On June 6th, 2024, it will have been 80 years since D-Day, the World War Two battle that turned the tide for the allied powers on the European front, but also caused the death of thousands.
In the early morning, nearly 160,000 allied forces soldiers stormed the five beaches of Normandy, France, and a few other select locations in the area, as well as paratroopers jumping further inland. This was an extremely difficult undertaking, as mainland Europe was heavily fortified, and, until then, the allied forces had not been able to break through the enemy lines. The result was thousands of gruesome deaths, injuries, and missing soldiers, but also a key victory that led roughly 156,000 allied soldiers to victory by the end of the day.
“To be able to penetrate [the German forces] and get back on to shore was a very difficult military feat. It is still studied today as a very difficult landing in military history and in the history of the world,” explains Bryan Callahan, a Colonel in the United States Air Force.
This anniversary is a special one, not only because it is a decade anniversary but also due to the fact that very few people that were a part of D-Day are still alive today.
“Even the youngest of soldiers that fought there, even if they were 17, are now 97 years old,” says Callahan, “This 80th anniversary is likely the last anniversary or decade anniversary of the invasion that will actually have people who fought there and survived that battle and won the day.”
The anniversary will be commemorated in many places across the country and around the world. Perhaps the biggest ceremony will occur in Normandy itself, where events have been taking place for all of May, and are leading up to the official ceremony on June 6th. Events include reenacting the paratrooper’s jump from planes, as well as President Biden and the President of France speaking.
However, a trip to France to remember a World War II battle is a lot to ask of a Virginian High Schooler. So what can you do to honor the incredible sacrifice made? The answer is to simply not forget what your country accomplished that day.
“It’s shocking to me that people at Briar Woods aren’t aware of the sacrifices Americans made because each sacrifice means something and to not be aware of that is disappointing,” says Natalie Posusney, a freshman here at Briar Woods, “Some ways that we can spread awareness is to use social media such as instagram or Tik Tok to teach people about the significance of D-Day.”
Eighty years ago may seem old and unimportant, but this is not something that we can allow to fade into the background. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from America, England, Canada, and more countries sacrificed so much that day, risking their lives to do what should have been impossible, in order to defeat evil. Even if you cannot stand what our country does today, allow yourself to feel pride in what it accomplished on June 6th, 1944, eighty years ago.
