You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
June 6, 1944
Sixty six years ago these words triggered the clash of millions of Allied and Axis personnel in the greatest amphibious invasion the world has ever seen. Operation Overlord commenced with the British and American airborne units' oh-dark-thirty assault, continued with the seaborne invasion itself (Operation Neptune) on the French mainland and culminated in Operation Cobra on 25 July 1944. In retrospect, we are unable to feel the fears and uncertainties that were part and parcel of that vast undertaking. We know only the results - a Europe freed from Nazi rule.
Most of those warriors have passed over to Fiddler's Green. But remember them and honor their memory on this anniversary of one of the greatest feats of arms in history.
Tench-HUT! Hand salute....TWO! As you were....
Dis-missed...
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