the rix mix

"The sheer improbability of this victory is part of what makes D-Day so memorable. It also arises from the clarity of purpose with which this war was waged."

President Barack Obama

Fine D Day speech, but I have to disagree with the President. A successful landing was historically improbable, & certainly seemed so to the men on Omaha Beach, & it could have gone terribly wrong. The lack of initial German air & armored resistance on other sectors of the landing front helped the allies immeasurably. But in the plans, equipment, & quality & numbers of our men, it ought to have succeeded & did. It's a wonder that more of our soldiers weren't killed on June 6, 1944.

By D Day, we'd had some hard experience with beach landings in the Pacific & Italy, we knew what we were doing. After establishing a firm beachhead, our inability to break out into Normandy against German resistance became an enormous danger, & when we finally did break through, our delay in completely encircling & destroying the retreating German forces may well have lengthened the war in the West, a matter still hotly debated, & which reveals how one feels about George Patton.

Although The Longest Day is a good overview of D Day, it's a bloodless film with distracting star cameos. The opening of Saving Private Ryan made me put aside the popcorn.

I miss the generation that fought World War II. They're almost gone now. The natural, youthful disdain I had for them did not extend to their war experiences. As I got older, I better understood the sacrifices, dislocation, & anxieties of those soldiers & sailors who hadn't even been in combat, & of the loved ones remaining at home. Later, they had a great & justifiable sentiment for national unity. Many politicians cynically appealed to this sentiment. After the Civil War those kinds of appeals were called "waving the bloody shirt." We have a President with the empathy & intellect not to do it.

NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, holidays, in the news