I ran this article a few years ago. It bears repeating.<\/p>\n
Eighty-two Years Ago<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seventy-eight years ago on June 6, 1944, some very nervous young (and not so young) men were boarding boats in England in preparation for an invasion of France. My father was one of the men who landed at Utah Beach.<\/p>\n A website called allthatsinteresting<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n Brig. Gen. Teddy Roosevelt Jr. \u2014 the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt \u2014 landed with the first wave of soldiers at Utah Beach. After personally scouting the area, he determined that their location was better, as there were fewer German defenses.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll start the war from right here!\u201d he stated, and he rerouted the rest of the landings to his location.<\/strong><\/p>\n Roosevelt led the 8th Infantry despite using a cane \u2013 he had arthritis and a bad heart. Maj. Gen. Barton, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, later recalled meeting Roosevelt on the beach:<\/strong><\/p>\n While I was mentally framing [orders], Ted Roosevelt came up. He had landed with the first wave, had put my troops across the beach, and had a perfect picture (just as Roosevelt had earlier promised if allowed to go ashore with the first wave) of the entire situation. I loved Ted. When I finally agreed to his landing with the first wave, I felt sure he would be killed. When I had bade him goodbye, I never expected to see him alive. You can imagine then the emotion with which I greeted him when he came out to meet me [near La Grande Dune]. He was bursting with information.<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s called courage and leadership.<\/p>\n A website called business insider<\/a> posted the following in 2012:<\/p>\n On this day 68 years ago, nearly 3 million Allied troops readied themselves for one of the greatest military operations of world history.<\/strong><\/p>\n D-Day. And the push that led to Hitler\u2019s defeat.<\/strong><\/p>\n At least 160,000 of those troops landed on the shores of Normandy, France. As they stormed the beaches, General Dwight D. Eisenhower\u2019s confident words summed up the incredible significance of their mission:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you,\u201d he wrote in a <\/strong>famous letter sent to troops before the assault<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I ran this article a few years ago. It bears repeating. Eighty-two Years Ago Seventy-eight years ago on June 6, 1944, some very nervous young (and not so young) men were boarding boats in England in preparation for an … Continue reading