2/29/2024 0 Comments Omaha beach world war 2![]() ![]() These are all soldierly virtues-pounded into the recruit from the moment s/he joins the service, but they are not a bad guide to civilian life, either. A willingness to put your own needs on hold and put those of others first. As I write this, the country is in the grip of an economic shutdown that has now stretched into months. Rather than the “big bang” of the Omaha landing, this operation is slow, grinding, and immensely frustrating.Īnd yet, many of the same virtues that the US Army demonstrated on Omaha are exactly what the nation needs today. ![]() We have obstacles in front us, too, not the German army and its gigantic concrete fortifications, but a devious, microscopic foe, an infection curve that needs flattening, “stay at home orders” and social distances that our doctors tell us need to be maintained in order to slow the enemy’s pace. Today, we’re on a beach of our own, not “Omaha” or “Utah,” but COVID-19. Landing craft and soldiers approach Omaha Beach, the deadliest battleground on D-Day. You’ll ask yourself, “How did our heroes even get ashore?” If you ever get a chance to travel to Normandy, be sure to visit the stretch of coastline between Vierville- and Colleville-sur-Mer, the beach codenamed “Omaha.” You’ll see the sea in front of you, cliffs behind you, and between them, a series of hulking German fortifications, or Widerstandnesten (“resistance nests.”) As you stand there and survey the ground, you’ll probably have the same reaction that I do and that thousands of visitors have every year. In Normandy, the task involved an enemy-held beach, well-sited machine gun nests, concrete bunkers, and forbidding bluffs. Then, as now, there was a difficult job to be done. And yet, the present moment seems like an appropriate time to recall what happened in Normandy on that long-ago June morning. This year isn’t one of the “major” anniversaries-the 50th or 75th or 100th, for example. ![]() Indeed, we began our existence as a “D-Day Museum,” dedicated to preserving the memory of those stirring events of 1944, and we never fail to call them to mind when June 6 rolls around. It’s the anniversary of D-Day, a special day for The National WWII Museum. Top Image: Combat artist Harrison Standley's "Exit from Omaha Beach" painted after the beach and bluffs had been secured. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |