"Okay, Let's Go!"

And with those words General Dwight D. Eisenhower unleashed the assault on Normandy 75 years ago today.

And so "D-Day" began...

In planning since late 1943 (so was I!), the invasion of Normandy was the largest amphibious invasion in human history.  More than 6,000 ships.  2,000 tanks.  12,000 airplanes.  Thousands and thousands of men from the U.K., Canada and the United States waited until the weather cleared enough to launch this fearsome armada.  

They had but a 5-day window in early June, 1944, where a full moon and a high tide would aid their efforts.  But the weather was violent; ferocious winds, high seas, rain and fog.  Yet, with only a one-day delay, at 0500 on June 6th "Ike" gave the order: "Okay, let's go." 

Hundreds of gliders containing more than 20,000 paratroopers, led by the infamous 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" descended on France.  A thousand LST's (landing craft), each with the requisite 32 soldiers, fought their way across the English Channel, dropped their gates and exposed their men to withering machine gun fire from the waiting Nazis.  132,000 men assaulted five beaches that day:  Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.  2,000 heavy bombers dropped more than 10,000 tons of bombs on the beaches to "soften up" German resistance ahead of the assault.  The bombs were "pouring like rain," one witness later stated. 

And that resistance was fierce.  However, as a result of an elaborate ruse, the Germans were fooled into believing the assault would occur on Calais, miles to the North, but much closer to Britain.  This deception kept the bulk of Hitler's forces bottled up and provided all the head start the Allies would need to gain a valuable beachhead.

Almost 10,000 Allied soldiers died that day.  Many thousands more were wounded.  Within an hour of the assault commencing fully one-third of our forces were dead or wounded.  The assault on Normandy lasted 82 days and set the stage for the ultimate liberation of Europe.  That would not have happened without the unbelievable bravery of that, "The Greatest Generation."

I am in awe of their accomplishments.  As one who has worn the uniform of the United States, and been forced therefore to come to terms with what it means to write a blank check to the American People for an amount of up to and including your life, I have a particular appreciation and respect for what those men of steel did that day.  For without their bravery, their sacrifice, those casualties, there might well be no America today.

I salute them.  Please join me in doing so...