Incredible to realize 70 years ago freedom hung in the balance. The military was the only answer. Massive efforts were levied that day and many young soldiers knew the odds were against them. FDR in his speech made that clear. The military commanders gave the troops every advantage, but, they knew there would be losses and potential to failure. Yet in ten months from this day, the war was over.


David Jackson, USA TODAY
8:56 a.m. EDT June 6, 2014

The American-French ceremony (click here) at Omaha Beach began a day of 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations along the French coast once held by Nazis.
The ceremony featured the solemn traditions of military memorials.
Obama and French President Francois Hollande — who also spoke — placed a wreath at a colonnade near the gravesites. They held their hands over their hearts as a bugler played taps and jets roared overhead. A 21-gun salute boomed over the thousands of stone crosses at Omaha Beach.
The American and French leaders could also be seen chatting amiably with elderly veterans who visited under much different circumstances seven decades ago....

Seventy years and this war front never needed a nuclear explosion.