THE ISSUE: D-Day anniversary

OUR OPINION: Greatest amphibious assault inspiring to this day

“We all have seen the stark pictures, grim footage: dark forms wading through the gray, tossing surf, with rifles held high overhead, flanked by tall white geysers raised by shells exploding in the water. Behind them lay the great gray Allied fleets, rank on rank of ships and boats stretching to the dark horizon and beyond. In front of them waited the empty white beach, the moist, shrouded high bluffs, and the unseen Germans, already firing with vigor and skill. This one would not be easy. This one was D-Day, the 6th of June, 1944, a memory forever etched in black, gray and white.”

So wrote Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, chief of staff of the U.S. Army in 1994. His words echo today as our nation and the world mark the 65th anniversary of the greatest amphibious landing in history.

We offer more from Sullivan through an adaptation of an editorial that first appeared in The Times and Democrat for the 50th anniversary observance.

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D-Day makes sense in black and white for a couple of reasons. With passage of time, the struggle against Nazi Germany has taken on the aura of a legendary contest between good and evil, what General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower called the “Crusade in Europe.” The more we have learned of the horrors of Adolph Hitler’s regime, the more it becomes obvious that this perception has much truth to it. The fight against the Nazis was a good fight, and the landings in Normandy represented one of the major milestones on the long, tough road to final victory.

And triumph they did. Protected by the gunfire of over 2,700 Allied and American warships, under the cover of thousands of Allied and American aircraft, ferried aboard thin-skinned, bouncing craft shaped like shoe boxes, 57,000 American soldiers went ashore at two beaches — Utah and Omaha. More than 13,000 American paratroopers had jumped before dawn just inland from the beach fronts, and added their aggressive attacks to the air and sea bombardments distracting some of the German defenders. But the main event, the key contest, was at the waterline.

At 0630, the first blunt-nosed assault boats bit into Normandy sand, and the big rectangular ramps fell forward. Heavily burdened with ammunition, radios and demolitions, the first troops slogged out into the gray, foam-flecked surf and headed inland. Most of the LCVPs (Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel) carried 29 enlisted soldiers and one officer, a rifle platoon from one of three infantry divisions: the 4th on Utah, the 1st and 29th on Omaha. On Utah, resistance was sporadic, and the riflemen got ashore in good order, along with tankers, artillerists, engineers, signalers, and Navy beach parties.

Things were different on Omaha. On that beach, a crack German infantry division, overlooked by Allied intelligence, ambushed the Americans. The enemy opened fire as soon as the first LCVPs appeared. Firing methodically from reinforced bunkers, German machine gun crews and cannoneers flayed the lead wave. Stricken landing craft foundered in the murky waters, Nazi bullets pinging off their battered metal hides. Game GIs, veterans of the 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One” that had fought in North Africa and Sicily, along with National Guardsmen and draftees of the “Blue and Gray” 29th Infantry Division, scrambled together to find shelter and return the murderous fire. Most of the tanks and howitzers never made it ashore on Omaha. This would be a soldier’s fight, bayonets, grenades, fists, guts and brains against unforgiving steel and lead.

And what soldiers they were! To this day, Americans, and especially the men and women of America’s Army, thrill to their deeds. The spirit that motivated the heroes of D-Day are still very much alive in our Army today. The ethos that brought victory on D-Day is still very much with us.

We draw strength from that heritage. The men and women of America’s Army know the story of D-Day, and aspire to the same traditions that brought victory 50 years ago. Like those who crossed that perilous beach, our soldiers today have what it takes to bring victory.

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