{"id":22952,"date":"2014-06-06T06:22:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T10:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=22952"},"modified":"2014-06-06T07:05:21","modified_gmt":"2014-06-06T11:05:21","slug":"june-6-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=22952","title":{"rendered":"June 6, 1944"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

D Day<\/a> is something we read about in our history books.\u00a0 I am not sure (until \u201cSaving Private Ryan<\/a>\u201d was released) that any civilian understood how difficult and awful that invasion was.\u00a0 As we remember those events today, we need to understand that victory on D Day was not a given.\u00a0 We owe our freedom in America to those who stormed the beaches that day.\u00a0 There was a letter written by General Eisenhower in case it failed.\u00a0 This is what the free republic<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>website says about that letter:<\/p>\n

On the afternoon of July 11, 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/a> came across a forgotten note tucked inside his wallet. He called in his naval aide, Capt. Harry C. Butcher<\/a>, who, taking the paper, read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It was dated, in Ike\u2019s hand, July 5. Butcher knew it had to have been \u2014 and was \u2014 written June 5, when \u201cBravery and devotion\u201d might yet fail the Allies<\/a> on Normandy\u2019s beaches.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That July afternoon was D plus 35. On June 6, D-Day, the largest armada in history had crossed the English Channel<\/a>, landing nine divisions of sea and airborne troops in a sweeping assault upon Nazi-occupied France<\/a> that put the Allies on the road to victory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eisenhower penned such notes on the eves of other amphibious operations, secretly tearing each one up afterward. \u201cI told him I wanted it,\u201d Butcher would later recall. Ike gave in, reluctantly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sheet of beige paper \u2014 at 41\/2 by 7 inches, it looks as if it came from a notepad \u2014 is brittle and fragile, like many of the once strapping young men who advanced through surf and bullets, each carrying 75 pounds of equipment. The paper doesn\u2019t carry the letterhead of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force<\/a>, which Eisenhower was. It\u2019s cheaply made. The four sentences on it are written in pencil, and were composed on a portable table.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Archivists at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library & Museum in Abilene, Kan.<\/a>, call it the \u201cIn Case of Failure\u201d message. It\u2019s safeguarded in an acid-free folder in the security vault there, a veteran, too, of dark days when freedom hung in the balance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0The gift of freedom is not free.\u00a0 If you see a member of the military today, say thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

D Day is something we read about in our history books.\u00a0 I am not sure (until \u201cSaving Private Ryan\u201d was released) that any civilian understood how difficult and awful that invasion was.\u00a0 As we remember those events today, we need … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7648,1122,3285,7649,726,7647,1837,5663],"class_list":["post-22952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-allies-of-world-war-ii","tag-d-day","tag-dwight-d-eisenhower","tag-english-channel","tag-france","tag-harry-c-butcher","tag-normandy","tag-normandy-landings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22952"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22954,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22952\/revisions\/22954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}