2010 10:30 AM | TrackBack
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